This week’s blog might be a little controversial, but hang in with me and it will get clearer. When we discuss customer centricity, it often feels like the domain of marketing, sales, or support. But in reality, customer centricity directly impacts software architecture, especially in a world where the cloud is the primary delivery model for software.
Too often, companies think of customer acquisition as a funnel: wide at the top, narrowing down to a sale. That’s a mistake. A better metaphor is an hourglass: acquiring a customer is just the midpoint. Retention, expansion, and deepening of customer value are just as critical.
Whether your customers are individuals or organizations, their needs always revolve around three key factors:
- Keep me safe (minimize risk)
- Save me money (minimize cost)
- Make me thrive (increase profits, stature, or viability)
You cannot separate the architecture of your platform from customer obsession in order to deliver on these goals. Below, I’ll outline key architectural principles every product leader should consider, each anchored in customer value.
1. Serviceful, Loosely Coupled Platforms
Favor serviceful platforms over brittle monoliths. This does not imply pursuing microservices without a clear purpose. Instead, ensure domain boundaries are respected, APIs expose logic and data, and refactoring happens in manageable chunks. This improves gross margins while reducing future drag.
2. Feedback Early, Iteration Always
Big upfront designs often fail under real-world complexity. Instead, build the thinnest viable platform, simple and evolving in response to usage. Internal developer platforms reduce cognitive load and accelerate iteration, creating consistent, curated developer experiences.
3. Asynchronous > Synchronous
Humans expect instant feedback, but platforms need scalability. Asynchronous integrations allow systems to react to events at scale, often uncovering new proactive patterns along the way.
4. Eliminate, Don’t Just Reengineer
As Elon Musk says, the first principle of design is elimination. Too many teams polish legacy components long past their expiration. Customer obsession means removing friction, even entire features, when they no longer serve the purpose.
5. Reengineer, Don’t Multiply
I know I mentioned to eliminate and not reengineer; too often we add things just for the sake of it, which creates unnecessary noise. Look at Apple’s careful approach to AI: slow beginnings, but better user experiences. Complete what you begin; don’t add new services until you’ve streamlined the old ones.
6. Duplicity > Premature Abstractions
Patterns emerge with real usage. Please avoid over-abstracting too early; it’s advisable to allow duplications until clear paths emerge. Like city planners waiting to see where grass is worn before paving sidewalks.
7. Reachability via APIs
Your business logic and data must be accessible through proper APIs. Proprietary protocols only create friction. APIs are the handshake of customer-centric platforms.
8. Everything as Code
Infrastructure, policies, security, and other elements should all be maintained in code. This ensures consistency and traceability, which accelerates evolution.
9. Secure by Default
Customer trust is non-negotiable. Zero trust and auditability for all human and non-human actors is a must. “Trust but verify” is outdated; today it’s “Zero Trust and verify.”
10. Build on Open Standards
Differentiate where customers care. Elsewhere, leverage open standards to reduce costs and innovate at the experience layer.
11. Explainability is Survival
A platform customers can’t understand is a platform they won’t trust. When failure occurs (and it will), systems must be explainable and observable to minimize downtime.
Closing Thought
Customer centricity isn’t just about GTM strategies or NPS scores, it’s about architecture. The way we build platforms directly reflects the way we value customers. Each principle above is both a technical choice and a customer promise: safety, savings, and growth.
As product leaders, our job is to make sure the platform hourglass doesn’t run out in the middle but continuously fills on both ends.
