Platform Engineering: Building Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)

Ever feel like developers spend more time wrestling with infrastructure than actually writing code? In today’s fast-moving world of software, that’s a real problem. So, how do we help our teams focus on creating awesome stuff without getting lost in the weeds of servers and setups? The answer is something called platform engineering, and it’s all about building internal developer platforms (IDPs).

What’s the Deal with Platform Engineering and Why Should You Care About These IDPs?

Think of platform engineering as the grown-up version of DevOps. It takes those good ideas and focuses them on making developers’ lives better. It’s about creating a smooth, safe, and easy way for development teams to do their thing – build great software. This means giving them the tools and processes they need to work independently, all within a secure and well-managed environment. It’s like treating developers as your main customers and building a product just for them. Experts are saying that platform engineering is the way of the future, with more and more companies realizing they need dedicated teams to make this happen. It’s not just about the tech; it’s about a whole new way of thinking that puts the developer experience first to get better results for the business. Companies are learning that just automating things isn’t enough. You need to really focus on what developers need through these internal platforms to grow effectively.

Now, what does all this platform engineering actually look like? Often, it takes the shape of an internal developer platform (IDP). Imagine an IDP as a self-service shop for developers. They can go there and get all the infrastructure, tools, and processes they need to build, deploy, and manage their applications. These platforms are like internal products, carefully designed with all the right tools and information so software teams can deliver their work quickly and on their own. A big goal of an IDP is to take away the headache of complicated tech stuff, so developers can focus on what they’re good at. By having this central hub of knowledge and tools, IDPs cut down on the need for manual work. Each IDP is unique, built to fit the specific needs of a company, bringing together different tools and workflows into one easy-to-use system. The idea of “paved paths” in an IDP is like creating well-trodden trails that become safe and efficient roads over time. It’s about guiding developers towards best practices without slowing them down.

What’s So Great About Having an Internal Developer Platform for Your Teams?

Setting up internal developer platforms brings a ton of real advantages to software development teams. One of the biggest wins is a huge jump in how much developers can get done, while also making their jobs less stressful. IDPs do this by taking over many of the boring infrastructure tasks, like setting up new servers and services. This frees up developers to spend their time on more important and creative work. Plus, having everything in one place, like a service catalog with all the tools and processes, makes things much easier for developers. Studies show that when companies focus on making developers happy, they actually get more work done. The self-service part of IDPs also means developers can be more independent, getting what they need without having to wait on other teams. It’s all about making developers’ work lives better so they can deliver better results for the company.

Beyond just individual developers, IDPs also make the whole operation run more smoothly. These platforms bring together all the important infrastructure pieces, like the systems that build and deploy code (CI/CD), monitoring tools, security measures, and cloud resources, into one organized platform. When developers can get what they need themselves through the IDP, it means less back-and-forth with operations teams, leading to better teamwork. This improved communication and coordination across teams ultimately makes everyone more effective.

IDPs also help companies grow their development efforts with more confidence and fewer mistakes. By making sure that the environments where code is built and run are the same, and by automating the deployment process, IDPs help get rid of the inconsistencies that often cause errors. Automation also takes away the chance of manual deployment mistakes and makes it easier to handle more work when needed. Data shows that companies using an IDP have fewer problems when they make changes, and those using platform engineering see their systems become more reliable.

Because IDPs automate and streamline processes, teams can release new features and updates much faster. With IDPs, teams can deploy applications more often, sometimes even multiple times a day, which is a big improvement for companies without these platforms. This speed comes from automated pipelines and consistent environments throughout the development process, eliminating slowdowns. As a result, companies can react quicker to what the market wants and deliver new things faster.

Security and compliance also get a boost from IDPs. The automation built into an IDP makes platforms more secure and less likely to have weaknesses. Features like controlling who can access what and automatically enforcing rules ensure that security measures are consistently applied, reducing human errors and unauthorized access. By automatically checking for compliance, IDPs help companies meet industry standards and regulations.

On top of all this, IDPs offer even more advantages. Dashboards within IDPs can show important information from software catalogs and scorecards, helping with planning and spotting potential problems. New developers can get up to speed faster because they can quickly learn about the tech and access the tools they need without waiting around. If something goes wrong, IDPs can help fix it faster by providing a central place for all the relevant information and tools. Engineering teams can also work faster because they have all their tools and data in one spot, reducing the need to switch between different things. Plus, IDPs can help keep costs down by showing where money is being spent and allowing for the setting of budget limits. They also help everyone in the company stay on the same page ensure better compliance and give development teams more freedom. The environments where code is built become more consistent and teams can collaborate and share knowledge better. Strong CI/CD integrations are usually included and a comprehensive catalog of services encourages reusing existing components. Finally, IDPs make it easier for developers to get the resources they need. With all these benefits, from making developers more productive to improving efficiency, security, and cost management, it’s clear that IDPs can really transform software development.

To make these advantages even clearer, here’s a quick rundown of the key benefits of using IDPs:

Benefit Category	Specific Benefit	Supporting Snippet(s)
Productivity	Boosting Developer Productivity	”IDPs do this by automating routine infrastructure tasks, which takes a load off developers.”
Productivity	Reducing Developer Burden	”This frees up developers to spend their time on more important and creative work.”
Efficiency	Elevating Operational Efficiency	”IDPs also help companies grow their development efforts with more confidence and fewer mistakes.”
Efficiency	Streamlining and Standardizing Operations	”These platforms bring together all the important infrastructure pieces, like the systems that build and deploy code (CI/CD), monitoring tools, security measures, and cloud resources, into one organized platform.”
Scalability & Reliability	Scaling with Confidence	”IDPs also help companies grow their development efforts with more confidence and fewer mistakes.”
Scalability & Reliability	Reducing Errors	”By making sure that the environments where code is built and run are the same, and by automating the deployment process, IDPs help get rid of the inconsistencies that often cause errors.”
Deployment	Increased Deployment Frequency	”With IDPs, teams can deploy applications more often, sometimes even multiple times a day, which is a big improvement for companies without these platforms.”
Deployment	Faster Time to Market	”This speed comes from automated pipelines and consistent environments throughout the development process, eliminating slowdowns.”
Security & Compliance	Increased Security	”The automation built into an IDP makes platforms more secure and less likely to have weaknesses.”
Security & Compliance	Improved Compliance	”By automatically checking for compliance, IDPs help companies meet industry standards and regulations.”
Planning & Bottleneck Identification	Effective Planning	”Dashboards within IDPs can show important information from software catalogs and scorecards, helping with planning and spotting potential problems.”
Planning & Bottleneck Identification	Bottleneck Identification	”Dashboards within IDPs can show important information from software catalogs and scorecards, helping with planning and spotting potential problems.”
Onboarding	Speeding up Developer Onboarding	”New developers can get up to speed faster because they can quickly learn about the tech and access the tools they need without waiting around.”
Incident Management	Lower MTTR	”If something goes wrong, IDPs can help fix it faster by providing a central place for all the relevant information and tools.”
Engineering Velocity	Higher Engineering Velocity	”Engineering teams can also work faster because they have all their tools and data in one spot, reducing the need to switch between different things.”
Cost Management	Reduced and Controlled Costs	”IDPs can help keep costs down by showing where money is being spent and allowing for the setting of budget limits.”
Governance	Improved Alignment	”IDPs also help companies grow their development efforts with more confidence and fewer mistakes.”
Governance	Enhanced Compliance	”By automatically checking for compliance, IDPs help companies meet industry standards and regulations.”
Governance	Stronger Governance	”The automation built into an IDP makes platforms more secure and less likely to have weaknesses.”
Autonomy	Increased Autonomy for Teams	”The self-service part of IDPs also means developers can be more independent, getting what they need without having to wait on other teams.”
Environment Consistency	Enhanced Consistency Across Environments	”By making sure that the environments where code is built and run are the same, and by automating the deployment process, IDPs help get rid of the inconsistencies that often cause errors.”
Collaboration	Improved Collaboration	”IDPs also help companies grow their development efforts with more confidence and fewer mistakes.”
Knowledge Sharing	Enhanced Knowledge Sharing	”Features that allow developers to share insights, document solutions, and contribute to a shared knowledge base can be very helpful.”
CI/CD	Robust CI/CD Integrations	”Strong CI/CD integrations are usually included.”
Reusability	Comprehensive Service Catalog	”A comprehensive catalog of services encourages reusing existing components.”
Resource Access	Streamlined Access to Resources	”IDPs make it easier for developers to get the resources they need.”

Building an IDP Sounds Awesome, But What are the Gotchas?

While the idea of internal developer platforms is exciting, getting there isn’t always a walk in the park. Even though they’re meant to simplify things, building and keeping an IDP running can get pretty complex. Setting up, connecting, and managing all the different infrastructure pieces like Kubernetes, service meshes, and CI/CD pipelines takes a lot of skill and can quickly become overwhelming. Sometimes, instead of making software releases faster, a platform that’s too complicated can actually slow things down because engineers end up spending more time fixing infrastructure problems. This means you need to be really thoughtful and take things one step at a time when you’re building an IDP.

Another thing to watch out for is technical debt building up in your IDP over time. This can happen when you use old software, take shortcuts to meet deadlines, or don’t write enough documentation. These things can make the platform less stable, more vulnerable to security issues, and more expensive to maintain. Spending time to fix this technical debt can take away valuable resources from working on your main products.

Building a good IDP also takes a lot of time and effort from your engineering teams. This can pull their focus away from actually developing your products. The time spent initially building the platform and then keeping it running might, in some cases, outweigh the benefits of faster releases and better efficiency. Some people estimate that building a fully functional IDP can take a long time, maybe even years, and require a dedicated team.

One common mistake when building IDPs is focusing too much on the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) and runtime parts, and not enough on things like software design and the overall experience for developers. This can lead to a platform that automates deployments but doesn’t really make the daily work of developers any easier or more enjoyable.

Choosing the right tools and technologies for an IDP is another tricky part. The world of cloud-native tech is huge and always changing, so platform engineers have to spend a lot of time checking out different tools and getting good at using them. Also, companies need to be careful not to get locked into using only one vendor’s products and should try to find solutions that work across different cloud providers to stay flexible.

Finding platform engineers with the right skills can also be a big challenge. Building and maintaining an IDP requires special knowledge in areas like automating infrastructure, building APIs, security best practices, and connecting different systems. People with this mix of skills can be hard to find and expensive to hire.

For companies with limited resources, trying to build an IDP might accidentally take focus away from their main business goals. In these cases, if the platform development fails or doesn’t give the expected return, it could put the whole business at risk.

A really important part of building a successful IDP is thinking of it as a product and getting the developers who will use it involved as much as possible. A common mistake is when platform teams think they know best and don’t really listen to what developers need. It’s crucial to actively listen to developers, understand their biggest frustrations, and build the platform to solve those specific problems, rather than just imposing a solution based on what the platform team thinks is best.

Finally, it’s important to realize that investing in an IDP might not be the right move for every company. There are situations where other approaches might make more sense, like if you have a small development team, your development isn’t very complex, your company isn’t ready for standardized processes, your development speed is already slow, you have a tight budget, developers aren’t really complaining about any major issues, your engineering goals don’t align with business goals, your current tools are hard to integrate, you need results quickly, or you’re not prepared for the ongoing maintenance that an IDP requires. A key reason why IDP projects fail is often a lack of good communication between the team building the platform and the developers who are supposed to use it. Also, if it’s not clear what’s really important and what should be included in the platform, it can lead to wasted effort and a platform that doesn’t actually meet the needs of its users. The many potential challenges and reasons why an IDP might not be the right fit show just how complex this undertaking can be and highlight the importance of careful planning, understanding your company’s specific situation, and really focusing on the needs of your developers.

Can You Show Me a Success Story? How Does Spotify Use Platform Engineering and IDPs?

When we talk about companies that have successfully used platform engineering and internal developer platforms, Spotify’s journey with Backstage is a prime example. Backstage is an open-source internal developer portal that has become a key part of Spotify’s platform engineering strategy. Spotify built Backstage internally to make it easier for new developers to join the team and to improve the overall developer experience by giving engineers self-service tools and clear paths to get their code into production, often called “paved roads” or “golden paths”. Initially, the main goal was to create a comprehensive catalog of all their software and services to make it clear who owned what and to encourage reusing existing components. Before Backstage, developers at Spotify reportedly spent a lot of time just trying to find the information they needed to do their jobs effectively.

Recognizing that their internal solution could be valuable to others, Spotify made Backstage open-source in March 2020 and later donated it to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Since then, it has become very popular and is now one of the go-to solutions for companies starting their own platform engineering initiatives. Within Spotify, their internal version of Backstage acts like a central hub for their entire infrastructure, used daily by over 1600 engineers to manage a huge system of more than 14,000 software components.

The way Backstage is built, with a system of plugins, makes it very flexible and adaptable to different needs. Some of the main plugins include the Software Catalog, which keeps track of all the important information about software components; Templates, which allow platform teams to create pre-defined blueprints for new services; TechDocs, a built-in tool for automatic documentation; Search, which lets you customize how you search through the catalog and documentation; and a Kubernetes plugin, which helps service owners monitor the health of their Kubernetes services. The basic structure of Backstage includes three main parts: the main Backstage user interface, the UI plugins along with the services that support them, and databases to store necessary information. This design keeps the core Backstage functionality separate from the specific setup used by a company and the various plugins that add custom features.

Using Backstage has brought significant benefits to Spotify. It has made it easier for new developers to get started and has greatly reduced the time developers spend searching for information. Spotify reported that an impressive 99% of their engineering team voluntarily adopted Backstage, showing that developers find it really useful. Also, data suggests that teams at Spotify that use Backstage a lot have seen more activity on GitHub and an overall increase in how much they get done. The platform also helps standardize the technologies used across the company and ensures that quality standards are met through the use of the Scaffolder plugin. It also integrates with other important tools, like Soundcheck for checking the health of components and a Vulnerabilities plugin for finding security issues. For managing incidents, Backstage connects with PagerDuty, giving developers quick access to on-call information and details about incidents. Moreover, Backstage encourages the idea of platformization and the reuse of code and components within the company.

Despite its success, the complexity of installing and setting up Backstage has led to the creation of several commercial alternatives in recent years. These include platforms like Cortex, Humanitec Portal, Getport.io, Configure 8, OpsLevel, Rely, and Compass by Atlassian. Companies considering Backstage should also be aware of the potentially high costs and the significant time investment needed for extensive customization and ongoing maintenance, especially for large companies. Spotify’s experience highlights the importance of thinking of your platform as a product for any successful IDP implementation, making sure that the platform is constantly improved based on developer feedback and treated as a valuable internal product. The Spotify example shows how a well-implemented internal developer platform can transform the developer experience and boost productivity at scale. However, it also shows the effort and resources required, suggesting that while building your own with Backstage can be very effective, managed IDP solutions might be an easier path for some organizations.

Got Questions? Let’s Dive into Some Common Ones About Platform Engineering and IDPs.

Many people and companies looking into platform engineering and internal developer platforms often have similar questions. Understanding these frequently asked questions can help clarify these ideas.

What makes an IDP a 'platform'?

An internal developer platform is called a “platform” because it raises the level of abstraction for its users, giving them a more Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)-like experience compared to directly dealing with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) resources. It acts as a bridge between the teams managing the underlying platform and the development teams that use its services. Ultimately, a platform helps deliver value from start to finish, allowing applications to provide features to end-users, no matter what specific infrastructure is involved. While a developer portal can be a user-friendly way to interact with an IDP, it’s not essential for something to be considered a platform; using APIs or command-line tools can also count. A key feature of an IDP is that it’s custom-built to fit a company’s unique needs, processes, and rules.

What are the core principles of platform engineering?

Microsoft’s Platform Engineering Capabilities Model outlines six key areas: investment, adoption, governance, provisioning and management, interfaces, and measurements and feedback. These principles help guide companies in setting up and growing their platform engineering efforts.

What are the key features of an internal developer platform?

These often include a central catalog of software components with a self-service interface, giving developers one place to access all the tools and information they need. Software health scorecards provide a live view of how well applications are performing. Integrations and the ability to extend the platform are crucial, allowing the IDP to connect with existing tools and be customized for specific company needs. Finally, software templates, often called “golden paths,” let developers quickly create new projects and services based on pre-set best practices.

How do internal developer platforms boost developer productivity?

IDPs do this by automating routine infrastructure tasks, which takes a load off developers. They also make things less complicated by providing a single place to find everything, simplifying the development process. By making the overall experience better for developers and giving them self-service options, IDPs allow them to focus on coding and delivering value.

What are the common pitfalls in building an internal developer platform?

These include the difficulty of building and managing such platforms, the risk of technical debt building up over time, the significant time and resources required, potential problems with connecting to external tools, security risks with DIY platforms, challenges in setting up good governance, overlooking what happens after deployment, the need for constant updates, and the difficulty of finding and keeping skilled people.

How does Spotify measure the success of their internal developer platform?

While the exact metrics might vary, Spotify’s reported high voluntary adoption rate (99%) of Backstage is a strong sign that it’s seen as valuable and successful within their engineering team.

How does platform engineering abstract infrastructure complexity?

Platform engineering does this by creating an IDP that acts as a simple way for developers to access pre-configured and standardized infrastructure components and services through self-service tools. This hides the underlying complexities of the infrastructure from developers, allowing them to focus on their main tasks.

What are the best practices for designing an internal developer platform?

These include prioritizing the developer experience, ensuring smooth integration across all tools, making it easy to find things and providing good documentation, encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing, focusing on automation and strong governance, thinking of the platform as a product, focusing on the needs of developer “customers,” providing self-service options, making the platform optional at first, starting with a clear plan, getting regular feedback from users, testing with a small team first, having a central platform team, and designing the platform to be flexible.

What are the expected future trends in platform engineering?

These include more companies adopting platform engineering, the increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate tasks, further improvements in IDP capabilities, the growing trend of managing infrastructure, data, and applications as code, the rise of platforms built from reusable components, a greater focus on using data to improve platforms, the impact of AI on development workflows, a continued focus on security and compliance, the adoption of environmentally friendly software practices, and the spread of platform engineering beyond just big tech companies.

How Do Infrastructure and Abstraction Form the Core of Platform Engineering and IDPs?

Infrastructure and abstraction are the fundamental building blocks of platform engineering and internal developer platforms. IDPs are all about giving developers easy, self-service access to the underlying infrastructure they need to build, deploy, and run their applications. This includes everything from where their applications are hosted and the computing power they use, to the essential tools that support them. The key is that the IDP presents this infrastructure in a way that hides many of the technical details behind an easy-to-use developer portal and clear APIs. Essentially, an IDP often layers several logical platforms on top of each other, bringing together different technology functions, platforms, and tools into a single, unified experience for developers. Instead of developers having to go through complicated IT service requests or build entire cloud environments from scratch, an IDP gives them exactly what they need in an automated, fast, and organized way that fits their workflows. Platform engineering, as a practice, involves not just managing this underlying infrastructure but also creating the tools and processes that guide developers through a smooth workflow, often called a “Golden Path,” tailored to their specific needs. Furthermore, IDPs play a crucial role in making cloud infrastructure more efficient by automating development and deployment processes, making better use of resources, improving performance, and saving costs through seamless integration with various cloud services. The success of any platform engineering effort and the IDP it creates depends heavily on the close collaboration of infrastructure platform engineers who ensure a unified and efficient experience for developers, whether they’re using resources from a cloud provider or an internal infrastructure team. So, infrastructure provides the essential components and capabilities that are then made accessible to developers through the IDP, all orchestrated by the principles of platform engineering.

Abstraction is the main way that platform engineering and IDPs deliver their core value. Platform engineering aims to make things simpler for developers and speed up development by creating an abstraction layer – the IDP – that sits between developers and the complexities of the underlying technology. This abstraction hides the intricate details of infrastructure management from developers, allowing them to focus on writing code and building features. IDPs provide a consistent and standardized way to interact with infrastructure, which not only makes it easier to use but also makes it more portable across different environments. By abstracting away the underlying complexities, platform engineering helps standardize workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and embed best practices within the platform. Finding the right level of abstraction is crucial; it should be enough to provide security and compliance by default while not being so complicated that it’s hard to use. The benefits of this abstraction are many, including improved developer productivity, faster time to market for applications, better system reliability and scalability, optimized use of resources, and stronger security. Essentially, abstraction is a powerful tool that helps developers be more efficient and effective by hiding the underlying technical complexities, ultimately leading to faster software delivery and better business results. However, it’s important to find the right balance to avoid making things too simple or adding new layers of complexity that could undo the intended benefits.

Ready to Build Your Own IDP? What are the Essential Best Practices and Considerations?

For companies looking to build their own internal developer platforms, there are several best practices and key things to think about that can greatly increase their chances of success. First and foremost, it’s crucial to think like a product team. This means treating the IDP as an internal product with clear features, a plan for the future, and a focus on the needs of its main users – the developers. Success should be measured by how well the platform meets their needs and helps them achieve better results.

A core idea in platform engineering is to focus on the developer experience (DX). The IDP should be easy to use, fast, and simple to navigate. Getting feedback from developers is essential to understand their problems and make continuous improvements to the platform.

Making sure there’s integration across all your tools is another critical best practice. The IDP should work smoothly with the various DevOps tools and platforms that developers already use, such as CI/CD pipelines, version control systems, and cloud services, ideally through APIs and a consistent user interface.

It’s vital to make it easy for developers to find what they need. So, the IDP should enable discoverability and provide good documentation. Implementing metadata, tagging systems, and strong search features, along with comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, are key to making this happen.

An IDP can also be a great place to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among development teams. Features that allow developers to share insights, document solutions, and contribute to a shared knowledge base can be very helpful.

To improve efficiency and maintain standards, companies should focus on automation and governance within their IDPs. Automating repetitive tasks and building in security, compliance, and best practices into the platform are essential.

It’s often a good idea to start small and build gradually when creating an IDP. Begin with a basic platform that solves the most pressing problems and then slowly add more features based on user feedback and changing needs.

Getting key people involved early in the process is crucial for getting different viewpoints and making sure everyone is on the same page. This includes developers, operations teams, and managers.

A platform that has lots of features but is hard to use probably won’t be very effective. Therefore, prioritizing user experience through testing and making changes based on user feedback is very important.

Clearly defining who is responsible for what between the platform team and the development teams using the IDP is essential to avoid confusion and ensure accountability. Setting up “golden paths” – clear and approved ways to deploy code that include all necessary requirements – can also greatly improve consistency and reduce errors.

Implementing strong monitoring and observability within the IDP gives developers the insights they need to understand how their applications and the underlying infrastructure are performing.

Given that technology is always changing, it’s important to plan for flexibility in the design of the IDP so it can adapt to new needs and incorporate new technologies.

Finally, companies should carefully consider whether to build or buy an IDP. Depending on their resources, time constraints, and specific needs, a commercial IDP solution might be a better fit than building one from scratch. These best practices and considerations provide a strong foundation for companies looking to build effective internal developer platforms that empower their development teams and drive innovation.

What Does the Future Hold for Platform Engineering and Internal Developer Platforms?

The world of platform engineering and internal developer platforms is set to change a lot in the coming years. We can expect to see more and more companies adopting platform engineering principles and IDPs, as they realize how valuable they are for making software development and operations smoother.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are likely to become more and more integrated into platform engineering workflows and IDPs. These technologies will probably automate tasks like managing infrastructure, spotting problems, and improving performance, making platforms more efficient and smart.
• IDPs themselves will keep getting better, becoming more advanced, easier to use, and simpler to maintain. We can expect to see them connect more deeply with various tools and services, as well as use AI to give recommendations and better support different technologies and environments.
• The trend of treating infrastructure, data, and applications as code is going to become even more common. By managing everything through configuration files, companies can achieve greater automation, consistency, and scalability.
• Composability is becoming a key idea in platform engineering. The focus will be on building platform components that are modular and reusable, so they can be easily put together into custom workflows to meet the specific needs of development teams.
• Using data to improve platforms will become more important, with teams increasingly using metrics and observability data to understand how their platforms are being used, identify bottlenecks, and personalize the experience for developers.
• Generative AI is expected to play a big role by automating tasks like writing basic code, creating CI/CD pipelines, and even improving platform documentation.
• The focus on security and compliance will remain a top priority, with security practices being integrated throughout the entire software development process.
• Environmentally friendly software practices are expected to gain traction as companies become more aware of their impact on the planet. Platform engineering will help optimize resource use and promote energy-efficient development.
• Finally, platform engineering will likely become more accessible to a wider range of companies, not just the big tech giants, but also mid-sized businesses and startups. These future trends suggest that platform engineering and IDPs will continue to evolve, driven by new technologies and a growing understanding of how important the developer experience is for business success.

Conclusion: Making Developers Happy with Platform Engineering.

In short, platform engineering and internal developer platforms are a big step forward in how companies handle software development. By focusing on creating easy-to-use, self-service environments for developers, IDPs offer many benefits, including increased productivity, better efficiency, improved scalability, and stronger security. While building and maintaining an IDP has its challenges, the potential rewards in terms of happy developers and faster software releases are significant. As seen with successful examples like Spotify’s Backstage, a well-designed IDP can be a game-changer for engineering teams. By embracing the principles of platform engineering and putting the developer experience first, companies can empower their teams to innovate faster, deliver higher-quality software, and ultimately achieve their business goals more effectively.

References

The following references were used to compile this article. They provide additional insights and information on platform engineering, internal developer platforms, and best practices for implementation.

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