Yolanda Martin Olivas, Global VP of Design, ClearScore, joins us on this episode to talk about the challenges and strategies involved in building platform capabilities within organizations.

From her experience of building platforms at companies like Farfetch, Hearst, Canonical, Kaluza, and ClearScore etc., she takes us through the realities (sometimes difficult) of what it’s like to enable platform transformation and growth.

She argues for organizations to rethink the “growing through acquisition” approach while reiterating the need to focus on a strong infrastructure layer.

As a passionate learner, practitioner, and enabler of platform design; Yolanda is one to take tune into.

Being one of the earliest learners of the Platform Design Toolkit, Yolanda has been a staunch practitioner of the platform business model and has played a pivotal role in enabling it in several organizations.

In this episode, we talk about organizational motivations to shift towards platform design models, primarily driven by the need for economies of scale and new growth opportunities, and why focusing on your “why” is important.

From her experience as a Design Director, she further shares practical advice on fostering a broader ecosystem perspective among design teams. She underscores the need for strong leadership commitment to enable this.

In this conversation we get insights into what made organizations “make it or break it”, so tune in, and get ahead of the curve.

Key Highlights

👉 Building platform capabilities is complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. Organizations, need to make a special commitment to platform design and implement exclusive strategies targeted toward this, not simply extending their existing practices.

👉 Successful platform transitions often start with integrating internal operations before enabling it to external partners.

👉 Design leaders play a crucial role in guiding organizations through platform transitions by fostering a broader, ecosystem-wide perspective; which does not look at design problems in a silo, but as a cog in a larger ecosystem.

👉 The lack of a mature platform infrastructure can make growth efforts expensive and inefficient.

👉 There is a high risk in prematurely diverting investment from platform infrastructure to other growth avenues, such as acquiring and creating brands.

👉 Effective platform transitions require targeted education and training for different parts of the organization, tailored to their involvement in the platform’s development stages.

Topics /chapters

(00:00) Navigating Platform Transitions with Yolanda Martin - Intro

(00:58) Introducing Yolanda Martin

(02:50) Building platform capabilities inside organizations?

(11:05) Adapting to platformization changes

(15:55) Design Leadership for Platformization

(20:53) Stories of Transition

(27:23) What did not work for Farfetch platform?

(32:35) Building or Buying the Ecosystem?

(37:05) Looking beyond User-Centered-Design

(43:34) What helps the organization re-arrange?

(48:19) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/yolanda-martin

Episode recorded on March 20, 2024

Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_ Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music

Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

#PlatformBusinessModel #DesignLeadership #PlatformEconomy #DigitalTransformation #PlatformDesign

Indy Johar, Mission Steward of Dark Matter Labs, joins the podcast to help us rethink how we organize ourselves and our systems, addressing inadequacies of traditional business models that are no longer sufficient for managing complexities.

Bringing light to how “risk management should be localized, with decision-making power and accountability being as close to the problem as possible,” Indy argues for an organization that encourages participants to be citizens rather than employees and fosters continuous and accountable learning among individuals.

Tune into this episode and learn from Indy, a veteran in building mission-driven organizations, who has always stayed ahead of the curve.

Indy - who joins the podcast for the 3rd time - besides stewarding the mission at Dark has also recently joined RMIT University, teaching no less than “Planetary Civics”, a testament to his influence in the space of social innovation.

As always, Indy comes with a profound understanding of designing complex organizations for the 21st century, from his hands-on experience in creating radical innovations in governance, architecture, and social systems, particularly in sustainability and collaborative economy.

He starts the podcast with philosophical considerations about the nature of complex organizations and then highlights the need for a radical shift toward a learning-centered organization.

In the conversation, we question the traditional metrics of productivity and value, and further advocate for new metrics that account for collective intelligence and systemic contributions rather than individual output.

There was no better way to celebrate our 100th episode because this one is a landmark. Grab a notepad and pick a pen, because there’s much to pin down.

Key Highlights

👉 Organizational structures in a complex world, and a shift from command-and-control to systemic learning and adaptability.

👉 Decentralized risk management and the need to localize decision-making to enhance responsiveness and effectiveness.

👉 Dark Matter Labs' mission-driven approach, emphasizing partnerships over traditional consultancy to enable sustainable change.

👉 Need for a paradigm shift in how value is defined and measured within organizations, moving towards incorporating multi-dimensional success indicators.

👉Redefining organizational roles to encourage craft and citizenship, where individuals contribute to the organization's decision-making processes.

👉 Rethinking legal structures governing organizations, moving towards frameworks that support distributed risk and empower collective action.

Topics /chapters

(00:00) Learning Centered Organizations for the 21st Century with Indy Johar - Intro

(01:40) Introducing Indy Johar

(10:31) Value of Learning as a Strategic Advantage

(14:41) Accelerating Learning and Modifying Organizational Agendas

(19:23) Structure in a post-managerial economy

(24:46) The Design of Dark Matter Labs

(34:50) Citizenship inside Organizations

(42:25) Citizen or Employee?

(47:56) Money making machine to avenues of value

(55:47) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/indy-johar-2/

Episode recorded on March 19, 2024

Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_ Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

#systemicchange #FutureOfWork #OrganizationalDesign #LearningOrganizations #ComplexityTheory

In today’s episode, we have Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker from HubSpot, who take us through their latest report on the State of Platforms in 2024.

HubSpot has always considered industry education as central to developing its business and brand, and - in combination with some of its partners - released this great report earlier this year. The report profoundly covers how firms now adopt platform strategies to thrive in a digital economy ranging from app ecosystems to services marketplaces. Having spearheaded this, Kelly and Scott shared some insider information with us.

During the conversation, they highlight the evolution of platforms, from mere technical infrastructures to complex ecosystems, and then further delve into how understanding the intricacies of platform models is crucial for tech companies and all businesses looking to leverage the interconnected nature of modern markets.

This episode has something for everyone, so don’t miss out on hearing from two of the most prominent experts in the field. Tune in.

Some of our ardent followers will know that this is the 2nd time we have Scott, Vice President of Platform Ecosystem, at HubSpot. Kelly, instead, works as a Platform Ecosystem Advocate, at the same company.

We are thrilled that they wanted to share the key learnings from co-authoring the “State of Platforms 2024” report - a tremendous piece of work that examines the evolving dynamics of the platform businesses, with a keen focus on the B2B SaaS industry.

In the conversation we explored the implications of evolving platforms for business strategy and operations, emphasizing the necessity for companies to continuously adapt and leverage these opportunities effectively, regardless of the role and business model. Our guests further touch upon how companies need to modulate around proliferation and nichification, integrations across sectors, and even look into these retributions' ethical and social aspects from a community-building perspective.

This episode is a crucial one and a much-needed dialogue to take platform ecosystems forward, so join in.

Key Highlights

👉 Deep Dive into B2B SaaS Platforms by analyzing the top 50 SaaS companies’ adoption of platform business models.

👉 Integration as a critical strategy for enhancing user experience and the platform's value proposition.

👉Industries that have fallen short in their platform game, and where their future is headed.

👉The challenges with outsourcing integration, and why the quality of integration makes or breaks your product’s market fit.

👉The platform industry as a continuously evolving ecosystem, and its implications on business.

👉How companies need to adapt their structure to support platform models.

👉Analysis of the broader implications of platform strategies on society and ethical considerations in platform management.

👉The potential of using ecosystems as a distribution strategy, and why even non-tech companies should consider integrating digital services into their offerings.

Topics /chapters

(00:00) The State of Platforms in 2024 with Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker - Intro

(00:58) Introducing Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker

(01:58) State of Platforms Report 2024

(10:09) Patterns of Platforms in 2024

(13:19) Outdated Metrics and Practices of Platforms

(16:10) Who should be thinking about Platforms today?

(20:24) Being a part of ecosystems as a distribution strategy

(23:57) Organization Structures Designed for Platforms

(27:31) Who should understand platforms in your organization?

(33:15) Proliferation and Nichification

(38:43) What is the key to unlock the future?

(45:17) Transformation in the Services Ecosystems

(51:29) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/kelly-scott/

Episode recorded on August 7, 2023 Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
• Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music