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Platform as a Product from the Trenches [AOTB e...

Avatar for Syntasso Syntasso
July 10, 2025
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Platform as a Product from the Trenches [AOTB edition]

Minor change of diagram at the end (find the red thread slide) for clarity and readability.

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Syntasso

July 10, 2025
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  1. Cat Morris Staff Product Manager • 10+ years in tech

    • Platform specialism for 5+ years • Done all the roles • Previously at BT, Capgemini, Thoughtworks • Startup building Kratix, a Platform Framework
  2. “A raised platform elevates you. Building on top of a

    platform means you don’t need to start from scratch but can build on top of what others have created.” Gregor Hophe, author of Platform Strategy – Innovation through Harmonization
  3. A digital platform is a foundation of self-service APIs, tools,

    services, knowledge and support which are arranged as a compelling internal product. Evan Bottcher
  4. 1. Inflation and Economic Downturn 2. Supply Chain Security 3.

    Increasing Customer Expectations 4. Accelerated Digital Transformation 5. The War for Talent Will Intensify 6. Data and Device Security 7. Sustainability
  5. 1. Inflation and Economic Downturn 2. Supply Chain Security 3.

    Increasing Customer Expectations 4. Accelerated Digital Transformation 5. The War for Talent Will Intensify 6. Data and Device Security 7. Sustainability INCREASE EFFICIENCY INCREASE EFFICIENCY
  6. 1. Inflation and Economic Downturn 2. Supply Chain Security 3.

    Increasing Customer Expectations 4. Accelerated Digital Transformation 5. The War for Talent Will Intensify 6. Data and Device Security 7. Sustainability INCREASE EFFICIENCY DECREASE RISK DECREASE RISK INCREASE EFFICIENCY
  7. 1. Inflation and Economic Downturn 2. Supply Chain Security 3.

    Increasing Customer Expectations 4. Accelerated Digital Transformation 5. The War for Talent Will Intensify 6. Data and Device Security 7. Sustainability INCREASE EFFICIENCY DECREASE RISK DECREASE RISK INCREASE EFFICIENCY 🔥 GO FASTER 🔥 🔥 GO FASTER 🔥 🔥 GO FASTER 🔥
  8. • Each team already had a way of doing things

    • Each team still has deadlines and objectives • Each team has a different tech stack & compliance requirements
  9. “Platform as a Product is what happens when you apply

    a product mindset to your internal platform” Paula Kennedy, LOPUG Organiser (and industry luminary)
  10. “Platform as Product” online training course launched by Team Topologies

    Academy 2021 Virtual PlatformCon 2022 event with more than 70 talks, key theme of Platform as a Product highlighted 2022 2024 First Platform Engineering day at KubeCon - focus on Platform as a Product and user centricity
  11. • Platform engineering is technically complex • Platform engineering requires

    organisational change • Platform-as-a-Product is an emerging discipline
  12. Application Developers are your users. There are a finite number

    of them in your organization. If you piss them off they can and will find another way to do things.
  13. Twitter :( Me (as a platform consultant) :( Every platform

    team ever when their investment gets canned and they are back to being a ticket shop with no automation and are only spoken to when things are on fire :(
  14. Find your red thread Provide a premium banking experience Give

    customers access to a free virtual card Provide access to and support payments via virtual card Enable Cards Team to self-serve infra & pipelines related to virtual card Business Objective Business Bet Application Team Platform Team
  15. • Platforms are hot because: ◦ They promise to help

    you go faster, decrease risk and increase efficiency ◦ Everyone wants those things • But Platforms are hard because: ◦ They are technically complex ◦ They require organisational change • Platform as a Product wins because: ◦ It learns from what we learnt building consumer products ◦ It actually has a long history of success • And to do it right you need to: ◦ Follow Cat’s Platform-as-a-Product lessons… TLDR;
  16. 1. Valuable doesn’t have to mean all the value to

    everyone all at once. 2. Platforms don’t have a very big captive audience. 3. You need to learn UX. Platform XDs are even rarer than you are. 4. FEASIBILITY IS NOT YOUR JOB ANYMORE! 5. Teams not directly adding customer value are the first to be cut. Cat’s Platform-as-a-Product Lessons