Against the backdrop of rapidly increasing software development complexity and widespread cloud migration, organizations face a productivity slump: engineers are compelled to spend substantial resources on infrastructure and operational tasks. This article examines the concept of Platform as a Product (PaaP) as a strategic response to this contradiction. The aim of the study is to build an integrated model of how a product approach to internal platforms increases the engagement and performance of external development teams. The methodological foundation includes a systematic review of academic publications (IEEE, ACM) and a content analysis of industry reports (Gartner, Google Cloud, Cortex) and practical cases (Spotify, Netflix, Zalando). The data obtained show that PaaP, by consistently applying the principles of customer centricity and UX design to internal developer users, specifically reduces their cognitive load. This, in turn, improves key dimensions of Developer Experience (DevEx) — satisfaction, flow state, and efficiency — which leads to increased voluntary engagement and accelerated value delivery. The conclusion confirms the proposed hypothesis and offers practical recommendations for technical leaders on implementing PaaP. The material will be useful to researchers in software engineering, as well as to executives responsible for technology strategy and organizational design in IT companies.
Ruslan Tsyganok (Mon,) studied this question.