Product Positioning
A Tale of Platform Products
I took two weeks off the world wide web to re-charge, read and learn how to surf. And while most of my reading was related to my thesis, I also took the opportunity to re-read two books I found valuable as a Product Manager: Obviously Awesome by April Dunford and Stolen Focus by Johann Hari.
I read Obviously Awesome (a book about Product Positioning) no longer than six weeks ago, but some things stuck with me, so I decided to re-read it and reflect on Product Positioning and what this means for internal products, specifically developer-focused ones.
I found this book valuable for many different reasons, but also, it's extremely well written and something to aspire to both as a researcher and, hopefully, one day, a writer.
In this article, I summarised some core aspects of the book and discussed how those are relevant to internal platform products.
Context is everything
First and foremost, the author sets the context of the book by defining Positioning as how a product is defined in the minds of customers in relation to its competitors. It's about framing the product to highlight its unique value.
Positioning is crucial because it impacts how potential users and/or customers perceive the product. Excellent Positioning clarifies why your product is unique and how it fits in the users'/customers' world.
This reminded me that for a very long time, companies used to build their Internal Developer Platforms with a mindset of build it, and they will come. Products used by Developers weren't on any particular priority list because those were positioned more as a cost-centre rather than an accelerator or enabler for the company.
Even if someone have to use the product, we, as PMs and creators can still spend time understanding Positioning and how it impacts the success and growth of the product, even an internal one.
The Traps
In the book, April talks about two common traps we, as Product Managers/Product Teams, can sometimes fall in:
Trap Number 1: Product Teams become too fixated on their initial vision for the product and don't recognise when it has evolved into something else entirely—a reasonably common problem.
Trap Number Two: A product is built and designed for a specific market, but the market has changed due to [insert any factor here].
These two traps are common amongst developer-focused products, too, and in my experience, whatever impacts the business and the organisation also affects outcomes for internal products. It really is a domino effect and internal products can’t be developed in separation to the market context.
Effective Positioning
Moving on from the traps, the author also talks about The Five +1 Components of Effective Positioning:
Competitive Alternatives: Understand what customers would use if your solution didn't exist. In our [Platform] case, lots of different tools with no consistency and governance, adding to developers’ cognitive load.
Unique Attributes: Know the features and capabilities that make your product unique compared to alternatives. Using the example above, reducing cognitive load and enabling faster experimentation are unique attributes to strive for as a Platform Product team.
Value (and Proof): Recognise the benefits those unique attributes deliver to customers. Using the same high-level example: Speed, Autonomy, and Flexibility.
Target Market Characteristics: Define the characteristics of a group of buyers that would love your product the most. In our case, instead of buyers, we need to understand the different personas of our internal developer teams and who they are building for.
Market Category: Determine the market in which your product competes. It is also highly relevant to Platform teams because it will impact the users and the environment they build and create.
If you quickly skimmed through the Five+1 components, you might ask yourself, where is the +1?! You just have to grab the book or do a quick Google research. It's worth it - I promise.
The process
Further into the book, April also outlines a systematic approach to Positioning:
Start by understanding the competitive alternatives to your product
Identify the unique capabilities of your product
Map those capabilities to value for customers
Understand the characteristics of customers who care a lot about the value your product delivers
Position your product in a market category that makes this value obvious.
This isn't to say that the process is linear because it's not, but we should do much of this work as PMs anyway.
There are a lot more great nuggets and study cases in the book, particularly around:
Re-positioning
Setting the Context
I haven't summarised any of those concepts because you should read or listen to the book on Audible; it's an invaluable resource for all Product folks.
Thinking back to internal developer platforms, these are an essential component of any organisation, but proper Positioning is necessary for their full potential to be realised and for them to become an Accelerator.
By focusing on effective Positioning, the internal developer platform can achieve greater visibility and perception within the organisation. This can lead to increased adoption, greater productivity, and improved business outcomes. So don't underestimate the power of Positioning - it's an ongoing journey that can be really, really valuable in the long run.
To conclude, I will leave you with some resources on Positioning, as well as a quote from Dolly Parton, which I happen to find super relevant to the topic of Positioning.
"Find out who you are and do it on purpose."
Some Resources on Positioning (all from the same author):
A Quickstart Guide into Positioning by
- talking about Positioning [on]
Positioning with
:
Hi Alex - I’m almost finished with “Obviously Awesome,” and agree with your writeup.
Thanks also for the helpful links.
One slight difference which seems pretty fundamental is how tech founders tend to focus on their tech.
And I understood the key to April Dunford’s approach is that it always starts by working backwards from successful client experiences, never from the tech.