Apache Maven is popular as a build tool. However, in reality, it goes beyond being just a build tool. It provides a comprehensive build management platform. Prior to Maven, developers had to spend a lot of time in building a build system. There was no common interface. It differed from project to project—each time a developer moved from one project to another, there was a learning curve. Maven filled this gap by introducing a common interface. It ended the era of "the build engineer."