For the people who keep app platforms running
The Alliance launches in Summer 2027, as a benefit corporation.
- 2026AI builders and app platforms go mainstream
Traditional DevOps doesn’t cover app platforms, and the gap is obvious. Each platform works on its own problems; nobody works across them.
- Q4 2026The Alliance is announced
Platform experts who have lived with the gap propose the Alliance, and the site and survey go live.
- Q1 2027The first report
The industry report, the rubric published with it, and the first benchmark.
- Summer 2027The Alliance forms
The first platforms open, with their steering committees and working groups, and work on their certifications begins.
The DOAP Alliance exists to improve the working lives of the people responsible for DevOps on app platforms: to support the people who build and maintain these platforms, to make their work easier, and to help the companies they support run better.
Most of all, it is about people: meeting others who do the same job, and building a career alongside them.
- 01Training
A curriculum across nine domains, platform-neutral at the core and platform-specific where it matters.
- 02Certification
A certification for each Alliance platform (DOAP-AT, DOAP-MON and so on), written by that platform’s certification working group.
- 03Community
A place for the person who is “the Airtable person”, or the Notion person, or the Supabase person, and has never met another one.
- 04Career growth
A credential employers recognize, in a community of people who do the same job, and a clearer path to your next role.
What a benefit corporation is
A benefit corporation is a for-profit company whose charter names a public benefit alongside profit and obliges its directors to weigh it. It reports on that benefit publicly, every year. It makes the mission a legal duty.
By organizing as a benefit corporation, we strive to gain the trust and confidence of our members and the ecosystem at large.
The DOAP Alliance is currently pre-formation. The official charter will be published here once filed.
- §1Earning powerCompensation by certification status and maturity band, year over year.
- §2EffectivenessMovement of members’ DOAP Scores between editions.
- §3RecognitionPractitioners certified; volunteers seated; badges issued.
- §4RelationshipsActive community members; event attendance.
- §5CompaniesIncident and recovery outcomes of member organizations against the benchmark.
Structured governance. Run by committees, led by experts.
We are currently accepting candidates for all our bodies. If you have run a community, written certification exams or training, or are an expert on a platform, we want to talk.
Every body has a lead: a Chair for the Board and committees, a Lead for platform bodies. The lead runs the meetings and the agenda, owns the deliverables, and answers to the body one level up. Every position is for a set term, renewed each year.
People who have built bodies like this before. Advises the Board, and appoints it. Sits on nothing else.
Seats openExternal Advisory Board
5 seats
People who have built bodies like this before. They advise the Board and appoint it, and sit on nothing else.
- Traditional DevOpsKeeps the DOAP tenets honest against established DevOps practice.
- Platform PerspectiveBrings how platforms are built, priced and shipped.
- Certification & StandardsMakes the credential defensible.
- Governance & Sustainable FundingKeeps the Alliance funded without being captured by its funders.
- Builder CommunitySpeaks for the people who take the survey and earn the scores.
Final decision on everything: mission, budget, opening platforms, approving standards. Appointed by the External Advisory Board. Seated before launch.
Seats openDOAP Board
5 seats
The final decision on everything: mission, budget, which platform opens, the standard.
- ChairRuns the Board and is its contact with the External Advisory Board and Openside.
- Standard LeadOwns the tenets, the rubric and the score method, and signs off each published report. Hears ranking disputes, and is the Board’s contact with the Certification Committee.
- Platforms LeadDecides which platform opens next and oversees the Platform Steering Committees.
- Treasurer — Finance & Public BenefitOwns the budget, oversees the Openside contract and writes the annual benefit report.
- Community LeadOwns membership, the Community & Content Committee, events and the Founding Cohort.
Owns the exam framework, scoring, integrity and renewal. Approves platform question banks; writes none itself.
Seats openModeration, code-of-conduct first response, the editorial calendar, events programming. Where a new volunteer starts.
Seats openEverything specific to one platform. Reports to the Board.
Seats openPlatform Steering Committee
5 seats per platform
Everything specific to one platform, from its community to its certification. Every platform seats one when it opens, and it reports to the DOAP Board.
- LeadRuns the committee and sets its agenda, represents the platform to the DOAP Board, and decides when the platform is ready to open.
- Community LeadRuns community interaction and the community teams (moderation, code-of-conduct first response, onboarding), and grows membership: gets the platform to its twenty registrants and keeps members engaged.
- Certification LeadOwns the platform’s certification: leads the Certification Working Group that writes its exam questions, and takes them to the Certification Committee for approval.
- Content & Events LeadOwns the platform’s content and events (editorial calendar, guides, webinars, meetups), and leads outreach so new practitioners find the community and register.
- Platform Standards & Liaison LeadOwns the platform’s standing in the Alliance. Reviews the research and survey results behind its DOAP Score before they are published, and handles its appeals with the DOAP Board’s Standard Lead. Also the committee’s contact with the company behind the platform, for its roadmap, feature requests and escalations.
The deep experts. Drafts platform-specific questions and scoring for the Committee to approve.
Seats openContent and moderation within the platform’s community.
Seats openSee the roles we are recruiting for on the boards and committees →
Serving on a body
- Unpaid and part-time. Annual terms, renewable to three years (five on the Board).
- Dues waived for the term. Free access to all events during it. A badge on the site and at events.
- The Founding Cohort — anyone seated on a first body — keeps event access after their term: one year served earns three, two earns five, three earns ten.
- Removal for non-performance or a code-of-conduct breach, by the body one level up.
How a platform opens
Once a platform has twenty registrants, we select its Platform Steering Committee and working groups. When the Board approves the platform and its committees, the platform’s community launches and work on its certification begins.
Code of conduct →I know first hand the pains that come from this work, and I want to meet everyone else who feels this gap and looking to overcome it.
As founder of Openside, I started the BuiltOnAir community, built On2Air and hosted hundreds of live podcasts, all to bring together the people who work on the platform I committed my career to.
I spent 20+ years in traditional software development and DevOps. When I found app platforms (Airtable, in my case), I was hooked: no more weekend migrations or server crashes. Over the years I’ve also learned every new way to get into trouble on them. Many leaders in the space see the same gap, and it’s time we do something about it.
- Built
- InAir Studio (co-founder). Openside, home of BuiltOnAir, On2Air and Baseout (coming soon).
- Track record
- Proven CEO (Eli Healthcare) and founder (InAir) of multiple multi-million-dollar companies. Previously Venture Partner at Cross Creek Advisors.
- Studied
- MSc Computer Science, Cal State San Marcos. BA Economics and MBA, BYU.
- Based
- Provo, Utah
All boards are being seated now. We want to talk to you.
Get involved- 5 seatsExternal Advisory Board
People who have built bodies like this before. Advises the Board and appoints it; sits on nothing else.
I would serve here →External Advisory Board
5 seats
People who have built bodies like this before. They advise the Board and appoint it, and sit on nothing else.
- Traditional DevOpsKeeps the DOAP tenets honest against established DevOps practice.
- Platform PerspectiveBrings how platforms are built, priced and shipped.
- Certification & StandardsMakes the credential defensible.
- Governance & Sustainable FundingKeeps the Alliance funded without being captured by its funders.
- Builder CommunitySpeaks for the people who take the survey and earn the scores.
- 5 seatsDOAP Board
The final decision on everything: mission, budget, which platform opens, the standard.
I would serve here →DOAP Board
5 seats
The final decision on everything: mission, budget, which platform opens, the standard.
- ChairRuns the Board and is its contact with the External Advisory Board and Openside.
- Standard LeadOwns the tenets, the rubric and the score method, and signs off each published report. Hears ranking disputes, and is the Board’s contact with the Certification Committee.
- Platforms LeadDecides which platform opens next and oversees the Platform Steering Committees.
- Treasurer — Finance & Public BenefitOwns the budget, oversees the Openside contract and writes the annual benefit report.
- Community LeadOwns membership, the Community & Content Committee, events and the Founding Cohort.
Operated by Openside under contract: infrastructure, website, marketing, operations. Openside does not own the Alliance.
Join as a Founding Member.
The Alliance forms platform by platform, when twenty people register for each. Add your name, and your platform gets one closer.
- Sep 2026 · nowFounding members join
Gathering initial interest: your name on the join form, and the first survey open, for every platform.
- Q1 2027First survey opens
The industry report, the rubric published with it, and the first benchmark.
- Summer 2027The Alliance forms
Three platforms at twenty, steering committees seated, the benefit corporation filed.
- AfterCertification opens
The exam follows the nine domains the survey measures.