Explore, Expand, Extract

Kent Beck describes three phases every product goes through, and Platform Strategy applies them to internal platforms. Each phase needs different work, and often different people.

The three Xs

• Explore. Find out what works with low-cost experiments. The goal is to validate that users accept it, not just that it’s technically possible.
• Expand. Once something works, the critical activity is removing obstacles to further growth: make features self-service and minimise hand-holding.
• Extract. When the problem and solution are clear and the user base is established, harvest the success. Understand exactly why it worked, prove the business case (an internal platform has to live up to one), then replicate it for economies of scale.

How teams get it wrong

• Giving up during exploration and running with something that will never expand.
• Extracting too early under pressure: evaluating costs and polishing presentations for the business when they should still be building the thing that creates the value.
• Expecting one person to do all three. Developers who are brilliant explorers often find it harder to sell their work to business leaders. Different phases can suit different people.

My take

For platforms, the first X matters most and deserves the most time. Observe the people you’re building for, understand their pain points and frustrations, and design the product with them, not for them. Most of the platforms I’ve seen fail skipped this step (Growing a Platform: Breadth, Depth and Gear Shifting).

Related: Internal Developer Platform · Golden Paths · Platform Strategy