There’s a seismic shift happening in engineering called Platform Engineering, and it’s having a massive impact on us in Product. We’re used to obsessing over external customers, but the rise of internal developer platforms (IDPs) means many of us now have a new, critical user segment: our own developers.
The core idea is to treat your internal platforms—the tools and infrastructure engineers use to ship software—as a product in its own right. The goal is to create a ‘paved road’ that boosts developer velocity and satisfaction. This isn’t just an internal IT concern; it’s a strategic move that directly impacts our ability to deliver value to customers faster and more reliably.
As PMs, this requires a new muscle. We need to think about developer experience (DevEx) with the same rigor we apply to UX. We must build roadmaps for internal platforms, gather feedback from engineers as users, and measure success with metrics like deployment frequency and lead time, not just customer-facing ones like MAU. Even for PMs on customer-facing teams, the quality of your internal platform dictates your team’s ultimate success.
How is this trend showing up in your organization? Are you seeing a dedicated ‘Platform Product Manager’ role emerge, or are these responsibilities being absorbed by existing teams?