Usage Can Be Mandated, Adoption Must Be Earned

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0600

Standing up a platform team feels like the hard part:

✅ Hire the engineers
✅ Pick a tool
✅ Build the golden paths
✅ Announce it at the next all-hands

Job done!

Then six months pass. Half the org still files tickets the old way. The platform team spends sprints defending why the new thing matters instead of shipping. A VP asks why the investment hasn’t moved a single velocity number.

Internal-Developer-Platform on David R. Longnecker - Converting Coffee to Code

Usage Can Be Mandated, Adoption Must Be Earned