The document discusses three principles for platform success: focus on true value, enable rather than own platforms, and ask for budget contributions ("tithes") that are distributed among beneficiaries. It argues platforms should solve real business problems, empower external development rather than internal ownership, and fund themselves through a share of facilitated business value rather than isolated grants. Examples from Maps Credit Union, KeyBank, Schiphol Airport, 3Scale, SimilarWeb and Fitbit are given to illustrate successful application of these principles. The document concludes by emphasizing measuring business value over technical metrics.

1. INSIDE THE MIND OF A SUCCESSFUL
PLATFORM ARCHITECT
Focusing on, Sustaining and Investing in Platform Success
Steven Willmott, Gartner Application Solutions and Strategies, 8th December
2016, Las Vegas
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

2. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

3. What is your deepest darkest fear?

4. How to stay ahead on infrastructure
whilst still delivering for the business

5. Answering this challenge is why we
build platforms

6. The question is how to actually
succeed!

7. Steven Willmott, Former CEO of 3scale
Senior Director and Head of API Infrastructure
http://www.redhat.com / http://www.3scale.net
Twitter: @njyx
See us at the Red Hat Booth

8. Three Principles for Platform
Success

9. Focus : Sustain : Budget

10. #1 Focus on True Value

11. Many initiatives, all urgent, all
intersecting, all conflicting

12. Jeff Bezos moment?
https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX (http://bit.ly/SWGA-B)

13. Rarely see success when platforms
are built “for platforms sake”

14. 14
Outcomes
Thor Mitchell / Google / Crowdcube
DesirableUndesirable
Expected
Unexpected
Design
Fire Drill Innovation
Prohibited

15. EXAMPLE:
MAPS CREDIT UNION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylX3hUeYr-U (http://bit.ly/SWGA-C)

16. Dubious: Deploy APIs Everywhere
Good: APIs for a particular new
segment of the business & then
expand

17. Understand the Jeff Bezos moment:
change the way you work, not the
infrastructure you have

18. Lesson:
Help move the puck!

19. Focus : Sustain : Budget

20. #1 Focus on True Value
#2 Enable rather than Own

21. Bimodal IT ...

22. “Gartner’s Recipe for Disaster”
- Jason Bloomberg / Forbes
“Gartner’s Bimodal IT considered
harmful”
- Phil Wainwright / Diginomica
“This is akin to adding lipstick to
the pig”
- Simon Wardley / CSC

23. Fundamental misunderstanding of
Bimodal IT that it was about slowing
down one of the Modes

24. Actually it is about creating stability
between the modes

28. Platform Team
Platform Enablement Team

29. EXAMPLE:
KEYBANK
Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

30. Encourage deployment but…
Provide Technology
Guidance
Impose Stability
Requirements
Require Lifecycle
Statements
Enforce
Documentation
Standards
Enforce Security
Standards
In other words
ensure stability
http://pages.3scale.net/api-owners-manual-wb.html (http://bitly.com/SWGA-D)

31. Key Principle:
Go beyond 1-N
Go to N-N

32. EXAMPLE:
SCHIPHOL
AIRPORT
Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

33. Lesson:
Enable the platform versus
owning the platform

34. Focus : Sustain : Budget

35. #1 Focus on true value
#2 Enable rather than own
#3 How to ask for budget

36. Integration // Containers // APIs

37. Before you rush in...

38. Who are the (true) beneficiaries?

39. Developers? Ops? Line of Business?
Which partners? Which Customers?

40. The same dilemma:
Short term projects v’s long term
investments

41. Creates Conflict…

42. EXAMPLE:
3SCALE
Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

43. Lesson:
Don’t ask for a “Grant”
Ask for a Tithe

44. EXAMPLE:
SIMILAR WEB
Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

45. EXAMPLE:
FITBIT
Jeremiah Lee, San Francisco, 2016

46. Lesson:
Distribute the Spoils

47. “Grant”: Lottery Win
Tithe: Health Insurance

50. Focus : Sustain : Budget

51. #1 Help move the puck
#2 Enable rather than own
#3 Tithe and distribute
Bonus: What to Measure?

52. Bad Measures
Number of APIs
Number of API
Calls
Number of
Integrations
Number of
Containers
Number of Servers
Number of Lunch &
Learns

53. Good Measures
Number of Apps
Supported
Number of complete
Use Cases
Number of Users
Dollar Value of
Business
Speed of
Application
development
Speed of API
Deployment

54. How much business value depends
on the platform?

55. Focus : Sustain : Budget : Measure

56. How are you feeling?

58. It’s hard to achieve forward motion

59. Virtuous Cycle
Vicious Circle

60. Platform grew over 7 years
Billions API Calls / Month, 1000s of APIs
Never encountered silver bullets
Just good behaviours
Built scaling, sharding, containers, APIs,
…
Defensible advantage!

61. Conclusions

62. 1. Focus on true value
2. Enable rather than own
3. Tithe and distribute
4. Measure true business value
http://bitly.com/SWGA-{A, B, C, D}

63. 63
Cloud
Containers
Microservices
DevOps
RED HAT BRINGS IT
ALL TOGETHER
Storage
App Delivery
Integration
API Management

64. plus.google.com/+RedHat
linkedin.com/company/red-hat
youtube.com/user/RedHatVideos
facebook.com/redhatinc
twitter.com/RedHatNews
THANK YOU
64
Red Hat Booth
Expo Floor

65. ThanksAckowledgements
• Trademarks and Logos remain those of their owners
• Graphics primarily from http://www.unsplash.com.
Royalty free art.
The extended Red Hat and 3scale teams as well as
customers and analysts.
Content shared under Creative Commons Attribution and Share Alike License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/
Additional Information

66. Great Advice from Uncle Bob
(Robert C. Martin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSaAMQVq01E&feature=youtu.be&t=6m
● Ensure quality
● Stable productivity
● Continuous improvement
● Fearless competence
● Random Acts of Integration
Kindness
TDD
Principles
for your
Platform