Thought Leadership
Interlocking Applications and Infrastructure: A modern approach to DevEx
Andrew Fong
Developer Experience (DevEx) is capturing the spotlight, aligning closely with the rise of platform engineering.
Traditionally, real investment in these domains was almost exclusively reserved for tech behemoths. However, the democratization of sophisticated cloud technologies has leveled the playing field. Engineers are empowered with large sets of powerful tools and, consequently, the complex challenges that come with them.
This intersection of innovation and complexity is precisely where DevEx comes into play.
Prodvana approaches DevEx by directly addressing the "interlock problem," or the impedance mismatch between infrastructure and application layers.
This issue captures the divergent goals and priorities of Infrastructure and Application Teams:
Infrastructure Teams are focused on reliability.
Application Teams are focused on shipping.
Infrastructure Teams own cost.
Application Teams own growth.
Infrastructure Teams care about knobs.
Application Teams want a “do it button.”
Infrastructure Teams want to know why, how, and what to do.
Application Teams want to know what to do.
Infrastructure Teams want to build Infrastructure.
Application Teams want to build Products.
This dichotomy isn't a flaw but a feature. It creates a critical discussion between experts, driving the best possible outcomes. Yet, historically, this tension has seeped into toolchains, complicating life.
The industry's response was one of two things:
Build Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions, attempting to sidestep the dichotomy.
Slap a UI that exposes some set of knobs and calls it “ClickOps.”
There’s an even worse case that some vendors take: build entirely for the infrastructure or the platform buyer leaving the upstream consumer with a crappy experience.
Prodvana's strategy is shaped to embrace and streamline the dichotomy and put friction in the right places.
Our approach transforms the “interlock problem” into an opportunity to be a force multiplier on your acceleration.
Subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn or X, where we will show you specific examples of how we address the interlock problem, proving it is possible to have your cake and eat it, too.
