Why Internal Developer Portals and Platforms Are the Missing Link in Developer Experience

However, as teams scale and development environments become more complex, the challenge becomes about balancing competing necessities: developer autonomy, governance, security, compliance, and operational standards. If not successfully addressed, it can lead to friction and bottlenecks, undermining the very point of DevOps.

Internal Developer Platforms and Internal Developer Portals are a vital solution to this, providing structure to scaling DevOps and ensuring that your teams are all harmoniously in sync.

This article will look in more detail at what internal developer platforms and portals are, how they work together, and what it means for your teams.

An Internal Developer Platform (IDP) streamlines the software development lifecycle by providing on-demand access to the tools, services and infrastructure required to build, deploy and manage applications. This might include things like container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, monitoring tools, databases, and security services. A platform team is responsible for building, maintaining, and operating this underlying infrastructure, abstracting complexities away to let developers focus on writing and shipping code.

An Internal Developer Portal is the user interface or access point to an Internal Developer Platform. The portal is where developers and engineering teams will engage with the resources and capabilities of the platform. For example, developers could provision a new environment, access documentation or monitor performance from the portal, while operation managers could assess costs or get an overview of production timelines. Serving as a centralised interface, it aids in discovery, standardisation, and offers an improved user experience.

Internal Developer Portals and Platforms work in tandem to improve the experience of engineering teams. They are, in effect, two sides of the same coin, in as much as the platform is the underlying system for the developers to power their work. It's where all the technical capabilities reside. The portal, meanwhile, is the dashboard or control panel for the system, acting as the user interface for the underlying systems provided in the platform. It provides a developer-friendly experience, and abstracts away the complexities of the platform software. It streamlines common development workflows, such as spinning up new projects, accessing documentation, and managing deployments

The implementation of effective IDPs and portals yields significant benefits for DevOps teams, including faster onboarding of new developers, reduced cognitive load, fewer handoffs between development and operations, and improved reliability and consistency across the software development lifecycle. That is complimented by better visibility for stakeholders, reducing the reporting burden and enhancing collaboration.

Internal developer portals and platforms are invaluable assets to DevOps teams, and by extension, the entire company. The management of a multitude of tools, ensuring consistent governance, and maintaining velocity can become significant challenges. These tools address challenges of autonomy and governance, streamline workloads, and enhance productivity through accelerated onboarding.

Let's delve into how this all occurs.

One of the key benefits of internal developer platforms is the abstraction of routine tasks through automation. This means that developers can spend more time on productive code, rather than spending time doing the more mundane tasks. The self-service nature of the portal also helps with reducing handoffs, as developers can provision resources, spin up environments and manage their own environments autonomously without relying on other teams. This reduces bottlenecks and can speed up the delivery process.

A key benefit of Internal Developer Portals and Platforms is how they enhance the developer experience. Portals act as the central repository for documentation and tutorials, making it easier to find the information they need. Coupled with the ease-of-use benefits that come from abstracting away the infrastructure complexities, both portals and platforms help to reduce the cognitive load and allow developers to focus on being productive.

Internal developer platforms (IDPs) empower DevOps teams to uphold governance rules by weaving compliance checks, security policies, and best practice standards into the platform's fabric. They can provide pre-approved, standardised templates for infrastructure provisioning, ensuring consistent and trustworthy deployments across diverse environments. This is an embodiment of platform engineering best practices that help maintain security and consistency.

With all documentation in one centralised knowledge base, developers have easy access to all the internal documentation and insights. This is great not only for day-to-day productivity, but also for onboarding new members of staff, as having access to explicit knowledge reduces their need to rely on other team members to get answers. Upfront investment in collating knowledge will have long-term ROI as people can get working faster.

A core premise of DevOps is increased collaboration, and Internal Developer Platforms Portals further improve this with unified access to documentation, systems, and timelines. Together, they can help visualise the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), help demonstrate the tech stack, service ownership and dependencies. Collaboration helps managers, product teams and other internal stakeholders better understand engineering activities, and can even support incident management by quickly providing necessary context into working arrangements.

Introducing Internal Developer Platforms and Portals into your DevOps environment is a significant step. It requires careful planning and cross-collaboration between teams—especially with the platform engineers who will be taking ownership of the project. Here are some key aspects to consider:

Begin by identifying the specific problem your organisation aims to solve, whether it be governance, consistency, or another challenge. Once this is clear, proceed with a pilot project to test the waters. This approach, often referred to as a Minimum Viable Platform, allows you to validate the functionality of your Internal Developer Platform (IDP) with a clear objective in mind. By starting small, you can gather valuable feedback and demonstrate the platform's value to stakeholders, using evidence of how it addresses the identified issue. It's essential to iterate and improve continuously, ensuring the platform evolves with your team's needs and gains further buy-in from stakeholders.

The success of your IDP largely depends on how well it serves its primary users—developers. Prioritise an intuitive and seamless Developer Experience (DX). Developers should find it easy to navigate, with minimal friction when accessing resources and tools. Ensure the portal includes clear documentation and self-service capabilities, empowering developers to work independently and efficiently.

Building an IDP is a team effort. Assemble a dedicated group of platform engineers for selecting, implementing, and maintaining the platform. Involve developers in the planning and design stages to ensure the platform meets their needs. Collaborate with IT operations to align the IDP with existing infrastructure and security standards. A successful team will incorporate diverse perspectives to create a well-rounded platform.

Your IDP will consist of various components, such as CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and monitoring tools. These are part of the DevOps platform tooling that aligns with your organisation's specific requirements and expertise. Remember, an effective IDP isn't an off-the-shelf solution; it should be tailored to fit your unique needs and workflows, providing extensibility with your choice of plugins and tools.

Once your IDP is up and running, the journey doesn't end. Collect feedback from developers regularly and make improvements based on their input. Track key metrics like developer satisfaction and deployment frequency to measure the platform's performance. Continuous iteration ensures the platform remains relevant and effective in supporting your organisation's evolving needs.

By focusing on these key aspects, you can lay the groundwork for a successful Internal Developer Platform and portal that empowers your DevOps teams and enhances software delivery. To see how Venue.sh can help you address these challenges and more, visit our website and try our demo experience.