Navigating the Pitfalls of Internal Developer Portals: What You Need to Know

In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, Internal Developer Portals (IDPs) have emerged as vital tools for enhancing developer efficiency and collaboration. However, like any technology, they come with their own set of challenges. Here, we’ll explore some common pitfalls associated with IDPs and how to avoid them, ensuring you derive maximum value from your investment. While Harness does offer an IDP, this information is not specific to Harness, and can be helpful regardless of whether you use Backstage, build your own IDP, or use an IDP vendor such as Harness.

Pitfall 1: Insufficient Scale for Impact

One of the most significant pitfalls when beginning the journey towards an IDP is having a sufficient number of developers and services to justify its existence. According to insights from Backstage, you need around 150-200 developers to truly feel the pain points that an IDP aims to alleviate. For example:

• Different teams may use various tools, environments, and processes, causing inconsistencies and inefficiencies.
• Developers spend excessive time on manual tasks such as provisioning environments, setting up CI/CD pipelines, or requesting access to services.
• Information on how to use internal tools, services, and environments is often scattered across various systems and poorly documented.
• Developers often lack real-time visibility into application performance, deployment status, or errors, leading to reactive firefighting rather than proactive problem-solving.

Similarly to Backstage, Harness suggests that having around 100 developers or microservices are needed to maximize the value of an IDP. Find out more about how Harness IDP, powered by Backstage, helps make the developer portal experience easier here.

Why This Matters

If your organization has fewer developers or services, the potential return on investment (ROI) can be challenging to realize. Without enough scale, the tools and processes you implement may feel like unnecessary overhead rather than genuine improvements.

Solution

Assess your organization’s needs realistically. If you’re below the threshold for meaningful IDP impact, focus on nurturing a more robust developer culture and pipeline before diving into an extensive portal setup.

Pitfall 2: "Boiling the Ocean"

When embarking on the journey to create an IDP, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad of features and capabilities available. The temptation to implement everything at once can lead to confusion and a lack of focus.

Start Small

Rather than attempting a grand overhaul, prioritize incremental improvements. Focus on:

• Visibility issues: Make it easier for your developers to see what services are available for use, who all is using them, and who owns the services.
• Standardized service onboarding: Simplifying the process can drastically reduce friction by having an automated process to stand up a new service from scratch when requested by the developer.
• Automation: Eliminate repetitive ticketops with automation tools. Create workflows that automatically complete certain processes, that are usually manually done with tickets,  when trigger actions occur.
• Scorecards for migration: Measure library or package migration progress to keep teams accountable and on track. For example, you can have an easy way to view how many of your services have completed their upgrade to the newest version of Python. Or how many services are still using a vulnerable version of some other package.

Starting with these foundational elements can build momentum and demonstrate quick wins, making it easier to expand your IDP over time.

Pitfall 3: The “Cool Factor” Trap

With the rapid proliferation of new technologies, there’s a tendency to adopt tools simply because they are trendy. However, an IDP should not be a shiny object; it must serve real-world developer needs.

Measure First

Before launching an IDP, conduct surveys or gather SEI data to understand the actual pain points developers face. Questions to consider:

• What problems do developers encounter regularly?
• Are there ticket operations that can be streamlined?
• What information do developers need to perform their jobs more effectively?

By focusing on actual developer needs rather than trends, you ensure that your IDP is a tool for empowerment rather than a burden.

Pitfall 4: Lacking a Product Mindset

Developers have external customers, and in a similar vein, Product Engineers (PEs) have developers as their customers. Adopting a “product mindset” is essential for the success of your IDP.

Active Collaboration

Work closely with developers to identify and solve their challenges. Regular communication and feedback loops can help create a portal that truly serves its users, making it an indispensable part of their workflow.

By treating the IDP as a product—one that evolves based on user feedback—you foster a sense of ownership among developers and encourage them to utilize the portal more effectively. You can read more about the “product mindset” in a blog by our very own Himanshu Mishra here.

Conclusion

Internal Developer Portals can be transformative for organizations, but they’re not without their pitfalls. By understanding and addressing these common challenges—ensuring you have enough scale, starting small, avoiding trendy traps, and maintaining a product mindset—you can create a successful IDP that genuinely enhances your developers’ experience and productivity.

Remember, the goal of an IDP is not just to have a platform, but to foster a culture of collaboration and efficiency that drives your development efforts forward. So take these insights to heart, and embark on your IDP journey with a clear strategy in mind!

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