Frameworks Are the Past; Platforms Are the Future

When I see one more consultant persuading me to change my way of working by showing me a diagram-heavy, buzzword-infested agile framework on a PowerPoint slide, I’m going to scream.

This is how I recently changed some of my behaviors:

• I run a total of at least 40 kilometers each week, thanks to fitness trackers such as Endomondo, Strava, and Garmin.
• I don’t use any CDs, DVDs or MP3s anymore. I consume all my music and video through the streaming services of Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube.
• I replaced all phone calls and emails involving friends, family, and colleagues with messages and calls on Slack, Zoom, Messenger, and Whatsapp.
• I don’t care anymore about hard drives, storage, and backups because I manage all my digital assets with Dropbox and Google Drive.
• And I haven’t touched any paper maps and travel guides in years. Google Maps, TripAdvisor, Waze, and Uber tell me where to go and how to get there.

There is one thing I know for sure about all these personal changes:

No pile of boxes, circles, and lines on a PowerPoint slide has ever triggered a change in me.

Frameworks don’t work. But platforms work very well.

“The total market capitalization of platform-powered businesses in the top 10 of the FT Global 500 index went from $280 billion 10 years ago (11% of the total then) to $2.2 trillion in the third quarter of 2016 (59% of the total).” – Platform Strategy

The top 7 most valuable brands in the world are all platform-powered companies. (source: BrandZ). None of them sell their services by projecting slides with frameworks onto the eyeballs of their clients. All of them nudge users toward desired behaviors through relentless innovation and optimization of their apps.

So there.

Maybe it is time to acknowledge that frameworks on slides were a useful way to transmit ideas to the people who needed them, until five or ten years ago. But from now on, if you really want to have an impact on people’s behaviors, consider using a platform.

Not coincidentally, my team is making one.

If we created yet another agile framework, we would never end up on the list of Most Valuable Brands in the World. But now that we’re building an agile platform, at least we have a chance. 😉

SUPPORT THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN AGILE, EVER.
LET’S REPLACE FRAMEWORKS WITH PLATFORMS.

(image credit: borrowed from Dilbert, Scott Adams)