Pitfalls to Avoid in Building a Successful Platform Organization

Unlocking the success of platform engineering requires more than just code. It's about leadership investment ??, a dedicated team with a clear vision ??, product & business buy-in, and effective communication ??.

As a technology leader who's led platform organizations, I can affirm that misalignment between the funding model for a technology platform or strategic technology initiatives and short-term product roadmaps can create significant challenges. Often, the limited funding platform orgs received aren't enough to derive product value in a timely manner.

This disparity has led platform organisations into a detrimental cycle where strategic initiatives are reduced to mere engineering tasks, backed only by a best-effort support system.

Common pitfalls to avoid

For a platform to truly succeed, here are common pitfalls to avoid as a technology leader for a platform organisation.

1. Lack of Leadership Support: Not securing leadership buy-in and necessary financial backing can derail your platform engineering initative before it even gets off the ground.

2. Absence of Ownership: Avoid the pitfall of not having a dedicated team that owns the outcome of the platform. Without clear ownership, the platform's vision can become muddled.

3. Ignoring Business Buy-In: A common misstep is to start building a platform strategy without securing product and business buy-in and making it part of the mainstream prioritization. Failure to do this can lead to a lack of resources and support.

4. Overly Complex Organizational Structure: Too many organizational layers can prevent direct feedback from the delivery team members who understand the problem space. This can lead to a misalignment in understanding and addressing issues.

5. Poor Communication & Visibility: Lack of effective visibility and two-way communication can leave the delivery team in the dark about the expectations and decisions made by leadership. This can result in misalignment and missed opportunities for valuable input.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to ensure the successful implementation of a platform initiative, both strategy and execution need to be addressed.

On strategy, avoid ambiguity by establishing a strategic vision with well-defined goals . Any confusion can lead to misalignment around the technology to be developed and the problems it's designed to solve. On execution, the core project management aspects of time, budget, and scope need to be meticulously managed to avoid execution downfall.

Last but not least, my advice for technology leaders of platform organisations is this: Strive to break down the walls and create direct feedback channels with leadership and stakeholders for a better understanding of the challenges that your organisations face. Maintain a clear vision, align your architecture with your goals, and execute your plans effectively for successful platform engineering initiatives. Only then you will be able to build a successful platform engineering arm in your organization.

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