DevRel Weekly - Issue 194 - Keep your to-do list small and focused

Welcome! 👋

It's been a difficult few weeks in the United States as divisive decisions from the Supreme Court continue to roll out. Many of us have had difficulty focusing at work and I've seen a number of people questioning whether they're burned out by work or simply overwhelmed by their lack of control over world events.

I was struggling with how to open this week's newsletter, since I'm definitely not an authority on the decisions that are being made, but wanted to share resources (hat tip to Cassidy Williams for sharing this one) and offer support (if you're struggling to find a place to stay while recovering from medical procedures, please reach out).

Taylor Barnett summed it up nicely: it's difficult to compartmentalize what's happening in the world and focus on creative work that's supposed to be positive, optimistic, and encouraging. As she says, it's important to keep your to-do list small and achievable, cancel any unnecessary meetings, and give yourself grace.

Sending hugs,
Mary (@mary_grace)
DevRel Weekly Patreon

Tidbits 🕔

Remove more things than you add

You can improve many communities by removing more things than you add.

We're seeing significant improvements in engagement and task completion simply by removing redundant areas (and text!).

Simplicity improves convenience.

-Richard Millington

Customer-Centric != Community-Led

Something messy about the Community-Led discourse...

You can have a customer-centric company that isn't community-led.

You can't have a community-led company that isn't customer-centric.

But I think we often use these two interchangeably, and I don't think that's accurate.

-Evan Hamilton

Understand the Core Essence of your Audience

Even a hundred strategies will fail consecutively if you do not understand the core essence of your target audience.

Build strategies that are based on real possibilities by understanding the psyche of your community.

-Glynk

Trust is the Cornerstone

Community is not a single person, but a single person can unravel the trust of an entire community

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair

If we don’t have trust then the best and most welcoming CoC in the world doesn’t matter

-Justin Garrison

Looking for tips on how to de-escalate tense situations in your community (and hopefully maintain trust)? Jephtah Abu gives some real-life examples and tips in this blogpost.

DevRel Advice Column: Prioritization

Time management and task prioritizing in the #devrel world feel trickier than as a developer. What are your tips to make your life easier?

-Daniel Alfonso

Tangibles 🤓

Ten Tips to Make Conference Talks Suck Less

Looking for tips on how to improve your conference talks as you look ahead to the Q4 conference season? Gunnar Morling has some tips for you, whether you're an experienced speaker or just testing out the waters with your first public speaking event.

What makes a great community strategy?

Noele Flowers has done a brilliant job of summarizing her research on community strategy presentations. Whether you're in the midst of creating a strategy or simply wanting to level up your skills, this is a great resource.

Tangents 🐰

The new normal of staffing, conferences, and work

I'm still recovering from 2 weeks of travel for work, so this article from Heidi Waterhouse resonated with me this week. In it, she makes the case for reevaluating the practical implications of in-person events in this post-vaccination era. It's important to make sure our organizations are more resilient when it comes to staffing in-person events, and the points that she lays out are valuable.

Storytime 📚

Replayable - Desktop Instant Replay

Don't spend time trying to explain or reproduce bugs in your product. Capture them the first time with desktop instant replay. The Replayable desktop app records your screen in the background so you can embed instant replays in Jira, GitHub, Slack, and more. Join our beta today!

Storytime 📚

DevRel Podcasts and Videos

DevRel Con Deep Dives videos
What even is a DevRel? with Lee Robinson - Changelog
The Role of a Community Manager with Alex Angel - Community Conversations (video)
Running an Open Source Advocacy / Evangelist Program with Gabe Weiss - The Hoss Talks Foss (video)

Events 📆

Look Before Accepting

...before accepting a speaking slot #devrel folks should ask "who else is giving a talk?" - if the speaker lineup looks like this, pull out, bring someone who can make a difference, consider pulling out sponsorship if they don't correct course.

-Eva

DevRel Events

It's officially summer here in the US and there are new events, meet ups, and events being scheduled for the next couple months! Come see our Event Collection for what's new!

Jobs 👩‍💻

DevRel Jobs

Looking for new gig? We've just combed through our massive collection so everything is there is current and waiting for just the right person, maybe it's you!