Cloud · 6 min
Paved roads, not platforms
The internal developer platform is the most over-promised idea in engineering. What actually works: paved roads that earn adoption, not mandates.
Internal developer platforms fail when they are built as a destination rather than a service. A platform nobody chooses is a cost center with a roadmap.
The pattern that works is the paved road: opinionated templates and self-service paths that make the right thing the easy thing, adopted voluntarily because they are genuinely faster than the alternative.
Start with one road. The most common new-service setup, with provisioning, CI/CD, observability, and secrets handled. Measure how long it takes with and without the road, and let the gap do the selling.
Keep the platform team thin. A small team with a clear catalog and good feedback loops will outperform a large team with a mandate. Adoption is earned, not imposed.