Developers often spend hours configuring Kubernetes manifests, wrestling with CI/CD pipelines, or implementing the right network policy. Platforms help solve this by providing abstractions—simple interfaces that hide complexity. But here’s the challenge: the more we abstract, the more rigid our platforms become.

When teams need to deploy slightly differently, they either fight the platform or work around it. This is the Abstraction Debt Trap, where yesterday’s simplification becomes today’s bottleneck.

In this talk, I’ll introduce the concept of Abstraction Elasticity, a measurable way to build platform capabilities that bend without breaking. I’ll also show ways to implement composable abstractions, build APIs that adapt to team maturity, and create flexible guardrails.

Using examples and code, I’ll show you how to measure your platform’s abstraction health, implement adaptable interfaces, and build platforms that grow with your teams and not restrict them.