May 2022 Summaries

Gartner has recognized Humanitec as one of the top ten representative vendors in the latest report on "Innovation Insight for Internal Developer Portals". Gartner recommends Platform Engineering and building Internal Developer Platforms to improve software delivery speed, consistency, and scalability. The report highlights the importance of establishing internal developer portals to enable governance without sacrificing agility, and platform owners need clear ownership, great product management, and continuous innovation to extend their features. Gartner's key findings support previous studies on the scalability of DevOps setups and platforming initiatives, emphasizing the need for improved developer experience to attract and retain engineering talent.

When embarking on a cloud-native journey, engineering organizations often overlook establishing a solid foundation to ensure success. Building an internal developer platform can be challenging, requiring careful consideration of principles such as standardization, abstraction, and treating the platform as a product. The author highlights five key principles to consider: embracing standardization, avoiding the fallacy of making everyone an expert, building a platform as a product, starting small with a minimal viable solution, and being aware of the tragedy of the commons where individual interests may conflict with group needs. By following these principles, organizations can create a successful internal developer platform that supports their growth and adoption of cloud-native technologies.

The common pitfalls of migrating to cloud native setups in large enterprises include a lack of clear structure and governance, leading to chaos and disorganization among teams. As operations are decentralized and teams start building their own infrastructure, the complexity increases, and it becomes difficult for developers to manage their environments. The transition can take up to 2 years, with phases including a period of innovation, followed by operational challenges, and finally, the adoption of a platform model to bring order and structure back to the organization. By understanding these common pitfalls, organizations can learn how to mitigate them and establish a successful cloud native migration strategy.