Leading your platform migration with developer experience

Undergoing a platform migration and exploring the world of GitHub? It’s likely that one of your first conversations will be centered on how we can empower you to modernize your software development environment and transform your business. It’s a thrilling journey we embark on together, equipping you with the tools and support to reach unprecedented heights.

While it’s tempting to dive straight into requirements and metrics, it’s crucial to take a step back and assess the developer experience (DevEx). After all, empowering developers with the right environment is the key to unlocking their full potential and driving innovation.

Embrace technology, culture, and process for transformation

We believe that true transformation is the result of combining technology, culture and process. When executed effectively, this leads to increased feature development, faster release cycles, fewer change failures, and quicker issue resolution. And the knock-on impact is greater revenue growth for your business.

In many ways, the initial conversation with technical buyers is similar to military reconnaissance. Just as reconnaissance involves gathering vital information to inform strategic decisions, engaging with technical buyers allows us to gather essential insights into the specific experience your developers have. It’s during this phase that we lay the groundwork for a deeper understanding of the DevEx before advancing the conversation with enterprise buyers and delving into the value drivers specific to your organization.

Unpack culture and process considerations

When it comes to culture and process, here are some common challenges we evaluate:

1. Time it takes a developer to make their first commit. The duration it takes for a new developer to make their first commit is an essential consideration. In some cases, this process can take as long as three months, which can significantly impact productivity and hinder early contributions. As trivial as it sounds, outdated wikis are a common issue. Newly onboarded developers not having access to the right information can create disruption. Tightly controlled operating environments also amplify the lack of information, as they require developers to uncover needed accounts and permissions by traversing through roadblocks.
2. Innersource contributions per project. Breaking down silos is key. The last thing you want is developers in different teams duplicating common code that could otherwise be innersourced when they could be part of a culture that contributes to the success of the other.
3. Detecting leaked secrets and scanning for code vulnerabilities. Security is a critical aspect of modern development practices. Ignoring security breaches or relying on disparate tools and overly gated security processes can render secure code practices irrelevant for developers. It’s important to implement measures to detect leaked secrets and regularly scan code for vulnerabilities.

At GitHub, we believe that time to first commit can occur within a matter of hours.

By tackling these common challenges head-on, you can significantly enhance DevEx. So, here are some pro tips to fuel your success.

Implement a centralized knowledge base

Create a centralized repository or knowledge base where developers can access up-to-date information, guidelines, and best practices. This can be in the form of a well-maintained wiki, a documentation portal, or a collaborative platform like GitHub’s Wiki feature.

Foster collaboration through innersource

Collaboration through innersource should be a default across all projects, and walled projects should be managed by exception. At GitHub, we believe that a good README file should be created for each project to detail its purpose, maintainers, use, and how to contribute to it.

Prioritize application security

Application security is a must for every developer workflow. We recommend shifting left–essentially performing security testing earlier in your development lifecycle–so developers share the responsibility of security. Secrets should also be push protected and code should be scanned for vulnerabilities before merging.

Automate CI/CD

Finally, CI/CD should be automated. At GitHub, workflows can be created or integrated easily via GitHub Actions to build software quickly, and GitHub Copilot will be the catalyst that enhances productivity across the various stages of the secure software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Get started

Exploring the right GitHub Enterprise platform is important within these initial conversations. Whether it’s a cloud-based GitHub platform or a single tenanted environment, how and where we choose to build from is key to success.

Written by

Samuel Abdelsayed

@samuelabdelsayed