[Weekly Retro] Time-to-value for platform products
#210 - Feb.2025
Hi there!
💡 Here is a quick idea before you head off to the weekend:
One of the biggest challenges for internal platform products is that their value is directly proportional to their scale and the leverage that other business apps get from them.
And that takes time.
Time-to-value cycles are longer, which can create uncertainty and frustration. Stakeholders start to question if the investment is worth it.
Especially during the initial ramping phase of an internal platform product try this:
- Focus your energy on bringing "seeding" into the platform. The virtuous cycles of platforms start with a few, well-served clients. Look for the early adopters with real problems that you can solve. Others will follow them.
- Play the long-term game. The benefits are, most of the time, compounded over time by the number of clients onboarded into your platform. It starts very slow, but with care and patience, can generate exponential value.
- Measure and share. Traditional product metrics often fail to capture the platform's value creation. In addition to core operational metrics, track (and share) ecosystem adoption, cost reduction, and how others are using existing capabilities. These are your best credentials.
📆 Events (re-sharing in case you missed it)
For the innovation community in Madrid: next month (Mar 12) I'll be part of Ilia's event at Puerta Innovación, discussing real examples of business applications powered by AI and insights on the product mindset for AI-enabled products. Register here. 🚀
👨🏻💻 Interesting links
Jakob Nielsen
Kyle Wiggers
Tim O’Reilly
🖋️ Quote of the week
“If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.” – Woody Allen
