Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: BONUS – The Platform-as-Product Revolution

Guest: Alvaro Lorente (Director of Engineering, Voxel/Amadeus)
Host: Vasco Duarte
Date: August 23, 2025
Main Theme: Transforming traditional IT cost centers into powerful enablers by adopting a Platform-as-Product approach. How and why organizations should treat their platform teams like product teams, and the strategic and cultural changes necessary for success.

Episode Overview

This bonus episode delves deeply into the modern evolution of platform teams, contrasting classic infrastructure/DevOps models with the emerging "platform as a product" philosophy. Vasco Duarte interviews Alvaro Lorente, who shares real-world insights from his journey shifting from value delivery/product teams to engineering leadership and platform enablement at a large-scale organization. The discussion explores the pitfalls of old models, the power of product thinking for internal platforms, and provides actionable guidance for leaders looking to maximize the impact of their platforms.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin Story: The Journey from Product to Platform ([02:51])

• Initial Experience:
  Alvaro started his career in feature/product teams, delivering value directly to clients.
• Interest Shift:
  After exposure to cloud and infrastructure, Alvaro developed appreciation for T-shaped development and became curious about the raison d'être for platform teams.
• Core Purpose of Platform Teams:
  "For me, platform teams actually exist to facilitate the delivery of value in a scalable way for the rest of the teams... by solving the problems that actually teams have on their day to day. So we're not reinventing the wheel everywhere." – Alvaro ([03:44])

2. Company History & The Pitfalls of Siloed Infrastructure ([04:40])

• Traditional Infrastructure Team (Pre-Transformation):
  Functioned as a "ticket expenser" – received requests, executed technical tasks, became a bottleneck.
• First Attempt at Change: Distributed DevOps Engineers:
  Tried embedding DevOps engineers into each feature team. Helped communication, but didn't solve bottlenecks due to scarce resourcing and persistent silos.
• DevOps as a Culture, Not a Role:
  "The idea of DevOps should be DevOps is a culture and not that DevOps is a role itself in the teams." – Alvaro ([06:45])

3. Path to Autonomy: Enabling Teams, Not Replacing Dependencies ([08:14])

• The Bottleneck Persists:
  Even with embedded DevOps, teams lacked true autonomy. One DevOps splitting time across multiple squads creates its own limit.
• DevOps Buddy Model:
  Instead of a full DevOps role, designate a team member to develop infra skills and act as a "DevOps Body."
  "With environments where compliance (PCI DSS) is a concern, you can't just give all permissions – you have to bridge security and autonomy carefully." ([09:05])
• Goal:
  Grow team knowledge, lower complexity over time, with the platform team acting as an enabler/coach instead of a gatekeeper.

4. Platform Teams as Delivery Teams – The Product Mindset Shift ([11:00])

• Becoming a Platform Product Team:
  Transition from technical group to a team with product ownership, responsible for serving 'customer' teams.
• The Essential Role of a Platform Product Owner:
  "If we treat it [the platform] as a product, we need to actually bring somebody that takes care of that product side itself." – Alvaro ([11:45])
• Contrast with Common Approach:
  Many companies see platform investment as periodic or project-based; Alvaro advocates for ongoing ownership.

5. Why Platform as Product? Scaling, Cost & Consistency ([14:00])

• Benefits of Treating Platform as a Product:
  • Standardizes solutions to common problems (observability, reliability, etc.)
  • Eases scaling: multiple delivery teams can be supported efficiently.
  • Enables knowledge sharing and reduces silos.
  • Acts as a true internal service provider, letting delivery teams focus on core value.
• When is a Platform Team Needed?
  • Not at very early startup phase; becomes necessary as org and number of feature teams grow.
  • "You will find common problems that some teams might solve it one way, some teams might solve it a different way. And what you're actually entering is a place where you can actually not share knowledge." – Alvaro ([15:31])
• Platform Team as an Internal SaaS Provider:
  "Having a platform team is actually externalizing those needs, but inside the company." ([16:25])

6. Key to Success: Platform’s Clients are Internal Teams ([17:21])

• Don't Build in a Vacuum:
  "Those actually need to be first needs from the teams. They cannot actually be decided by the platform team... If not, you're probably solving a problem that nobody has." – Alvaro ([17:21])
• Focus on Developer Experience:
  The platform team can "create or destroy developer experience." Adoption hinges on delivering actual value.

7. Measuring Success: Adoption, Satisfaction & Quality ([18:12], [21:00])

• KPIs & Feedback Loops:
  • Adoption is important, but only if voluntary, not mandated.
  • Customer satisfaction (your developers!) is key—“How people feel that it's affecting their day to day, is it reducing their complexity?”
• Common Pitfall:
  Platform teams often push products/tools, then struggle with adoption. "Adoption can be a fake KPI if you're pushing things. So you need to make sure that the teams actually need your product and are happy with your product." – Alvaro ([20:26])
• Quality Matters:
  Internal products must have high quality – bugs and workarounds are still costly even for internal users.

8. Building the Case for Product Talent in Platform Teams ([22:27])

• Speak the Business Language:
  "The product common language normally is money... If your feature is making developers 5% more productive, that means that the average cost of your developers is 5% less to produce." ([22:46], [26:00])
• Convince Product Leadership (CPO):
  • Quantify dev-time savings, incident reductions, increased speed to market.
  • Draw clear connecting lines between platform improvements and real business outcomes.

9. Career Pathways: Platform as a Gateway for Product-Minded Engineers ([27:24])

• Career Growth:
  Platform teams are an excellent entry point for engineers who want to develop product management skills. "This is a great career path for those engineers who have this intention to develop over time to becoming more product oriented..." – Vasco ([27:54])
• Real Example:
  "One of the technical product managers...was a DBA with a lot of intention to actually grow their career into this product side. And that was a good match..." – Alvaro ([28:22])

10. Getting Started: Critical Advice for Leaders Forming Platform Teams ([29:27])

Alvaro’s Top 3 Tips:

1. Start with the Customer:
   “Don’t just start working on what you think…You need to actually talk to your clients [internal teams] and actually listen to their needs.”
2. Adoption is Not a Mandate:
   “If you are mandating something, you have a problem itself... you need the teams to want to adopt your product.”
3. Insist on Quality:
   “Even if it’s internal product… it needs to be [a] quality product, because if not, it’s going to affect the reputation of your team...” ([29:27]–[31:16])

Vasco’s Addition:
Treat platform org change as a genuine change process:
“Take it as a change process. It takes time to go from actually having the team to having it well integrated... For that I would say then bring with it a person that has that role of a change agent.” ([31:34])

Alvaro’s Agreement:
“It’s a change process because...a culture doesn’t create itself on a day to another...it needs its own responsibility and somebody that can actually make that happen.” ([32:42])

11. Recommended Resources ([33:44])

• Author: Camille Fournier – has written a book specifically on platform teams.
• Platform: O’Reilly (sessions on product thinking for platform teams).
• General Tip:
  "If you are able to experiment, it's not a resource. But being able to experiment is also something that helps to bring continuous improvement to things." – Alvaro ([34:18])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Platform Team Purpose:
  "Platform teams actually exist to facilitate the delivery of value in a scalable way for the rest of the teams. Not by going into a corner and just doing whatever they want, but by solving the problems that actually teams have on their day to day." – Alvaro ([03:44])

• On DevOps as Culture:
  "DevOps should be DevOps is a culture and not that DevOps is a role itself in the teams." – Alvaro ([06:45])

• On Adoption:
  "Adoption can be a fake KPI if you're pushing things. So you need to make sure that the teams actually need your product and are happy with your product." – Alvaro ([20:26])

• On Quality:
  "If your platform team reputation is affected, that will mean that over time, even whatever product you use take out that actually helps the team, they will not trust that your product has the quality that they need to deliver." – Alvaro ([31:19])

• On Change:
  “It's always a culture problem, no matter how we look at it.” – Vasco ([33:15])
  "Eventually we find out it's always a people problem." – Quoting Jerry Weinberg ([33:24])

Important Timestamps

• [02:51] Alvaro’s transition: product → platform; what changed, cultural and operational context.
• [06:06] DevOps as a culture vs. a siloed role; organizational anti-patterns.
• [08:14] Giving teams autonomy via the “DevOps Body” model.
• [11:00] Building the platform as a product; necessity of product ownership.
• [14:28] Ongoing investment: Why platform as a product makes sense for scaling orgs.
• [17:21] Platform responds to team needs, not top-down tech mandates.
• [18:12] Platform team’s true customers.
• [21:28] KPIs: Feedback loops, adoption, customer satisfaction, and quality.
• [22:27] Making the business case: linking platform investment to financial outcomes.
• [27:24] Platform as a path for product-minded engineers.
• [29:27] Top advice for leaders creating platform teams.
• [31:51] Treating platform team formation as an organizational change process.
• [33:44] Resources to continue learning.

Resources Mentioned

• Books:
  • "The Manager's Path" & platform writings by Camille Fournier
• Videos/Sessions:
  • O’Reilly’s "Value of Product Thinking for Platform Teams"
• Experimentation:
  • Emphasized as the best learning tool; "not one size fits all"
• Networking:
  • Alvaro Lorente on LinkedIn (Alvaro Laurente Dev) and newsletter “Leads Horizon”

Summary Takeaways

• Adopting platform-as-product unlocks scale, efficiency, and alignment in modern agile organizations.
• Successful platform teams are built on user-centricity—listening to and delivering for internal teams.
• Treating platform as a product requires investment in product skills, consistent communication, deliberate change management, and a relentless focus on quality and customer experience—even when the customers are your own engineers.