/GLOSSARY

Platform operating model

A platform operating model is the end-to-end design of how the Now Platform delivers value, the engine room of governance, team structure, demand process, delivery cadence and performance metrics. It is the structural answer to "who does what, who decides what, and how do we know it is working."

WHY IT MATTERS

The operating model is the layer most programmes skip. They buy the licences, configure the modules and deploy the workflows, then wonder why adoption stalls, costs drift and the steering committee stops showing up. The missing piece is almost always structural: nobody designed the operating model that sits around the technology.

A well-designed platform operating model connects six domains: governance (who decides), team structure (who executes), demand management (what gets built), delivery (how it gets built), support (how it stays running) and measurement (how you know). Each domain has its own frameworks, cadences and accountability structures, and critically, each domain connects to the others. A demand process that does not feed the delivery cadence is theatre. A governance model that does not consume measurement data is guesswork.

COMMON MISTAKES

Treating the operating model as a one-time design exercise rather than a living structure that evolves with platform maturity. What works for a two-team programme collapses at five teams.
Confusing the operating model with an org chart. The org chart shows reporting lines; the operating model shows decision flows, escalation paths, information flows and accountability structures.
Building the operating model around the current team rather than the required capabilities, which bakes skill gaps and single points of failure into the design.

Platform operating model

The frameworks your steering committee will actually use.