One of the world’s major energy firms has embarked on modernizing its development infrastructure with the implementation of an Internal Developer Platform (IDP).
This initiative aims to address key challenges in their development processes and significantly boost developer productivity.
The Initial Challenges
The organization encountered several hurdles within its development environment that hampered team efficiency and productivity. Lengthy provisioning times delayed resource availability, leading to bottlenecks.
Increased infrastructure complexities led to elevated support demands, straining engineering resources
The reliance on manual and complex workflows for resource allocation introduced unwanted friction in development processes. Additionally, onboarding new projects was time-consuming, taking between 4 and 6 weeks, thus slowing down time-to-productivity.
Disparate development practices across teams resulted in inconsistency and deviation from the company’s standards, while engineers faced high cognitive loads due to the need for knowledge across multiple domains. Increased infrastructure complexities led to elevated support demands, straining engineering resources.
Collaborative Solution with RiverSafe
To tackle these challenges, the company worked with RiverSafe and its DevOps team on a phased approach to create a developer-friendly, automated platform.
Phase 1: OpenShift Implementation
In the first phase, OpenShift was adopted to simplify cloud operations and provide a unified development framework. Developers were equipped with pre-configured workspaces, minimizing setup time and manual task requirements. Resource allocation was automated, eliminating the need for manual workflows and expediting processes. Security enhancements and observability tools were embedded platform-wide, including chaos engineering integration, and CI/CD pipelines were automated to speed up deployment cycles.
Phase 2: Comprehensive IDP Development
Building on the OpenShift platform, a full-fledged Internal Developer Platform was established to simplify and standardize development workflows. This included implementing one-click deployments for rapid iteration, integrating GitOps tools like ArgoCD and Crossplane, and employing Grafana and Loki for real-time monitoring. Advanced testing tools like ChaosMesh and PACT were introduced for resilience and contract testing, alongside standardized resource definitions to ensure consistent operational management.
Improvements and Benefits
The introduction of these solutions led to notable improvements in both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
Quantitative Improvements
Deployment times were drastically reduced from 2 weeks to just 2 minutes. Onboarding time for new projects decreased significantly from 4–6 weeks to a mere 30 minutes, allowing for a quicker start. The automation of various processes resulted in a substantial decline in support requirements.
Qualitative Benefits
The initiative created a standardized developer experience that is consistent and efficient across teams. Engineers can now concentrate on core development tasks without the burden of managing multiple domains, reducing their cognitive load. Furthermore, automated security guardrails have improved compliance and security practices throughout the organization.
One of the world’s pioneering energy companies embarked on a transformative journey to modernise its development infrastructure with an Internal Developer Platform (IDP).
This case study explores how the organization tackled key challenges to remove barriers, streamline workflows, and improve developer productivity.
The challenge
The company’s development environment presented several obstacles that impacted team efficiency and overall productivity:
- Lengthy Provisioning Times: Development resources often took excessive time to provision, leading to delays and bottlenecks.
- Cumbersome Processes: Resource allocation relied on complex, manual workflows, adding unnecessary friction to the development process.
- Extended Onboarding: New projects faced onboarding times of 4–6 weeks, delaying time-to-productivity for developers.
- Inconsistent Practices Across Teams: Varied development practices led to inconsistencies and technical drift from organizational standards.
- High Cognitive Load: Engineers were required to manage knowledge across multiple domains, increasing their cognitive load.
- Increased Support Overhead: Complex infrastructure needs led to elevated support requirements, which stretched engineering resources.
The solution journey
The company engaged RiverSafe to collaborate with its DevOps team on a multi-phased journey toward an automated, developer-friendly platform.
Phase 1: OpenShift implementation
The initial phase involved adopting OpenShift to simplify cloud operations and establish a unified framework:
- Pre-Configured Workspaces: Provided developers with pre-configured environments, reducing setup time and manual tasks.
- Automated Provisioning: Automated the allocation of resources, removing manual paperwork and streamlining workflows.
- Security and Observability Enhancements: Embedded platform-wide security guardrails and introduced tools for chaos engineering and observability.
- CI/CD Pipeline Automation: Established automated continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to accelerate deployment cycles.
Phase 2: Building the full IDP
Building on the OpenShift foundation, the organization worked on creating a comprehensive IDP designed to:
- Simplify Deployments: Introduced one-click deployment capabilities to enable rapid iteration and deployment.
- Enable GitOps and Monitoring: Integrated tools like ArgoCD and Crossplane for GitOps, and Grafana and Loki for real-time monitoring.
- Streamline Resilience and Testing: Added advanced testing tools, including ChaosMesh for resilience testing and PACT for contract testing.
- Standardize Development Workflows: Established standardized resource definitions and centralized operational management to ensure consistency.
Results to date
Quantitative improvements
- Deployment Time Reduction: Cut deployment times from 2 weeks to 2 minutes, dramatically speeding up the development cycle.
- Faster Onboarding: Reduced onboarding time from 4–6 weeks to just 30 minutes, enabling new projects to start quickly.
- Lower Support Overhead: Streamlined processes and automation have significantly reduced support requirements.
Qualitative benefits
- Standardized Developer Experience: Created a more consistent, efficient environment for developers across teams.
- Reduced Cognitive Load: Engineers can now focus on core development tasks instead of juggling multiple domains.
- Enhanced Security and Compliance: Automated guardrails ensure compliance and improve security practices.
