Measuring the Value of Your Internal Developer Platform Investments

In the rapidly evolving software development landscape, the role of Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) has become increasingly pivotal. Yet, unlike traditional products or services, these platforms often operate in the shadows, quietly powering the engines of innovation without directly showcasing their impact on the bottom line. They are enablers, not revenue generators, which makes articulating, measuring, and communicating their value difficult. By delving into the intricacies of their role and impact, the authors provide a comprehensive framework that organizations can leverage to articulate, measure, and communicate the true worth of these silent champions in software development.

Having worked with several clients over the years, the authors have successfully helped organizations think about how to solve the problem of justifying a platform investment. They have helped them evolve from grappling with the daunting task of justifying platform investments to orchestrating strategic decisions with clarity and confidence. This evolution is not only about building new platform capabilities but also about instilling a culture of informed decision-making that gives IDPs the same priority and attention as products that are customer-facing.

As engineering teams look to improve their engineering effectiveness and reduce toil by reducing the cognitive load developers face in an increasingly complicated ecosystem, the need for reusable, internal platform capabilities increases. While solving for effectiveness is a noteworthy problem, the larger issue organizations see is an inherent inability to articulate the value and prioritize all the identified work in a platform effort based on value. Not knowing the return on investment for building any given capability exacerbates this prioritization problem, leading to platforms that don’t get adopted as expected or need mandates for adoption.