Issue 14

Welcome! 👋

Authenticity has been a repeating theme for me throughout this week. Why do people do what they do? Why do we prioritize things in particular ways, and better yet, who is defining our priorities? What's our hidden motivation for replying to that tweet, answering (or not answering) that email, or phrasing our question in that particular way? Or are we simply being ourselves, present in the moment and accepting of our emotions, motives, and goals?

What about the company stakes? If we're building a community solely for the sake of the people outside of our company, are we being completely authentic when we present the business value of our actions back to the stakeholders? And vice versa, if all we care about is making a good impression at the next board meeting, can we honestly say that we have the community's best interests at heart?

We often say that developers have a high b.s. meter, which means they can see through sales pitches and pick apart marketing fluff. If we turn that on its head, we could make the argument that the driving force behind building a strong community is authentic communication instead of just reaching for that next metric.

I'd encourage you to take a step back this week and look at your community initiatives from a forest view. Which ones are allowing you to be authentic with your community members and which are prioritizing selling your product over providing value for your customers?

Questions? Thoughts? Opinions? Hit reply and let me know what you think.

Best,
-Mary (@mary_grace)

Tidbits 🕔

Deliver a Powerful Community Experience at Regular Intervals

It’s always better to deliver a powerful community experience for a short amount of time than a mediocre experience for a long period of time.

-Richard Millington, Founder of Feverbee; excerpt from A Powerful Community Experience For A Short Period Of Time

AI Moderation -- Helping us be More Authentic?

While I often cringe at the idea of using AI to help with community-based tasks, if it's freeing up more time to actually interact with the community, I'm not sure I can object. Thoughts?

Half of #cmgr time is spent in sorting social conversations. #AI moderation helps free up that time to allow for more human to human interaction.

-Brooke Summers, Advertising & Media at Sprinklr

Don’t mistake your software for your community.

Investing in a community requires much more than an investment of software. The time invested in creating this value statement will pay off in the long term as it helps you identify all the ways your community (and you) adds value.

-From The Community Roundtable's CMGT 101: Community Value Statements

Are Communities Eternal?

Here's a puzzle for you: If the brand dies, does the community remain?

Thanks to Paras Pundir for this thought-provoking question.

Thoughts? Feels? Opinions? Hit the reply button.

DevRel Community is the Best Community

Once asked a change agent what kept them going when the going got tough... the answer was that his fellow Pirates help.

For me it's the #Cmgr community, TY each and every community manager who has shared their knowledge and expertise with me. Much gratitude!!

-William Jenkins

Lurkers are an Essential Part of Every Community

cWithout lurkers in a community, who gets value from all that user-generated content? That’s the whole point!

-Rachel Happe

Welcome to Leslie & Laura, Live!

Laura Czajkowski and Leslie Hawthorn have teamed up to bring you the fantastic LeslieLauraLive. Regular DevRel content, advice, and more... find it here!

Opinions Abound... What does a Developer Advocate Do?

For a fascinating look at many different definitions of DevRel, check out this thread started by Emily Rose:

Developers!

Give me your best summary of what a developer advocate does and why their work is valuable (or not).

I have a theory I’d like to test...

We are Changemakers

This is exactly how great community professionals prompt change - first they encourage engagement, then they plan regular strategic programming, then they optimize infrastructure, and last the reward changing mental models.

-Rachel Happe

Screenshot the Tools

If you are in #devrel or you write developer docs, you NEED to use the new Firefox - the screenshot feature is a killer!!!!!

-Steven Citron-Pousty

Empathy and Authenticity go Hand-in-Hand

Want to criticize someone for traveling if they’ve got a family?

Don’t.

Especially if it’s their job.

-Waldo Grunenwald

Give them an Opportunity

In an online community, simply telling misbehaving members that their account may have been compromised, asking for a password change made them stop the behavior — giving them the opportunity to save face instead of openly berating them.

Thanks to Florent Crivello for finding this gem.

About those Metrics...

As soon as you give people a metric they're judged by, they optimize for that metric rather than do quality work.

This one sentence sums up much of toxicity in corporations, academia, even education. So simple.

-Eva Infeld

We have to show the value

The key to successful Digital Transformation is not tools, it’s dialogue and conversation

-Alexander Kluge

Tangibles 🤓

DevRel Conferences - Recaps & Recordings

Given how many conferences have been happening lately, it's no surprise that the conference-related content is starting to pile up. While it's timely and informative, I've segmented it off so as not to flood the newsletter. Check out the collection if you've been waiting for a particular talk to be released or you're looking for a play-by-play of the latest DevRel conference you missed.

New to the DevRel space and still figuring out how to navigate the conference space? These three tips from LeslieLauraLive are sure to come in handy.

Forget About Collaboration

This article rings true on so many levels -- collaboration is important, sure, but what's the business value that the company is actually looking for? They may say that they value collaboration, but why? Because collaborating means solving business problems.

Similarly, why do companies care about the community? More often than not, as much as we'd like it to be the case, it's not because they care about building up people outside of the company who may or may not be their customers. It's because they care about the potential value that the community can bring to the company -- the word-of-mouth marketing, the brand ambassadors, the buzz and awareness that comes from other people recommending your product, and the goodwill that can come from using company money to support a community venture.

So the next time you're trying to get more money for the community, figure out the business value that it can impact, and use that as your argument for getting more funding. You might be surprised at how much more readily the stakeholders will agree...

Balancing Exposure in a Public Role

How do we balance our own personal authenticity with being authentic about our product? What happens when we're a public face of the company and we disagree with something that they've done? Bryan Soltis digs into this, as well as how to set boundaries, how to balance personal and professional on social media, and compartmentalization in this great blogpost about balancing exposure in a public role.

No authenticity, no point: building a brand for developers

How do you build a brand aimed at people who care little for the bells and whistles of traditional marketing? You guessed it... authenticity. Liam Booger, Head of Brand Strategy for MadKudu, explores this idea in a recent blogpost.

The reason I really like doing branding for developers is they don’t care. They don’t care about magical superlatives and they don’t care about selling points. They barely care about pricing.

...you have this really interesting persona, one that highly values authenticity and is more interested in the value you are creating than what you are charging for it.

Tangents 🐰

People Need To Feel That Their Feedback Has Been Heard

Whether civic engagement or technology, the core principle is the same:

People need to feel that their feedback has been heard, that people are very responsive to their contributions, that it matters. That’s ultimately what it’s about.

Storytime 📚

Managing Communities is like Cat Herding

Swapnil Bhartiya recently interviewed Swarna Podila, Sr. Director of Community at Cloud Foundry Foundation. They talked about the vibrant Open Source community around the project, as well as what it's like to try to "manage" these communities. There's so much great content in here -- definitely one to add to your watch list.

One from the Archives 📰

We Don't Do That Here

If you want your community to be authentic, you have to start with setting boundaries. What is and isn't acceptable within your community, and how do you clearly and concisely point out what violates that boundary? Google Developer Advocate Aja Hammerly demonstrates a polite but firm way to communicate culture to newcomers in this blogpost that I find myself referencing often:

If I deliver this sentence well it carries no more emotional weight than saying, “in Japan, people drive on the left.” “We don’t do that here” should be a statement of fact and nothing more. It clearly and concisely sets a boundary, and also makes it easy to disengage with any possible rebuttals.

Events 📆

Developer Relations Events

DevRel Webinars are gaining steam! I added two new ones this week alone. Also, conference season is ramping up for DevRel as well as the rest of the tech industry. Many of these events are winding down their Early Bird tickets -- click through to take advantage of the current pricing!

Jobs 👩‍💻

Are you sure that's the job title you intended?

Job titles (and descriptions) matter. While there is often overlap in jobs that fall under the DevRel umbrella, making sure that there is a distinction is key. Community Manager Jakkii Musgrave explains:

I will never stop being frustrated by Social Media Managers being given the title Community Manager instead. NOT. THE. SAME.

One is not better than the other, but they are fundamentally different functions with different focuses.

Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work I Go!

Looking for a job? Take a moment to peruse this recent article from David N. Blank-Edelman, now Developer Advocate at Microsoft. It's long, but full of fantastic advice. Similarly, Sarah Withee, now Software Engineer at Arcadia Healthcare Solutions, posted about her experiences back in February. Both of these present a very honest and authentic glimpse into what their job search was like and how they ended up where they are

Developer Relations Jobs

Now that you've read all about how to handle the unemployment gap, it's time to dive in and find your new role. Per usual, if there are broken links or job listings missing, feel free to reach out.

Developer Avocados 🥑

I'll be honest -- I disagree wholeheartedly.

Whenever someone claims that there's a "right way" to do something, I raise an eyebrow. Especially in community management, we can lay down generic suggestions and principles, but as much as I hate this phrase, each community is truly going to be a snowflake. You'll figure out what works for your community, and more importantly, what doesn't. This week in "avocado facts," someone tries to lay down the law as far as what you shouldn't ever do with avocados, and I strongly disagree. Where do you fall in this argument?