The 3 Pillars of Developer-ization

As SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin puts it: Developers are the “internal engine of innovation.” They are the driving force behind change and modernization in their business, and the population is projected to see 7.2 million more of them in the next 5 years.  

Traditional CIO’s can embrace and inspire a developer-led innovation process by providing the right tools and resources and by encouraging experimentation without constantly hitting the breaks. With a shift in attitude and some flexibility, CIO’s and executives will see higher quality apps and more valuable IP’s in no time.

Check and see if your company adheres to these 3 pillars of the “developer-ization of IT”, or if your company is stuck in the past.

1.      Utilize Cloud Capabilities.

Without scalability in your infrastructure, there can be no growth. The cloud offers flexible infrastructure scale as needed and eliminates the need to start from scratch by building new servers, storage and services on your own.

By offering various resources that are “enterprise-ready”, your company will reduce time, cost, and boost productivity.

2.      Allow developers a lot of controlled freedom.

In other words, your developers need the chance to experiment freely without imposing barriers on the process. Applications are typically not developed in a linear fashion so long-term contracts tend to interfere when approvals are necessary for procurement.

If you’re worried about security, monitoring tools and API management solutions can be deployed to see what kind of data is going in and out of your developer’s networks. Relay a set of best practice standards for developers and deploy software that allows them to build on applications that access data exposed via API’s.

3.      Provide developers with the proper outlet for project management and creativity.

Cultivate the strengths of your developers by providing platforms where they can expand their knowledge and channel creativity. Encourage the use of forums, social media platforms and hackathons so that they can share tools, hacks, shortcuts and insights with coworkers and others.  

Professional hacking is a new societal movement in the IT world because it inspires professionals to use creative, unorthodox means to solve IT problems. It is also a great way to find security gaps in applications and technology.

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Does your company strengthen or stifle “developer-ization” (developer-led innovation)? Be sure to leave feedback in the comment section below.