2023 Wrapped
Like so many of us, I’ve been binging on my Spotify Wrapped songs of the year. Most are not a surprise; a mix of blues rock, folk, and some modern gems thrown in. I’ve been on a big Little Stranger thing of late too. Their lyrics and effortless delivery reminds of one of my all time favorite groups, A Tribe Called Quest.
The idea of summarizing the most frequent Developer Relations projects I’ve been involved in in 2023 hit me this morning, somewhere in between taking the dog for a walk along a beautiful trail near Big Bear Lake, and my second cup of coffee. Now is also the time of the year where I start to plan clients, projects, and goals for next. Reflecting on the year about to close and trends always helps the Collective know which areas to do more research on, turn previous projects into templates and offerings for future clients, and generally follow the fast moving water of the everchanging developer landscape.
Below are the top 5 most common projects / trends The Dev Rel Collective worked on for 2023.
Improve PLG conversion
No surprises here. For any company focused on product led growth (PLG) through developer adoption, constantly improving conversion is key. I wish there was a silver bullet that solved this for every company, but there isn’t. Small, incremental goals based on experimentation helps to identify what works for your community. Of course, there are some staples like killer QuickStarts, leveraging tools like CodeSandbox, but too often I see organizations not invest enough in the product experience, sign up flow, or in-app guided flows. If your product isn’t intuitive, everything else is a bandaid for a poor developer experience.
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI exploded in 2023. In the last quarter of the year a had a few clients approach us about how to integrate AI tools into their developer workflows. There is huge potential here to dramatically reduce the effort and hours spent crafting tutorials, FAQs, and support channels for developers. I expect this to continue, and likely dominate most engagements in 2024. The team is also investing a lot more time and research into how AI can uncover insights into the developer journey by analyzing product analytics. The goal of AI in Dev Del shouldn’t just be about writing tutorials quicker, it should be about proactively identifying fiction points to ensure product managers and advocates prioritize their work efficiently. This will be especially impactful for PLG.
Video
A number of clients have expressed a growing interest in investing in video content, whether it is for tutorials, blogs, product summaries, and more. Videos convert strongly when trying to explain a new concept or add some personality to your content. This is especially true on platforms such as Twitch and live coding. Your video strategy for developer growth has to be carefully considered though. Producing videos is more work than say a traditional tutorial. Thankfully AI tools are reducing this burden but there is still an investment for sure. Every project where we’ve worked with a client to create an implement a video strategy leans very heavily on less scripted content such as live coding, collaborative projects, and open source. These are easier to produce, feel way less marketingy, and are pretty easy to slice into smaller snippets for distribution across multiple channels such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. We’ve seen big success when we partner with clients to slice their content into shorts. Just remember, a developer isn’t going to learn how to do something in a 10 second short, but it is a fantastic approach to inspire them to check out your longer form content.
Sign up flows
Oh sign up flows, my old friend. This has been a staple for more years than I can remember. It ties in very heavily with PLG, but I wanted to call it out separately here. I’m always shocked how broken some sign up flows are. They might confuse personas, not work correctly on mobile, lead potential users into a dead end, or simply not clearly articulate the products value proposition for developers in a few short bullet points. I’m a visual person and always diagram out the current state and desired future state of sign up flows for clients. Once it is all laid out, you can more easily see areas of improvement, documentation needs and more. Sign up flows is so fundamental, it’s always part of the Developer Health Check we offer.
Positioning
More than half of our clients need help with Developer positioning. Typically, they have done a great job of marketing positioning and explaining what the product is and why it’s amazing, but they don’t spend as much time positioning to Developers. Developers want to know the how: how does it solve their problem, how does it work with their existing developer toolchains, and they want to see how it aligns with the current trends in their space. Developer positioning is tricky, but when done right, should align with marketing, and flow into every developer activity you do, whether it is tutorials, partnerships, conferences, and overall vibe of the website. Positioning should be your way of explaining your opinion why your product solves a problem a certain way.
That’s about it. My coffee is getting cold. I guess it is time for a refill. Just like my Spotify Wrapped playlist, many of the most common projects were expected, but some I didn’t predict. Whilst I love all the projects we get involved in, it’s usually these surprise projects that are the most satisfying: you learn something new, stretch your abilities, and more often than not, tap into the next big thing before you know it. If you need help on any of these areas for your Developer Relations, let us know how we can help.