Netflix is a leading global streaming entertainment service that has transformed the way people consume entertainment by providing on-demand access to a wide variety of entertainment. Their Infrastructure platform team focuses on enabling increased productivity of their engineers to make sure that Netflix continues to run quickly and reliably.

The Challenge#

Prior to using Temporal, Netflix was grappling with a complex and increasingly unwieldy workflow orchestration system. This homegrown solution was becoming increasingly complex and time consuming, hindering developer productivity and overall system reliability. With this in-house solution, Netflix faced:

• Low Developer Productivity: The complexity of the system hindered development speed and efficiency.
• Reliability Concerns: Netflix’s homegrown solution was prone to errors and failures, impacting overall system stability.
• Lack of Standardized Abstractions: Different teams were using disparate approaches to managing cloud infrastructure, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies.
• Scaling Limitations: As the company grew, the existing system struggled to handle increased workloads and demands.

Increased Reliability and Scalability with Temporal#

Recognizing the need for a more robust and developer-friendly workflow engine, Netflix turned to Temporal. Temporal’s key advantages resonated with the platform team:

• Code-first Workflow Development: Temporal allows developers to define workflow logic directly in code, eliminating the need to switch between code and configuration formats like JSON.
• Enhanced Testability: With code-first workflows, developers can thoroughly test the entire workflow logic without relying solely on runtime execution.
• Improved Developer Experience: By providing a unified coding environment for both business logic and workflow orchestration, Temporal reduces cognitive load and increases developer efficiency.

Benefits of Temporal Adoption#

“Without Temporal, we would be lagging behind significantly from where we are. Because of the productivity it provides, we are able to move much, much faster than where we were previously. I don’t think that the product I work on would be successful at all if Temporal were not part of the solution.” –Rob Zienert, Sr. Software Engineer, InfraAPI Team, Netflix

Netflix has experienced significant gains in developer productivity and system reliability since adopting Temporal:

• Accelerated time-to-market: Faster development and deployment cycles lead to quicker product launches.
• Reduced operational overhead: Temporal's managed cloud service can alleviate infrastructure management burdens.
• Improved decision-making: Better visibility into workflow execution and performance supports data-driven decisions.
• Enhanced customer experience: More reliable and efficient operations contribute to a positive customer experience.

Conclusion#

Netflix's experience with Temporal highlights the platform's potential to revolutionize how organizations approach workflow orchestration. By shifting the focus from infrastructure management to core business logic, Netflix has the ability to innovate faster and more reliably.