The prevalence of platform product manager positions has caught my interest. As I endeavor to comprehend the responsibilities of a platform PM, I would like to pose several inquiries.
What distinguishes a platform PM position from a traditional PM position? Do they operate and assume responsibilities in a separate manner?
Which metrics does the function of Platform PM oversee or own?
How does a platform PM engage in conversations with other PMs within the organization, such as front-end workers?
Former platform PM for a long time. “Platform” is analogous to “back-end” or “internal PM.” They bear the responsibility for the fundamental infrastructure and tools that support the company’s ability to provide consumers with its products or services.
As part of my duties, I developed operational infrastructure to facilitate the resolution of problems at their source, customized tools for particular business units to enhance data utilization and efficiency, and rearchitected our back-end tables to enable more rapid and dependable analytics, among other responsibilities.
Additionally, you may collaborate closely with particular business units regarding their objectives. As opposed to merely adding a new modal or icon to our website, I would collaborate with our fulfillment team to reduce defects and enhance the customer experience via on-time deliveries, etc., as these metrics demanded substantial back-end modifications.
Additionally, I frequently collaborated with the front-end PMs. I was responsible for ensuring that we were configured on the back end to record interactions, make that data accessible, modify customer-facing options to reflect their actions, etc., if they requested a new button.
Your metrics may include availability and latency or be more business-oriented; however, this is dependent on your role and the organization’s objectives.
I’ve only been a platform PM for about six months. preceding three years of B2B PM experience and seven years of program management. I was browsing obsolete Reddit threads in search of assistance and resources. Although I am already two years into the future, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share your insights on a few matters.
Some excellent resources that I regularly refer to or keep current with include industry blogs, online forums, and professional networking platforms. These sources provide valuable insights into the latest trends, best practices, and innovative solutions in the field. Additionally, attending conferences and webinars related to my area of expertise helps me stay updated and connected with industry experts.
After a year as a platform PM, it would seem you try to get your colleagues to work together and build from a common base, either identity, integration model, data model, or whatever your organization considers a platform.
I found I spent most of my life trying to bludgeon alignment into a set of acquired products for the sake of our customers not having to learn different tricks to do the same things in different places. Added: also, acting as a TPM and encouraging things like cloud migration, sensible, or at least compatible, architectures, standardizing APIs, and such, so the set feels joined up. After a year as a platform PM, it would seem you try to get your colleagues to work together and build from a common base, either identity, integration model, data model, or whatever your organization considers a platform.
I found I spent most of my life trying to bludgeon alignment into a set of acquired products for the sake of our customers not having to learn different tricks to do the same things in different places. Added: also, acting as a TPM and encouraging things like cloud migration, sensible, or at least compatible, architectures, standardizing APIs, and such, so the set feels joined up.
I read extensively. I endeavor to devote two hours per day to industry investigation, which includes examining competitors, substitutes, and even individuals who may employ comparable engineering methodologies. With my sufficient foundation in technology, I find the task to be manageable.
If you find it awkward to communicate with engineers architecturally or at a basic level, consider enrolling in courses such as Udacity CS101 or Harvard CS50x (both of which are offered for free). They will assist you in establishing a foundation in the fundamentals and language. Possessing coding skills, even if only rudimentary and not in a production sense, is advantageous.
Assist your operations teams and developers and engineers in conversation to determine whether there are any bottlenecks or shortcuts. Investigate customer overlap between platform products. Comprehend not only the business’s and each product’s context, but also the fundamental capabilities of the business model for each product. Particularly if there is overlap between buyers and customers, the supporting roles will likely be platform components. What issues are present within that particular domain? Management of access or identity? What are integrations? Data paradigm, then? There are also a multitude of IT operations or development issues that are probable to arise, wherein value can be added by minimizing complexity or expense for contextual activity.
You harmed the foundational tools that subsequent teams will construct upon in your capacity as platform PM. Consequently, one invests effort in comprehending their strategic trajectory, identifying prevalent technical challenges they encounter, and endeavoring to develop cohesive resolutions.
By establishing a streamlined process for storage, ci/cd, identity, and resources, are you capable of developing standardized patterns and technologies that enable your organization to develop solutions more rapidly?
They operate on imperceptible products (think API-first or library/tool/component products) that are not visible to end users but have an impact on the experience by allowing engineers further upstream to develop more scalable and dependable experiences. Consider personnel engaged in the development of developer tools and infrastructure, transaction processing services, messaging and transit services, cloud infrastructure services, core operating system components, bid and search engines, and so forth.
Possibly throughput/scalability, latency, uptime/reliability, engineering efficiency, interoperability, relevance, accuracy, or other factors, contingent upon the sort of platform product.
They are typically the “customer” teams, given that they are the ones who utilize the products you develop. Refraining from caving to the desires of each individual team presents a challenge. In order for your products to function as “self-serrve” access points rather than requiring custom hacks, they must be as generalizable as possible. This requires striking a balance between molding the roadmaps of ‘product experience’ layer teams’ common elements and developing a platform product strategy and roadmap.
This layer has occupied the majority of my attention for some time now; feel free to AMA.