Should you build platforms and products in projects-mode or product-mode?

It doesn't make a lot of sense to speak of transformation progress from project to product to platform. Why? Because in this context, the word 'platform', unlike 'project' or 'product', does not represent ways of working (ways of funding, organizing, and defining success of digital delivery). To drive the point home, I called it 'product-mode' in the experience report that has since become a de-facto industry reference. A platform may be developed in projects-mode or product-mode though I'd recommend the latter.

Commerical software products have sometimes been developed in projects-mode. Especially in cases where an implementation project is needed to introduce the product into a client's landscape.

When this becomes a strong revenue stream, there is temptation to develop the product roadmap on the client's buck. Common side effects of doing so:

• Shrinkage of independent budget for product roadmap.

• Product codebase forked for every new client. Features added at the insistence of clients. This effectively kills the product and turns it into a service accelerator.

• As implementation revenue grows and licensing revenue stagnates, the organization's growth becomes dependent on headcount growth, just like a services company. Investors begin to question its earlier valuation based on projections of non-linear growth.

To be successful, a product business has to learn to be customer-segment-centric, not client-centric.