.jpg){kind=small}
Slide 1
Slide 1 text
TeamTopologies.com
@TeamTopologies
What is
Platform as a Product
& Why Should You Care?
Manuel Pais
co-author of Team Topologies
Platform Engineering KAIGI - 9 July 2024
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
Team Topologies
3
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press, 2019
teamtopologies.com/book
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
“innovative tools and concepts for
structuring the next generation
digital operating model”
Charles T. Betz,
Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
4
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
⚠
A mandated platform
(often) increases the
cognitive load of teams
8
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
9
Waiting for
the answer
to a ticket?
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
Functional silos
10
Infra
CI/CD
Monitoring
Deployment
Poorly integrated services?
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
12
Confusing APIs?
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
13
Service unavailable
or too slow?
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
4 key metrics: ‘Accelerate’
14
⚠ lead time
⚠ deployment frequency
⚠ mean time to restore
⚠ change fail percentage
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
15
A valuable platform
reduces the cognitive load
of stream-aligned teams.
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
teamperature.com
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
What is a Platform?
24
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
“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, 2018
25
Source: https://martinfowler.com/articles/talk-about-platforms.html
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
“Create a path of
least resistance.
Make the right thing
the easiest thing to do.”
– Evan Bottcher, 2018
31
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
59
Thinnest Viable Platform
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
63
Thinnest Viable Platform
A small, curated set of complementary
services or patterns that simplify and
accelerate delivery when used together.
“Use these N services in these ways...”
Photo by Jean-Philippe Delberghe on Unsplash
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
A good platform is just
“big enough” but no bigger
65
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
66
Platform evolution via
clear team interactions
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
“My own definition of DevOps:
Everything you do to overcome the
friction between silos. All the rest is
plain engineering.”
– Patrick Debois, 2021
The DevOps Handbook (2nd edition)
67
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
Lack of adequate team
interactions prevents
effective platform evolution
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
70
strong collaboration with
stream-aligned teams for
any new service or evolution
Platform Behaviors
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
71
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
72
provide support and great
documentation for stable
services
Platform Behaviors
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
73
Slide 25
Slide 25 text
74
Slide 26
Slide 26 text
The other hard problem for
effective platforms is
building trust.
Slide 27
Slide 27 text
76
Invest in building trust early,
“plant the seed” for platform
adoption later
Slide 28
Slide 28 text
Industry
Example
77
Slide 29
Slide 29 text
Case Study
78
Slide 30
Slide 30 text
Case Study
79
https://videos.itrevolution.com/watch/431737448/
Slide 31
Slide 31 text
Case Study
80
https://videos.itrevolution.com/watch/431737448/
Slide 32
Slide 32 text
What is a Product?
86
Slide 33
Slide 33 text
Product:
Holistic User Experience
Functionality + Design + Monetization + Content
– Marty Cagan, 2010
89
Source: https://svpg.com/defining-product/
Slide 34
Slide 34 text
90
A product is optional to
use - no-one is forced to
use the product
Slide 35
Slide 35 text
91
Slide 36
Slide 36 text
92
A product is carefully
designed and curated
Slide 37
Slide 37 text
93
Slide 38
Slide 38 text
94
A product simplifies
something for users
Slide 39
Slide 39 text
95
Slide 40
Slide 40 text
96
A product evolves to take
advantage of technology
changes
Slide 41
Slide 41 text
97
Slide 42
Slide 42 text
98
s/product/platform/g
Slide 43
Slide 43 text
99
A platform is optional to
use - no team is forced to
use the platform
Slide 44
Slide 44 text
100
Platforms must advocate
for their platform
product and “market” it
to internal teams
Slide 45
Slide 45 text
101
Slide 46
Slide 46 text
102
A platform is carefully
designed and curated
Slide 47
Slide 47 text
103
Platforms must be
designed with the user in
mind (internal teams) -
focus on UX and DevEx
Slide 48
Slide 48 text
104
A platform simplifies
something for users
Slide 49
Slide 49 text
105
Platforms must help
users to achieve goals by
understanding user
needs and simplifying
tasks & workflows
Slide 50
Slide 50 text
106
A platform evolves to take
advantage of technology
changes
Slide 51
Slide 51 text
107
Platforms must evolve
the capabilities they
offer (adding/removing)
with a clear (yet flexible)
roadmap
Slide 52
Slide 52 text
108
A platform needs modern
product management
(and service management)
Slide 53
Slide 53 text
Industry
Example
111
Slide 54
Slide 54 text
Case Study
112
https://teamtopologies.com/industry-examples/
organizational-evolution-accelerating-delivery-of-comparison-services-uswitch
Slide 55
Slide 55 text
114
Flow of change
Slide 56
Slide 56 text
“People were spending more time
having to interact with relatively
low-level services thus spending
their time on relatively low-value
decisions.”
- Paul Ingles
116
Slide 57
Slide 57 text
118
Slide 58
Slide 58 text
119
A valuable platform
reduces the cognitive load
of stream-aligned teams.
Slide 59
Slide 59 text
136
Flow of change
Slide 60
Slide 60 text
137
How do we know
we’re on the “right path”?
(aka Platform Metrics)
Slide 61
Slide 61 text
138
adoption & engagement metrics
Platform Metrics
Slide 62
Slide 62 text
139
Slide 63
Slide 63 text
141
adoption & engagement metrics
user satisfaction metrics
Platform Metrics
Slide 64
Slide 64 text
142
Slide 65
Slide 65 text
143
adoption & engagement metrics
user satisfaction metrics
reliability metrics
Platform Metrics
Slide 66
Slide 66 text
144
Slide 67
Slide 67 text
146
adoption & engagement metrics
user satisfaction metrics
reliability metrics
delivery metrics
Platform Metrics
Slide 68
Slide 68 text
4 key metrics: ‘Accelerate’
147
lead time
deployment frequency
mean time to restore (MTTR)
change fail percentage
Slide 69
Slide 69 text
150
The success of platform
teams is ultimately the
success of the teams
using the platform
Slide 70
Slide 70 text
153
Establishing solid platform
engineering is a journey,
requires long term funding.
Slide 71
Slide 71 text
154
Slide 72
Slide 72 text
155
● new engineers shipping to production on
week 1
Success Story?
Slide 73
Slide 73 text
156
● new engineers shipping to production on
week 1
● reduced cloud costs by 10% across
services thanks to cheaper instances
👀👀👀
Success Story!
Slide 74
Slide 74 text
157
Focus on the “last mile” of
platform as a product:
measure generated value.
Slide 75
Slide 75 text
159
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwaRKcjkAAo
Slide 76
Slide 76 text
160
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwaRKcjkAAo
BIZ
LANGUAGE
Slide 77
Slide 77 text
161
Slide 78
Slide 78 text
162
● teams onboard the platform
● applications using the platform
● traffic served by the platform
● ...
Adoption Metrics
Slide 79
Slide 79 text
163
● teams onboard the platform
● applications using the platform
● traffic served by the platform
● revenue served through platform services
👀👀👀
Adoption Metrics
Slide 80
Slide 80 text
Four pillars for
platform
sustainability
164
Slide 81
Slide 81 text
165
1
Trusted
platform
Platform
(services
and
team
s)
are
trusted
by
product team
s
Slide 82
Slide 82 text
166
1
Trusted
platform
Platform
(services
and
team
s)
are
trusted
by
product team
s
2
Shared
success
stories
Successes
using
the
platform
need
to
be
shared
w
idely
(qualitative
value)
Slide 83
Slide 83 text
167
1
Trusted
platform
Platform
(services
and
team
s)
are
trusted
by
product team
s
2
Shared
success
stories
Successes
using
the
platform
need
to
be
shared
w
idely
(qualitative
value)
3
Internal confidence
M
etrics
on
platform
adoption,
user satisfaction, reliability
Slide 84
Slide 84 text
168
1
Trusted
platform
Platform
(services
and
team
s)
are
trusted
by
product team
s
2
Shared
success
stories
Successes
using
the
platform
need
to
be
shared
w
idely
(qualitative
value)
3
Internal confidence
M
etrics
on
platform
adoption,
user satisfaction, reliability
4
External confidence
P&L
m
etrics
around
ROI, cost
(control), tim
e
to
m
arket, flow
Slide 85
Slide 85 text
175
Slide 86
Slide 86 text
176
Slide 87
Slide 87 text
177
“most platform approaches [will] fail
if technology remains the primary
focus (…) companies that explicitly
focus on team interactions,
developer experience, feedback
loops, and product management will
leapfrog those who do not”
Slide 88
Slide 88 text
178
Happier users (engineers)
Reduced cognitive load
No technology bloat
Designed to evolve
Slide 89
Slide 89 text
179
The ways of working outside
Engineering (in)directly
impact all of the above
⚠
Slide 90
Slide 90 text
213
Copyright © Team Topologies Ltd 2024. All rights reserved.
teamtopologies.com/
platform-engineering
“Platform Engineering as a Way of Thinking
and Team-of-Teams Design”