TL;DR: Ship value faster by standardizing developer golden paths on an Internal Developer Platform (IDP). Start with three paths (API, data, frontend), measure time to first deploy, and track MTTR and cost/feature. This post lays out a reference architecture, adoption playbook, and a 6‑week bootstrap.
Why IDP now
- Talent leverage from India: onboard new hires in days, not weeks.
- Compliance and reliability: consistent guardrails with paved roads.
- Cost visibility: cost‑to‑serve per feature, not vague cloud bills.
Minimum Viable Platform (6 capabilities)
- CI (build, test)
- CD (progressive delivery, approvals)
- IaC (standard stacks, secure by default)
- Runtime (Kubernetes/serverless with templates)
- Observability (logs, metrics, traces, SLOs)
- Developer Portal (Backstage-like catalog)
Golden Paths (start with three)
- API service: repo scaffold → tests → deploy to staging → promote.
- Data pipeline: ingestion template → quality checks → lineage → publish.
- Frontend: component library → preview env → a11y checks → release.
Metric to watch: Time to first deploy (TTFD). Push for minutes, not days.
Cost‑to‑Serve & FinOps guardrails
- Tag costs by product/value stream; expose cost per change.
- Default budgets + alerts; show unit economics (₹/API call, ₹/order).
- Weekly review: reliability × cost × adoption.
Adoption Playbook (make Platform a product)
- Define PQLs: “team created service”, “first deployment”, “SLO defined”.
- Platform NPS; roadmap shaped by user interviews.
- Champions in each tribe; office hours; enablement kits.
6‑Week Bootstrap (what I run)
- Week 1–2: pick critical golden paths, wire CI/CD + IaC + obs, publish starter templates.
- Week 3–4: onboard 2–3 pilot teams; measure TTFD, MTTR; tune docs.
- Week 5–6: expand to 6–8 services; set SLOs; stand up cost lenses.
Loom (≤5 min) — Script
- 00:00–00:45 — The pain (onboarding, MTTR, inconsistency).
- 00:45–02:00 — Walk the reference architecture.
- 02:00–03:30 — Demo a golden path (scaffold → test → deploy → observe).
- 03:30–04:15 — Cost‑to‑serve lens and weekly scorecard.
- 04:15–05:00 — The 6‑week bootstrap & next steps.
CTA: If you want a 6‑week IDP bootstrap with measurable ROI, I can help design and land it.