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Measuring the Value of Your Internal Developer Platform Investments

By Sridhar Kotagiri, Ajay Chankramath

 

The authors provide a comprehensive framework for articulating, measuring, and communicating the value of Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs). They discuss the challenges of quantifying IDP value and offer practical guidance for securing stakeholder buy-in and demonstrating ROI.

  • Format PDF
  • Pages 28
  • Publication Date May 7, 2024

Features

  • Comprehensive Framework

    Provide a comprehensive framework to articulate, measure, and communicate the true worth of IDPs.

  • Value Articulation

    Shows readers how to quantify IDP value and demonstrate ROI.

  • Expert Authors

    Written by a team of experts in the field who have applied these principles in various industries.

  • Change Agents

    Change agents can come from anywhere on the org chart. These papers directly address how to lead and implement change no matter your role or title.

About the Resource

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.

Sridhar Kotagiri
Ajay Chankramath
Sridhar Kotagiri

Sridhar Kotagiri

Sridhar Kotagiri is the Platform Product Management Principal in the Enterprise Modernization team at ThoughtWorks, one of the world’s leading software consultancy firms closely associated with the movement for Agile Software Development, and a top contributor to a range of open source products over the past twenty-five years. His current focus is to accelerate business value through Internal Developer Platforms and Platform Engineering in the cloud-native ecosystem. Prior to Thoughtworks, he spearheaded Platform and Product development efforts for some of the market leaders in FinTech, Telecom, and banking industries.

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Ajay Chankramath

Ajay Chankramath

Ajay Chankramath leverages over three decades of experience in software development, open source, platforms, organizational leadership, and agile development as Head of Platform Engineering at ThoughtWorks. He’s built high-performing teams at tech giants, FinTech firms, and semiconductor leaders. Chankramath optimizes platforms, cloud costs, developer experience, and observability, making him a sought-after expert and speaker. His diverse training and deep understanding of technology and business enable him to tackle complex challenges and drive success across industries with customer value as the driving factor.

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