Internal developer portals aren't a silver bullet for platform engineering

At this year's KubeCon, a significant theme was the struggle organizations face in enhancing developer velocity while managing increasingly complex tooling, leading many to explore platform engineering as a potential solution. A common first step in this journey is investing in internal developer portals, although many teams face challenges in their adoption, with the average Backstage adoption rate reportedly stuck at 10%. The article discusses the importance of understanding developers' specific interface preferences and behaviors to drive successful adoption, highlighting experiences from Gitpod, where adoption spiked following transitions to popular interfaces like VS Code and JetBrains IDE. The narrative cautions against the assumption that simply building a platform will attract users and emphasizes the need for a tailored approach to interface design that meets developers where they are. The piece concludes by acknowledging the crucial role of internal developer portals in platform engineering while warning against their misuse as a default solution for every problem, stressing the need for diverse interface options to enhance developer engagement and tool adoption.

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