What comes first: developer platform or developer portal?

In an interview with Chris Westerhold from ThoughtWorks, the discussion centers around the challenge of deciding whether to implement an internal developer platform or portal first when transitioning to platform engineering. Westerhold emphasizes the importance of a product management approach to understand organizational needs, waste, and friction points, advocating for data-driven decisions and feedback loops to improve developer experience. He highlights that the choice between a portal or platform depends on the specific context of the organization, such as transforming from a monolithic to a microservices architecture or optimizing cloud costs and developer workflows. The article suggests that building a developer portal or platform should be seen as part of a continuous improvement journey, where both negative and positive feedback loops are harnessed to enhance efficiency and reduce costs, ultimately recommending a focus on creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that truly meets developers' needs.