Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - What developers want from internal developer portals (DOP215)

Summary

• Speaker: Ganesh, CTO and co-founder of Cortex, an internal developer portal (IDP).
• Cortex's Goal: To help developers take ownership of their software and services, promoting a culture of continuous improvement and reliability.
• Tech Landscape Changes: Adoption of microservices, Kubernetes, cloud computing, and an increase in developer tooling.
• Challenges: Complexity, ownership tracking, cost optimization, and tool sprawl leading to a high signal-to-noise ratio.
• Tools Analysis: Tools are assessed based on their ability to drive quality or velocity.
• IDP Requirements: Must be a system of record, drive action, and enable self-service.
• Developer Feedback: Developers struggle with finding information, prioritizing tasks, and desire templating and self-serve capabilities.
• Cortex's Approach: Automates system of record, prioritizes actions, and provides self-service tools.
• Cortex's Features: Over 50 integrations, scorecarding, developer home page, alerts, reporting, actions, scaffolder, and plugins.
• Adoption Framework: Start by aggregating information, assess standards, drive action through initiatives, and optimize for self-serve to create a continuous improvement flywheel.

Insights

• Continuous Improvement: The recurring theme of continuous improvement suggests that IDPs should not only provide immediate solutions but also foster an environment where developers can consistently enhance their work.
• Complexity of Modern Software: The shift towards microservices and Kubernetes has increased the complexity of software, making it difficult to track ownership and manage services, which IDPs like Cortex aim to simplify.
• Cost Optimization: The ease of cloud deployment has led to increased usage and costs, highlighting the need for IDPs to assist in cost optimization strategies.
• Tool Sprawl: The abundance of tools available to developers has created a challenge in managing them effectively, which IDPs can address by centralizing information and streamlining processes.
• Developer Experience: The insights from developers emphasize the need for IDPs to simplify the discovery of information, provide clear prioritization of tasks, and facilitate easy adoption of best practices through templating and self-serve tools.
• Cortex's Differentiators: Cortex's integration capabilities, automated system of record, and developer-centric features like scorecarding and a personalized home page differentiate it in the IDP market.
• Actionable IDPs: The concept of actionable IDPs, where developers can perform tasks directly within the portal, is crucial for engagement and efficiency.
• Customization and Extensibility: Cortex's plugin system allows for customization and extensibility, which is important for organizations to tailor the IDP to their specific workflows and needs.
• Adoption Strategy: The framework for successful IDP adoption involves a step-by-step approach, starting with information aggregation and culminating in self-serve enablement, which aligns with the principles of continuous improvement.