Platform Design

Most organizations aspire to get better at delivering software. Cloud Native organizations have found success, following a three-part pattern; (1) delivering software on a (2) fit-for-purpose platform, that depends on (3) automated infrastructure. However, too many organizations fail to understand how this pattern increases the flow of quality software and are instead over focused on accelerating just the software delivery without resolving their platform and infrastructure problems, too.

Enabling Self-Service through a platform, in pursuit of speed, often comes with an increase in complexity and operational burden. This burden inevitably contributes to compounding technical debt, which starts to act as an anchor on the system’s forward progress. Instead of contributing to this imbalance, the goal of a platform should be increased speed and quality by ‘enabling constraints’ that make doing the right thing the easy thing.

This fast paced workshop will introduce you to “Scale Up Co.” — a company that is rapidly expanding its functionality, growing through acquisition, and positioning itself to address larger and more differentiated market segments. Just one problem: Scale Up Co. is also piling on technical debt and operational burden!

Using Scale Up Co. as a case study, over the 3 days we’ll explore a sequence of practices and methods in order to learn practices that enable organizations to design, justify and implement Platform. We’ll enable Scale Up Co. to create a flow of value for their new and future customers.

This is what you will learn

This workshop teaches Platform Design based on the Three Economies, a theory designed to establish a clear frame to explain the value of a platform to an organization. The Three Economies theory illustrates the core conflict between innovation and efficiency by reframing it in terms of organizational incentives and payoffs.

The workshop introduces practices related to the Three Economies, helping participants to think about establishing, developing and maintaining platforms and connecting the platform design to business and product management concerns. Participants will learn practical techniques in Service Design and the use of Wardley Mapping, Maturity Mapping, Throughput Accounting, and Strategy Deployment to design an organization transition towards an established operational Commons, balancing individual concerns with organization needs.

Target Audience

This workshop is suitable for Product Managers and Strategists who want to understand how Platforms enable growth, for teams experiencing the pain of rapid scaling, and for seasoned Architects who want to learn new techniques.

Agenda

Day 1:

• Three Economies Theory
• What goes into the platform? (Wardley Mapping)
• Recommoning

Day 2

• Service Design
• What skills do you need to start platforming? (Maturity Mapping)

Day 3

• Throughput Economics
• Value Propositions and business cases
• Strategy Deployment

Participant Requirements

Good understanding of software design