Platform owners wear many hats!

[britta]

The platform owner varies a lot from organization to organization, but it always includes wearing many hats --- having a diverse set of skills to succeed in the role.  In the following mind map, I have tried to capture all of the different tasks and responsibilities that might be associated with platform owners, even though they may be managed by another role.  Take a look and let me know what you think!

[Ben Van Aken]

That's a great overview, Britta! thanks for sharing.

I've been in the occasional position where I had to wear many, if not all, of these hats myself.
Especially in those assignments where there is little to no customer internal organizational structure in place to manage a Now platform.
However, holding all these hats is not tenable in the long run, so the idea is to build out your servicenow center of excellence and get those people recruited who can wear one or more of these hats too.
Some examples:
A platform architect who can take the lead in technical governance
A platform manager who can take the operational lead
Product owners who set out the product roadmap and steer their product team

As the CoE matures, I think that as a platform owner, it's important to focus on championing the platform, obtain strategic investments from across the enterprise, and be a servant leader for the center of excellence so the team can excel in their roles

[Terry Schultz]

I recently read the article and found it insightful. Ben Van Aken’s response resonated with me, and I agree with his points. However, I’d like to add some thoughts based on my experience.

• Ben mentioned that the need for separate roles, I believe it depends on the platform’s size. For smaller platforms focused solely on IT service management (ITSM), combining roles may be feasible. However, in organizations like ours, where we extensively use ITSM, ITOM, ITBM, CSM, and App Engine etc. Role separation becomes essential for effective management and governance.
• The strategic value of the platform matters. When the platform plays a crucial role in organizational success, investing in specialized roles becomes justifiable and necessary.
• An effective platform owner needs to champion the platform’s value and secure necessary investments from the organization for the platform to reach its full potential.

Thoughtful role allocation and strategic advocacy are key to successful platform management.

Thank you for sharing this valuable content!

[Tee-Al]

God bless. I was starting to do my own mindmap on this one. Luckily I found this here. Thanks a bunch @britta 

I totally agree with @Ben Van Aken that a CoE is key in the long run, taking ServiceNow own documentation into consideration. Expecially when you are working with different modules or Workflow Applications that are extending IT as stated with @Terry Schultz 

Championing and enabling and measuring will be the most important things a Platform Owner will focus on. 

According to the mindmap it would be the strings

• Champion
• Keep skills up to date
• Lead Governance
•  

Basically we can call a Platform Owner an Inhouse Consultant as well.