Paved Road
A well-supported technical path that makes preferred practices easier to adopt.
Plain English
A maintained route with tools and help already available.
In context
The paved road aligns teams through convenient defaults while leaving room for justified exceptions.
Example
“Use the paved road unless this workload needs a documented exception.”
When you'll hear this
- platform engineering
- architecture
- onboarding
Common misunderstanding
The term implies enablement through support rather than governance by punishment.
Commonly used by
Related terms
Updated: 2026-08-25
