Ch 3 · IAM & Identity
Maturity ladder
12 / 38

Primitive roles are a legacy layer — almost never the right default.

Three role tiers, plus IAM Conditions for access that expires itself.

1
Primitive

Owner/Editor/Viewer — Editor spans nearly every service, almost never used in production

2
Predefined

Google-maintained, scoped to one service — the default for almost every real grant

3
Custom

Exact permissions, but you maintain it — needs a named owner and review trigger

IAM Conditions attach a boolean expression to a binding — a time-bound grant expires automatically, closing the "temporary access that quietly became permanent" pattern with no human remembering step required.