From Projects to Products: Turning Platforms into Products People Use
Having a platform is not enough; the real challenge is ensuring that it is understandable, usable, and actually adopted by its users. A capability is done when it can be reliably used by others. To evaluate progress, you can ask yourself “Is this being used?” and “Does it reduce friction for users?” This can help align development work with actual user value rather than delivery, By Ben Linders
InfoQ featured an interview with Eugenia Bergman and Hagen Tonnies, who discussed shifting their platform's focus from project-oriented thinking to product-oriented thinking. They emphasized the importance of treating team interactions like APIs with clear boundaries and expectations. Bergman explained how they introduced a producer-consumer model, where producers define clear interfaces and expectations, and consumers interact through those interfaces.
This shift reduced coordination overhead and enabled more localized decision-making. Tonnies highlighted that leadership support was crucial, fostering alignment, trust, and a willingness to experiment. The team also introduced an organizational error budget, allowing them to explore new approaches and learn from missteps without immediate pressure to meet rigid expectations.
Usage of the platform was tracked through operational and product-oriented signals, such as API request volume, active consumers, and the overall value created by the capabilities. Bergman emphasized that a capability is "done" when it's reliably used by its intended consumers, not just delivered.
Written by urgent.news from InfoQ's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
