English
This talk will be held in English. / Dieser Vortrag wird auf Englisch gehalten.
Dominik Schmidle
is a Group Product Manager for Platforms at Giant Swarm with the mission of simplifying developers' lives through intuitive developer platforms. He started as a Full Stack Software Engineer, discovered his passion for DevOps and product organizations, and transitioned into Product Management for cloud technology. He actively shares his experiences through talks, articles, and publications.
This talk will be held in English. / Dieser Vortrag wird auf Englisch gehalten.
Most teams treat Platform-as-a-Product as a rebranding exercise: add a Product Owner, rename the team, done. But the tickets keep coming, firefighting doesn't stop, and leadership still asks, “What does the platform team actually deliver?”
The problem isn't missing tools or headcount — it's missing product thinking. After 5 years as a Platform PM and working with dozens of organizations stuck in this cycle, I've seen what actually breaks it: treating developers as customers you can lose, saying no with a roadmap instead of guilt, and proving value beyond uptime and tickets closed.
Practical patterns from real platform transformations, not theory.
- Experience with platform teams or internal developer platforms is helpful — whether you're building, running, or leading one.
- No product management background needed; this talk bridges that gap. Ideal if your team is stuck between reactive support and strategic work, or if "just add a Product Owner" hasn't changed anything yet.
After this talk, attendees will be able to:
- Recognize if their platform team is stuck in the “rebranding trap” and why adding people or tools doesn't fix it.
- Apply product thinking to platform work: user discovery, roadmap-driven prioritization, and the art of saying no.
- Define value metrics that prove platform impact beyond uptime and tickets closed.
- Communicate platform value to leadership as strategic asset, not cost center.
Dominik Schmidle
is a Group Product Manager for Platforms at Giant Swarm with the mission of simplifying developers' lives through intuitive developer platforms. He started as a Full Stack Software Engineer, discovered his passion for DevOps and product organizations, and transitioned into Product Management for cloud technology. He actively shares his experiences through talks, articles, and publications.