The Curse of the Platform Product Manager
On a group bike ride yesterday, a fellow rider shared an interesting perspective. He has spent the last several years at a well-known technology company and was recently promoted to VP of Product Management for Mobile Platforms. He shared with me how difficult the transition has been adjusting to life as a platform PM.
Platform product managers are vital to the health of a technology company. Everyone depends on them, but no one seems to love what they do.
The bar for platform PMs remains high because they are a critical dependency for every product they support. They must consistently support multiple products and hit a moving target -- and there is no room for error.
I have experienced this firsthand running product and strategy in six software companies and being the CEO of three, including now at Aha! (visual roadmap software). Working with several software products and services built upon a common platform is no easy feat.
If you are a platform product manager you know the role can be challenging for the following reasons:
Distant customers
Platform PMs are not typically responsible for setting the roadmap for the functionality that customers use. This means that control over user experience is limited, and can make the product planning stage frustrating. It can feel like their colleagues need them, but don't always respect their ideas because they do not "know" customers.
Many masters
Platform PMs serve many outstanding product managers and engineers, each with their own set of priorities. Matrix management is a great skill to have -- it teaches you to interact with diverse teams and stakeholders. But the constant need to please everyone can get overwhelming. Poor prioritization is the number one downfall of platform PMs. Those who feel the need to please everyone do not succeed.
Irreconcilable dependencies
Other product managers demand what they need from them after they prioritize the functionality that their products will deliver. They do not think of any other product, except their own. Platform PMs might feel like their input gets lost in the shuffle even though they see the larger, cross-product picture. This creates the feeling that they provide value without receiving any in return.
Don't get me wrong, platform product management can also be extremely rewarding for the right individual. They can have a major impact across different product lines. Whatever they build will typically be used by many teams and customers, and they get to work with lots of different groups.
So, like any job it has its challenges and opportunities. But happy platform PMs tend to work well across groups, serve the higher purpose the business, say "No" gracefully, and deflect praise to others.
What do you see as the most difficult part of being a platform product manager?
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ABOUT BRIAN AND AHA!
Brian seeks business and wilderness adventure. He has been the founder or early employee of six cloud-based software companies and is the CEO of Aha! -- the world's #1 product roadmap software. His last two companies were acquired by Aruba Networks [ARUN] and Citrix [CTXS].
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Product at Intuit
3 个月Dug up this gem 9 years later, very insightful - Brian de Haaff any updates to your thinking re. platform PM in recent years with the rise of AI/ML?
Product & Delivery Professional Product Management | Program Management | Project & Delivery Management
7 年Very interesting challenge for those in similar roles I myself included
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9 年Hi Haff , am preparing for compitative exams ,am not good at in English. I like to improve my speaking as well as writing skill, would u help me?
Product Marketing
9 年I haven’t been product manager for a platform, but it does sound similar to the role of a PM for a B2B SaaS product: vertical feature requests come from individual customers and the PM has to keep in mind the impact of functionality both on individual customers as well as all customers as a whole. With that in mind, and as it’s the responsibility of the siloed PMs to solve the problems of actual customers, shouldn’t platform PMs essentially forget about actual customers and instead focus on understanding the problems and goals of their “customers,” the siloed PMs? I don’t think taking such a perspective would necessarily change the challenges a platform PM faces, but it could make the job less frustrating and decisions easier.
Product Management & Data Strategy Leader
9 年It's a special breed that enjoys being a Platform PM. I do Platforms and enjoy the inner workings that connects everything. The Dark Matter of the Universe. The inner workings of a watch. The subtle soul that moves life. APIs, Tables, Protocols.....the molecular structure of everyday products.