Issue 124 - Looking forward to a more resilient 2021  January 6th 2021

"It's Hard, but Tools Can Help!"

This thread from Taylor Barnett is required reading for anyone who's doing Developer Relations work at an early-stage startup (or any company, for that matter). I've pasted the thread in its entirety below for ease-of-reading, but click through to read the conversations that happened throughout the thread as well.

early-stage DevRel has basically been on my mind my entire DevRel career. when you are in DevRel at an early stage company, it can be hard to nail down the company goals and their relationship with your work.

these goals exist, whether you know it or not. things are moving fast! sometimes it even feels out of your "lane" to ask about them if they aren't obvious. but this work is so critical for your strategy work. which you should def be doing!

I've been experimenting with everything from the AAARRRP DevRel Strategy Framework (thanks to @leggetter) to Libby boxes (thanks to @mary_grace) and honestly, literally everything comes back to having a clear understanding of company, not team, goals.

so, the question is, do you know your company goals? one of the things I've done is interview the whole leadership team individually to get answers from different perspectives and learn the language to speak "DevRel" to different areas of the company.

often I find myself just looking at words I've written down trying to make sense of them, but things really have clicked when I started picking goals in the AAARRRP framework or drawing Libby boxes. it's hard, but tools can help!

P.S. This is also how you get other teams to work with you more and help you out -- if aligned on company goals, it is an easier "yes, I will help you with x."

twitter.com  

Digital Developer Relations: Past and Future

While end-of-year reflections aren't uncommon on our blogs, Lorna Mitchell took a slightly different approach to it this year. She looked back at 2020, a year in which many DevRel professionals complained about their inability to reach developers, and saw the bright side of things. In this article, she covers how digital Developer Relations is inclusive, impactful, and intentional. It definitely changed my perspective and my guess is it will change yours as well!

lornajane.net  

No-One Wins If You Rush In

If you're starting a new job soon, first - congrats! 🎉 Second, you'll want to read this short article from Rich Millington. In it, he explains that while you might want to dive in on day one, it's actually better to take things slow and get to know both the people and the environment. Your community will thank you!

feverbee.com  

Defining Your Community Stack

Trying to figure out how create a successful community? Consider the stack (yes, like a tech stack or solutions stack) that you want to implement. Jeremy Ross digs into the different components to consider and how you build the most efficient and effective stack possible in this recent article.

honeycommb.com  

Stop Explaining Community Management

Listen, I know that we're all really passionate people with chips on our shoulders that people don't understand our work, but what if our corporate overlords don't need to understand everything to create better communities?

Whew! Carter Gibson ends his recent blogpost with this statement, but it was a strong enough argument that it made me go back to read the article a second time.

Trust me -- if you haven't seen this post already (it came out in November, so I'm feeling a little behind the times) -- you'll want to read it today.

community.club