During the last DevOps Days in Antwerp I attended an open space discussion on platform KPIs. The conversation revolved around the overwhelming number of things you can monitor in an internal developer platform (IDP), but the real question was: which metrics actually matter to management when it comes to platform adoption and value?
We, as a group, quickly arrived at a fundamental question: is it even up to us as engineers to define these metrics?
... ➦Work-life balance is one of those concepts that means different things to different people. For some, it’s about shutting the laptop at 5 PM and never thinking about work until the next morning. For others, it’s about the flexibility to work when inspiration strikes—whether that’s at 6 AM, 10 PM, or somewhere in between.
At its core, though, we all want the same thing: to enjoy both our personal and professional lives, without one constantly intruding on the other. We want the freedom to work in a way that suits us best, rather than being locked into rigid schedules dictated by dependencies and bottlenecks.
... ➦There was a moment in time where serverless computing seemed to be everywhere (it’s still around, but not much of a buzzword anymore). It promises the ability to run applications without having to worry about infrastructure management. No servers to maintain, no scaling nightmares, no hardware failures to keep you up at night. Just deploy your code, and the cloud handles the rest.
Sounds familiar? It should. It’s the same pitch car-sharing services like Cambio or Poppy make: “Why own a car when you can just use one when you need it?” No maintenance, no insurance headaches, no need to worry about depreciation. Just book and drive.
... ➦A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a colleague about developer platforms, and we stumbled upon a surprisingly fitting analogy: building an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) is a lot like an episode of Kitchen Nightmares.
If you haven’t seen the show, here’s the basic premise: struggling restaurants reach out to Gordon Ramsay for help. He shows up, takes one look at their bloated menu, inefficient kitchen, and unhappy customers, and immediately tells them what’s wrong. The pattern is almost always the same—too many dishes, slow service, poor quality, and a staff that’s completely overwhelmed. The solution? Cut the complexity, go back to basics, and build something great before expanding.
... ➦Over the years, I’ve seen organizations wrestle with the challenge of scaling agile. There’s always that moment where leadership realizes that a handful of high-performing teams are not enough—they need to scale their success across the entire company. That’s when the big frameworks come in.
For manyorganization, the defacto standard to run to is SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). It’s structured, it promises alignment, and it provides a clear playbook for large enterprises. I’ve worked with SAFe implementations before, and while it looks great on paper, in reality, it often introduces as much complexity as it tries to solve. And, very important, you can hire certified consultants to get it all implemented
... ➦I’ve had many conversations about Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) and the broader concept of Platform as a Product. One topic that comes up more often than I’d like is the idea that a platform should be mandatory for developers. Management, in particular, often struggles with the concept of an optional platform. In their view, it’s the responsibility of the platform team to build the system, and the job of leadership to enforce its use. Because using the platform reduces cost
... ➦