You deserve better than the spaghetti-against-the-wall, stickers-and-socks, hand-waving approach to making developers engage with your product. You deserve a clear and rigorous mission: Encouraging developers to learn, love and spread your tool. Fifteen years into my career working with makers, builders and developers of all stripes, I know what it takes to actually earn and sustain that love. As a true believer in open source, I’d hate the idea that you have to hire me to learn this. The more we all understand these concepts, the more profitable developer tools gets to be. So presented here is how I slice apart the work of getting people to use developer tools. It’s free. Pay me if you want to go deeper, but if you learn just what’s written here, you’re going to spend much less time spinning your wheels.

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A candle in the dark

A consistent theme repeats itself as I work with developer tools founders: it’s just hard to see the non-code problem space. That’s how we all got lost in the glue trap of “developer relations.” Don’t get me wrong: I really love a lot of folks in that role. I’ve been them. But lack of definition wastes time and energy, and your team can’t afford it. So let’s light up the territory. This guide can’t tell you everything, but it can describe four major domains where having a clear plan and opinion will transform your future.

Chart the career journey

Developer tools have to help pay the bills. Learn what people want from their careers to increase the impact of your product.

Measure the journey

Good vibes are not enough. You need objective measurement of your impact.A system for answering usage questions will help you sleep better.

Mastery of larger context

It’s not enough to know how to use your tools. Developers need to understand the larger context of where your tools create impact.

Peer learning

When we say ‘community’ what we really want is people who will teach each other the best use of a tool. You can build that on purpose.