Principles for driving adoption and platform team growth | Jonathan Biddle (Wayfair)

Driving adoption of developer platforms requires treating internal teams like startups, where success hinges on identifying and solving specific, high-friction problems for early adopters. By applying the "diffusion of innovation" framework, platform leaders can navigate the transition from initial, transactional support to long-term, recurring value. This process involves identifying "core customers"—typically senior engineers—to build professional-grade tools, then scaling through decentralized adoption before eventually mandating standards to reduce organizational complexity. Measuring success requires moving beyond simple usage metrics to track tangible improvements in developer velocity and sentiment. Ultimately, platform teams must own the entire adoption journey, not just the technical build, by fostering psychological safety and maintaining a relentless focus on delivering measurable business value through increased engineering productivity.