Platform as a Product Meetup: Product Mindset and Platform Success

The Platform as a Product Meetup in London is for leaders and visionaries interested in platform engineering and developer experience. Attendees discuss strategies for building and managing application platforms as products. 

The meetup supports collaboration among different organisations through engaging discussions and networking opportunities. 

Faye Benfield and Zenon Hannick from Armakuni highlight the importance of a product mindset and customer-centricity in a platform as a product. The goal is to create a platform that genuinely meets user needs and delivers value. This approach involves several key elements:

Customer-focused approach and understanding

• Understanding users and their specific needs is important, rather than just assuming what they need. 
• Regular user research helps collect valuable feedback and build empathy, leading to better-informed decision-making.
• Value stream mapping places the user at the centre of the value chain. It highlights the flow of value and gives metrics for improvement.
• The goal should be to create a platform that users genuinely enjoy using, rather than one they find merely tolerable or difficult.

Product mindset and practices

• A product mindset and related practices are necessary for delivering a valuable and user-friendly platform.
• Product ownership should include the entire team. It should move beyond a "feature factory" approach that focuses only on outputs.
• Story writing and early conversations should be shared responsibilities. It helps achieve high-quality outcomes, rather than just completing features.
• Experimentation practices should include clear statements about capabilities and expected outcomes. They should also provide measurable signals that give confidence to move forward.

Platform evolution and flexibility

• Avoid aiming for a single, all-encompassing platform, as the perfect structure can't be predetermined.
• The "Thinnest Viable Platform" focuses on providing only the key APIs, documentation, and tools for faster software development.
• An emergent platform should grow naturally based on real user needs and feedback throughout its lifecycle.
• Constant experimentation and iteration should follow measurable signals to help refine and evolve the platform.

Reducing cognitive load and enhancing discoverability

• Managing users' cognitive load is necessary, as it refers to the total mental effort used in working memory.
• The platform should be designed for simplicity and ease of use, creating the clearest path for users.
• Improve discoverability and onboarding by finding target users and involving them in the design of the onboarding process.
• Actively promoting the platform through existing forums and using early adopters can help it spread to more users.
• The platform should be easy to discover and use, ensuring that "the right thing is the easiest thing to do.”

Armakuni's "AK Way" supports this by offering a People-first engineering framework that covers both technical and human needs. With AK Insights, coaching, and expert advice, Armakuni helps organisations match their platforms to user needs for maximum value and smooth cloud-native transformation.

Source: https://www.meetup.com/platform-as-a-product-meetup-london/