The Key Characteristics of Platform Components
- Built first and then reused forever: Should be built agnostic of specific business needs and then used for addressing business needs
- Externally programmable: Must expose hooks to build custom specific experiences on top of it.
- No exemptions to rules 1 and 2
- JEFF BEZOS
Prefabrication of building components is not a new concept in the construction industry. A repeatable, cheaper, reliable and proven set of platform components can ease the challenges typically encountered in a custom build.
It would be an understatement to say that the technology industry is the quickest to grasp learnings from other industries. It is this sense of inheritability that has spawned many principles where hardships and learning from one technology group have been packaged, labelled and delivered to other group facing similar problems.
Software libraries packages as jars, header files and executable have helped the modern software engineer leverage the full benefit of abstraction of complex logics. It has enabled them to focus solely on solving the business problem at hand, by reusing an already available solution in innovative ways.
Using platform components solves the same problem on a slightly larger scale. At multiple instances, organizations offer a portfolio of product, which often experience an intersection of problem statements between them. As product and development teamwork in organizational silos, a duplication of solutions emerges for the same problem. Moreover, the solutions that emerge tend to be very customized and focused on the immediate market the product is targeting.
The requirement of the infinite need to maintain, upgrade and enhance takes place in those few seconds during the conceptualization of a custom solution. In other words, platform components focus on reducing the entropy caused by new development projects.
Collating the existing challenges in a common repository and considering them intellectual property can address a significant challenge. Namely, the current ‘deprivation’ witnessed in solutions can be catered to. This thought is not new and has been widely used in the industry under various names – micro-service architecture, component-based software engineering (CBSE), modularization etc. However, the measurement of compliance to the needs of the stakeholders remains an unresolved challenge.
Once these aspects have been addressed, the bigger question is defining a solution housing characteristic acceptable by a plethora of stakeholders’ each of whom share the bond of common needs.
This is easier said than done. However, by following the Platform Component Concept model (PC2M), we have defined a guiding principle for any new initiatives the organization is going to invest in.
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<h4><strong>What is PC2M?</strong></h4>
<p>PC2M is essentially a tool to manage expectations and aspirations of various stakeholders for whom the challenge is being addressed. These include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Management representing the organization’s interest and who hold the purse strings.</li>
<li>Product managers representing the market who have identified the problem, albeit from various sources and with different rationales.</li>
<li>Technical team which needs to appreciate the value being delivered by the solution, as against being in a state of inertia of developing separate solutions.</li>
</ol>
<p>The tool seeks to provide rationale and constrains, whilst defining the KPIs within which the solution is being designed.</p>
<p>Why should the KPIs of a platform component be defined?</p>
<p>A single component will NEVER solve the nitty-gritty of every stakeholder’s demand. If, however, we are able to package and measure the solutions being offered, against an agreed set of criteria, conflict management and business cases can be fairly easily justified. In other words, PC2M can well be considered a code of conduct of platform components with little or no exceptions.</p>
<h4><strong>Defining the PC2M</strong></h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Platform Component:</strong> A platform component is a defined set of common features which can be plugged into and configured for various scenarios spanning multiple products</li>
<li><strong>Concept Model:</strong> A concept model is a guideline that sets out the specific skills, knowledge characteristics and behavioral requirements that enable an individual to perform their job successfully</li>
</ul>
<p>PC2M is a three-tier model providing value to a group of stakeholder at each level.</p>
<h4><strong>Complete</strong></h4>
<p>When a problem is resolved the solution offered must explain the how the solution resolves the challenge. An incomplete solution can result in a power struggle between products, while neglecting the big picture of platform components. This can soon turn into various products branching out the platforms components and converting them to product components.</p>
<p>A complete solution gives the confidence to product managers that the problems of the market they have highlighted have been addressed.</p>
<h4><strong>Configurable</strong></h4>
<p>The idea of a platform component (PC) stems from the fact that products in a domain quite frequently have common characteristics. There should hence be a common development and maintenance practices around the same. The platform component (PC) users should be able to configure the component with the attributes and dimensions according to the ecosystem (read product) within which the component is supposed to work in.</p>
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https://medium.com/@mfs.techblog/the-platform-component-concept-model-935ea43a409a
