1 Crafting Experiences for Cloud Native Development
This chapter covers
- What developer experience is and why it matters
- Paving the path from idea to production through the inner loop and the outer loop
- Using continuous delivery to build higher-quality software faster and safer
- Main challenges and friction points impacting the developer experience
- Introducing the cloud native project used in the book
As organizations adopt cloud native technologies and Kubernetes, they are fundamentally transforming how they build, deploy, and manage software. This shift is driven by the need to deliver software faster, more reliably, and at scale. At the core of this transformation is the developer experience—the daily reality of how developers interact with tools, platforms, and processes to deliver value to customers through software.
While these technologies offer powerful capabilities, they often come with increased cognitive load and reduced developer productivity. Understanding and optimizing the developer experience has become crucial for organizations aiming to succeed in their cloud native journey.
This chapter lays the foundation for understanding developer experience in modern software engineering. We will explore why developer experience is important, examine the fundamental challenges that teams face when building applications for Kubernetes, and introduce key concepts such as the inner and outer development loops.