Organizations are increasingly investing in internal platforms to streamline development, enhance system resilience, and bolster security. These platforms are often touted as the solution to various operational challenges, promising to accelerate innovation, reduce downtime, and protect valuable assets. However, a critical question lingers: how can organizations determine if their internal platform investments are truly successful if they don’t measure the outcomes?

The Rise of Internal Platforms

Internal platforms, also known as developer platforms or platform engineering, have gained immense popularity in recent years. They are designed to provide a standardized set of tools, services, and processes that developers can leverage to build, deploy, and manage applications more efficiently. By abstracting away complex infrastructure concerns, internal platforms empower developers to focus on delivering business value rather than reinventing the wheel for every new project.

Furthermore, internal platforms are instrumental in fostering a culture of self-service and automation. Developers can provision resources, deploy code, and manage environments on demand, reducing their reliance on manual interventions and increasing overall agility. This self-service approach not only accelerates development cycles but also enables teams to operate more independently, leading to faster time-to-market for new features and products.

The Measurement Gap

While the benefits of internal platforms are evident, a concerning trend has emerged: many organizations fail to establish clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of their platform initiatives. This measurement gap can have serious consequences, as it hinders organizations from understanding the true impact of their investments and making data-driven decisions to optimize platform performance.

Without proper measurement, organizations risk falling into the trap of assuming that their internal platforms are delivering on their promises simply because they exist. This blind faith can lead to complacency and missed opportunities for improvement. It can also make it difficult to justify continued investment in the platform if stakeholders cannot see tangible results.

The Importance of Measurement

Measuring the success of internal platforms is not merely an academic exercise; it is a crucial aspect of ensuring that these platforms are delivering value to the organization. By establishing clear metrics and KPIs, organizations can:

  • Validate Investment: Quantify the impact of internal platforms on key business objectives, such as development speed, system uptime, and security posture. This data is essential for demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) to stakeholders and justifying continued funding.
  • Identify Areas for Improvement: Pinpoint bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and underutilized features in the platform. This insight allows organizations to prioritize enhancements and optimize platform performance.
  • Drive Continuous Improvement: Track progress over time and identify trends. This data enables organizations to make data-driven decisions to continuously improve the platform and ensure that it remains aligned with evolving business needs.
  • Promote Accountability: Establish a culture of accountability among platform teams by setting clear goals and measuring progress against those goals. This transparency helps ensure that the platform is meeting the needs of its users and contributing to overall organizational success.

Key Metrics for Internal Platforms

The specific metrics and KPIs that organizations choose to track will vary depending on their unique goals and priorities. However, some common metrics that can be applied to most internal platform initiatives include:

  • DORA Metrics:

    • Deployment Frequency: How often code is deployed to production.
    • Lead Time for Changes: The time it takes from code commit to code running in production.
    • Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR): The average time it takes to recover from a production failure.
    • Change Failure Rate: The percentage of deployments that result in a failure requiring remediation.

  • System Resilience:

    • Uptime: The percentage of time the platform is available and operational.
    • Incident Rate: The number of incidents (e.g., outages, performance degradations) per unit of time.
    • Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): The average time between platform failures.

  • Security Posture:

    • Number of Vulnerabilities: The number of known security vulnerabilities in the platform.
    • Time to Remediate Vulnerabilities: The average time it takes to fix identified vulnerabilities.
    • Compliance with Security Standards: The degree to which the platform adheres to relevant security standards and regulations.

  • User Satisfaction:

    • Net Promoter Score (NPS): A measure of user loyalty and satisfaction.
    • User Survey Results: Feedback collected through surveys or other channels.
    • Adoption Rate: The percentage of target users actively using the platform.

  • Platform Efficiency:

    • Resource Utilization: The percentage of available resources (e.g., CPU, memory) being used.
    • Cost per Deployment: The average cost of deploying a change to production.
    • Infrastructure Automation Rate: The percentage of infrastructure tasks that are automated.

Implementing a Measurement Framework

Establishing a measurement framework for internal platforms requires careful planning and collaboration between platform teams, developers, and business stakeholders. The following steps can guide organizations through this process:

  • Define Goals and Objectives: Clearly articulate the desired outcomes of the internal platform initiative. These goals should be aligned with broader business objectives.
  • Identify Key Metrics: Select the most relevant metrics and KPIs that will measure progress toward the defined goals.
  • Establish Baseline Measurements: Collect initial data to establish a baseline for comparison. This baseline will serve as a benchmark for future measurements.
  • Implement Monitoring and Reporting: Set up processes to collect data on an ongoing basis and generate reports that visualize progress against KPIs.
  • Analyze and Act: Regularly review the data and use the insights to identify areas for improvement. Implement changes and track their impact on the chosen metrics.
  • Iterate and Refine: Continuously iterate and refine the measurement framework based on feedback and evolving business needs.

Conclusion

Building internal platforms without measuring their success is akin to embarking on a journey without a map or compass. While the initial enthusiasm and optimism may be high, the lack of direction and feedback can quickly lead to frustration and disappointment. By embracing a culture of measurement, organizations can ensure that their internal platform investments are truly paying off, accelerating innovation, enhancing resilience, and strengthening security. Ultimately, this data-driven approach will empower organizations to navigate the complex digital landscape with confidence and achieve long-term success.