Enabling self-service developer portals

We’ve already stated that a platform is not a platform if self-service isn’t a core tenant of its design. Now, it’s time to understand what that means and how it pertains to the promised reduction of cognitive load. The platform team can’t be on hand to approve everything all the time. As such, it is imperative to put some control into the hands of end users, without failing to save them from an increase in cognitive load. This dichotomy requires striking a careful balance, which must be discussed and negotiated between the stakeholders to be successful. A platform team trying to control everything too tightly prevents the platform from scaling with the users, as it’ll always be limited to the size and location of the team. This means it’s time to think about how you help your users help themselves. What should a developer or team be able to do without higher levels of approval? What should be restricted...