Bringing internal engineering gems into the light

Bill Doerrfeld | March 28, 2025

The latest edition of DirectorPlus explores how to externalize successful internal engineering projects.

Some internal tools are too good to keep hidden.

But how do you find these gems? And when should you externalize them?

I spoke with Spotify's Pia Nilsson about how to identify and externalize internal platforms — like they did with Backstage.

According to Nilsson, great internal tools solve a real business problem, serve an underserved need, don't introduce friction, and require ongoing support.

Catch it in the latest edition of DirectorPlus for LeadDev. And be sure to subscribe to DirectorPlus if you'd like this monthly column in your inbox.

Featured image credit: @chuttersnap

Read: Bringing internal engineering projects to the world

Sign up to the DirectorPlus newsletter for a new story in your inbox each month featuring on-the-ground insights from some of the industry's top engineering leaders. Or, if you would like to be featured in the series, please read this.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

My slides for my keynote 'How AI Agents Change API Interaction'

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 18, 2026

Here are my slides from my opening keynote at Nordic APIs Summit 2026, exploring how AI agents are changing API interaction patterns.

The AI Pen-Testing Toolbox

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 17, 2026

My latest research for AI Security University looks at AI tools and resources for pen-testers, red teamers, and bug bounty hunters.

Agents redefine the software delivery lifecycle

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 16, 2026

My commissioned feature for Arthur D. Little's PRISM publication analyzes the big shifts underway now that generating code is becoming trivial.

Thanks for having me, SecureMaine!

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 11, 2026

Was happy to participate as a speaker and moderator at SecureMaine on October 8th, 2026.

How Meta is scaling senior engineering knowledge

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 5, 2026

My latest for LeadDev interviews a Meta engineer who built an agentic system to optimize their capacity planning, leading to real power use savings.

Alternative clouds: CIOs are still evaluating

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 30, 2026

I set out expecting to write an article about how every enterprise was jumping on trendy alternative or "neo" clouds. That ended up not being the case.