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The ServiceNow Platform Owner: Strategic leader or merely a ‘backlog caretaker’?

In many companies, the ServiceNow journey begins like a glamorous maiden voyage: champagne, grand visions and the hope of a paperless office. But after a few nautical miles, reality takes the helm – and the Platform Owner suddenly finds themselves not on the bridge, but in the engine room shovelling coal. In my work as a ServiceNow evangelist, I see the same drama play out time and time again: a bright mind with technical acumen is handed the title – and within three months mutates into a glorified backlog caretaker.
March 31, 2026

The symptom: the department as a ‘chamber of horrors for special requests’

Anyone who can use an Excel spreadsheet without causing a disaster starts unloading their ‘alarming’ requirements. The platform owner dutifully logs them, and the system gradually turns into a digital chamber of horrors:

  • Half-finished customisations that only work on a full moon.
  • Scripts whose authors are presumably already retired or have left the country.
  • Processes so contorted that even the developers in Santa Clara would weep.

The reckoning comes with the next major release: when the painstakingly cobbled-together workarounds implode during the upgrade, today’s ‘quick fix’ becomes tomorrow’s financial disaster.

The reason: a title as valuable as a chocolate penny

The problem is rarely a lack of talent. It is the lack of authority. A platform owner who isn’t allowed to say ‘no’ is not a decision-maker – he is an extremely expensive waiter taking orders.

ServiceNow is too complex to be shaped by whoever writes the most persistent emails or shouts the loudest in the corridor. Anyone who wants to lead the platform needs ‘organisational muscle’ – not just a thick skin.

The solution: From being driven by circumstances to taking control

A strong Platform Owner, as I prepare them in my coaching sessions, has three superpowers:

  1. Political backbone: He can stand up to a division head without the latter immediately instigating a palace coup.
  2. The gift of translation: He hears a vague business complaint and translates it into clean platform standards, rather than butchering the architecture with custom code.
  3. The two-year perspective: He doesn’t think about how to placate the stakeholder for this week, but how the system will still be able to function in two years’ time.

Conclusion: Strategy or wish list?

The role of the platform owner is to drive the digital transformation of the entire organisation – not just to tick items off the IT department’s wish list.

If your platform owner is only there to keep everyone happy, they will fail. They need the power to make real decisions.

The key question is: Is your Platform Owner allowed to steer the ship, or is he merely busy plugging the holes that others are drilling in the hull?