05. The Rise of the Internal Developer Platform
A well designed Internal Developer Platform (IDP) reduces cognitive load.
By Chris Munford, CEO/Founder of Nethopper.io
Many enterprises are reducing developer cognitive load and increasing productivity with the introduction of an “Internal Developer Platform”.
An Internal Developer Platform (IDP) is the sum of all the tech and tools that a platform engineering team binds together to pave golden paths for developers. IDPs lower cognitive load across the engineering organization and enable developer self-service, without abstracting away context from developers or making the underlying tech inaccessible. Source: What is an Internal Developer Platform, by Kaspar von Grünberg
Now, consider the diagram below showing the developer cognitive load using an IDP:
Platform engineers designed the IDP so the developer only has to maintain one simple interface to the IDP, allowing the developer to focus on what matters, developing new application features, faster. This accelerates the return on investment to the business, which increases the value of the application, and the chances for successful business outcomes and digital transformation.
Well designed IDPs follow a Platform as a Product approach, where a platform team builds, maintains and continuously improves the IDP, following product management principles and best practices.
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