The Developer Advocacy Handbook  ## Metadata - Author: [[Christian Heilmann and Jens Oliver Meiert]] | [[3. Resources/Authors/Christian Heilmann and Jens Oliver Meiert|Christian Heilmann and Jens Oliver Meiert]] - Full Title: The Developer Advocacy Handbook - Category: #books - Kindle: [Open in Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKNTPDFJ) - Document Tags: [[DevRel]] ## Document Notes ## Highlights - You are the advocate for the developer world—the voice to the outside and the person asking for great developer experiences inside your company. ([Location 106](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=106)) - A developer advocate is a spokesperson, mediator and translator between a company and its technical staff and outside developers. ([Location 118](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=118)) - You can make developers find solutions for almost anything—if you speak their language. If you don’t then they will most likely appear as weird and non-communicative. ([Location 132](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=132)) - If something new comes out of your company that should get out to developers take it and access it like an outside developer would. Develop something with it, then document what you have developed. ([Location 141](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=141)) - The most common parts of the whole job to go into are: Writing code tutorials Blogging Public speaking Training Social web coverage Streaming Community support ([Location 153](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=153)) - Your job as a developer advocate is to listen to people on the inside, understand their problems and communicate with management to try and fix these issues. ([Location 166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=166)) - It is important to build up a reputation as someone people can vent at about their work without repercussions. This also is an important step to validate the worth of the developer advocate position to developers. After all, you are their advocate, right? ([Location 171](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=171)) - Prejudiced developers are amazingly proud of being the delivering part of the company and consider anyone who does not code superfluous. ([Location 181](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=181)) - Every change in the company has a legal process—while you are not an official press channel to the outside world your statement can be misquoted (oh and it will) and get you into legal trouble with your own company—liaise with PR and legal as soon as possible when there is a change. Then tell the developers in your company the legal implications. ([Location 204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=204)) - There is no “off the record”—neither internally and especially not when you are talking to the press/bloggers/outbound channels. ([Location 206](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=206)) - Switch to listening mode—during the first few hours after a dramatic change listen to everybody and keep your eyes and ears open to what people say. This helps you to stop people from completely destroying their professional standing in the company and the market and to learn about what is really happening. Don’t be part of the noise that drowns the facts. ([Location 207](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=207)) - Don’t act emotional and make assumptions—almost any change in the company will annoy people. In the heat of the moment this can lead to dangerous comments, assumptions and truisms which will come back to haunt you a week later. Be aware of this and don’t fall into the same trap. Instead be ready to bail these people out later on. Get the facts and before you say anything have a backup that can verify what you are saying. ([Location 210](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=210)) - Make your knowledge level clear—if people ask you what is going on don’t say “no comment” as that implies you know something but are not allowed to say it. Simply state that you are not in a position to know yet but that you are investigating. ([Location 213](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=213)) - You don’t want to give mixed messages—different views, yes, but you should both at least promote the same products to different audiences. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=248)) - PR and marketing know legal implications you don’t—so make sure you chat with them before prematurely releasing information or promoting products that are about to change drastically. ([Location 249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=249)) - These departments have already established communication channels which can give you a good way in to speak at conferences and work with the press. ([Location 251](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=251)) - You can learn from their experience—most probably these departments will have people that are on the job longer than you have been and can predict patterns. ([Location 252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=252)) - You can feed back state-of-the-art developer information—validating the impression PR has of a new product with realities makes sure that over-ambitious advertising doesn’t promise developers functionality that you’d have to explain is not available yet. ([Location 253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=253)) - Sharing contacts can open doors—you might have a way into companies and publication channels that PR always wanted to have but couldn’t find. ([Location 255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=255)) - Just like forward thinking developers share as much of their knowledge with other developers you should plan for training people in the company to do what you do. ([Location 266](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=266)) - Training advocates is a tricky thing—by definition advocates should be found and empowered and cannot really be “made.” ([Location 272](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=272)) - Make the company aware of the communication channels to the outside world. Say that the blog you have is successful and that you are happy to publish in-depth blog posts about current work and best practices used in the company. Then offer help with writing those. Prove that by giving a social media channel a more human voice more people will follow it than the ones that are basic news announcement channels of the brand. ([Location 274](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=274)) - Tell the company about events—both the ones you organise and ones that happen in the area. This is especially necessary when you can’t attend them. Offer to support a developer who wants to go with free goodies to give out (stickers, shirts…)—if they go and bring back photos and information how it went to write a blog post together. ([Location 277](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=277)) - Offer specialised internal training and talks—as the prospect of developer advocacy might still be alien and even scary to people cut the training offer down to things that can be applied in any professional role: writing for the web, public speaking tips, finding great web content (well, basically the different chapters here). ([Location 280](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=280)) - Share great responses from the outside world—send out for example a newsletter of “happy social quotes” with tweets and blog posts about how a certain event or product launch was received in the developer world. ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=282)) - Ask people to challenge your products—run some internal competitions to collect ideas about how people in the company would like your products to change. In a few companies I worked had we had “hack days” for that and more and more companies start doing the same. ([Location 284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=284)) - One issue you will face sooner or later as a developer advocate is where to put your information. The big mistake there is to use your own, personal channels (blog, Twitter account, YouTube channel, Facebook page and so on) for everything. This is tempting to do, for several reasons: You control the timing and style of the publication—it is your profile… It aids your personal brand—people come to you to find out cool, up to date technical info It is lucrative—you can make some extra money by showing ads or getting other sponsorships ([Location 298](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=298)) - once you publish for a certain company you are not just “you” any longer. You are a translator and a voice of a certain company or product and—more importantly—the people working in or on it. That’s why it is a bad move to use your own channels as the source for company or product specific information. For various reasons: You limit yourself—by posting about a certain company or technology you become the person to cover that technology. You have to answer comments you can not answer but the people working on the technology can. You set yourself up for an endless game of telephone. What happens when you leave the company or move on to another product? It will cause discontent—whilst it is good that you use your fame to promote the work of your colleagues, you also get benefits (tangible in the form of advertising money and lesser tangible in the form of fame) by writing about the work of other people. You didn’t do the hard work, you didn’t attend the meetings, you didn’t work extra hours to meet deadlines yet you become the face of the project. This can be seen as ripping people off. You cause a disconnect—your channels are not where the product is built and maintained. What happens when the technology changes? Keeping the information close to the subject matter and maintained by the people who work on the product ensures that things stay up-to-date without your intervention. You miss out on internal promotion—an official blog or repository of your company is promoted by the marketing department and everyone in the company. People know it as a channel and are excited to see new and up-to-date, well produced information there. Your own blog might not be known to people in the company and is not seen as a trustworthy channel as it is not in control of the company. You could go rogue any time, or your blog could be hacked. Official channels will shy away from promoting your work with you. You cause a massive maintenance overhead—it is up to you to keep the posts on the subject up-to-date when changes to the product happen. You might not be with the company any longer when changes happen and you don’t want to have to deal with questions by people years later when “your product” out of a sudden changes. ([Location 303](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=303)) - One crucial part to becoming a successful developer advocate is to remove the brand from your thinking. ([Location 331](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=331)) - Your goal as a developer advocate is to get developers to talk about your products and promote them for you. This is why you need to try your best to remove yourself from the brand of your company to set an example. ([Location 334](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=334)) - What is in it for developers? ([Location 340](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=340)) - Remain an independent voice—talk about everything that gets you excited regardless of where it came from. ([Location 363](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=363)) - Become a specialist in a certain underlying technology or methodologies that all these companies and languages rely on. ([Location 364](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=364)) - Keep your finger on the pulse—have a good collection of news sources to go through daily and tell the world about things you found and tried out. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=365)) - Using services and products of your competitors is a great way to check several things: What do they do well, that could be done better in your company’s services? Where do you get stuck? This is something to avoid in your own services. How does it compare to your own services? What are the differences? Remember, these are the questions that people will ask you, and you learn best by doing. How can these services be mixed with your own and how do they complement each other? ([Location 401](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=401)) - One of the main things to remember is that as a developer advocate you are the missing link between tech people and the outside world and tech people and your own company. ([Location 1040](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1040)) - What I mean by that is that when you talk about products you should not “sell” them. Instead your job is to make them interesting to developers out there and let them be the sales people for you. ([Location 1042](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1042)) - Are the slides available in a portable format (HTML, PPTX, PDF) and independent of your computer? Are code examples available online? Is embedded media (video/audio) independent of OS and does it work offline? ([Location 1499](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1499)) - Does all embedded media have accessible alternatives (captions, alternative texts, transcripts)? Is the font size big enough to read (especially in code examples when they can’t be resized) ? Are the slides in the format applicable to the conference (16×9, 4×3, …) ? Do all slides have enough contrast to be understandable even with projector glitches? Have the slides been checked for colour deficit issues? Is there a safety margin around the slides to allow for projector cut-off? Is all embedded media in a high enough quality to be shown on a big screen? Are there flickering and fast animations that could cause discomfort to the audience? If so, is there a warning slide? Are there any font dependencies that may need alternative fonts if you can’t present from your computer? ([Location 1502](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1502)) - Have the slides been checked for possibly offensive content? Are you sure you want to make that edgy joke or does it detract more than add? Does the talk contain any trigger content? If so, is there a warning? Are there any instances of third party or competitor mentions and is there no possibility of your content being seen as an attack or unfair criticism? ([Location 1509](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1509)) - Are the slides understandable to audiences without a certain background? Are you avoiding relying on metaphors and pop culture references that need explanation to work? Is there a thesaurus/explanation for translators about specialist terms? Is there a transcript for embedded media for translators? Is there a printable version of the talk for distribution to translators and transcribers? ([Location 1513](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1513)) - Are the slides impossible to be misread when viewed without context provided by the speaker? Can screenshots of single slides be shared without causing confusion? Is there an attribution for all media in the slide deck? Has any questionable, possibly copyrighted content been vetted? Is any third party content attributed to the correct author(s)? ([Location 1517](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1517)) - Are your slides available for download and will you have a handle on who will get them? Is there a call to action at the end of the slides and is the resource unique and available? Is there a way to track traffic from resources you mention (short URLs, tracking IDs)? ([Location 1520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1520)) - Do you have all the materials offline and independent of your computer (memory stick, including code examples, fonts and embedded media)? Have you prepared explanations of embedded media in case the video/audio doesn’t work? ([Location 1523](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1523)) - Can you have automated captioning and will you use it (Google Slides, PowerPoint—both need an online connection)? Have you told the conference organisers about it? Do you want to make the slides available to organisers beforehand to allow for translation/teasing? ([Location 1525](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1525)) - Add telemetry to your documentation and blogs—the thing to read there is not really the amount of hits and get high on that but to look through the referrers. I found a lot of interesting things pointing to my content that way. Subscribe to comment feeds of posts you’ve written or commented on. Use URL shorteners with tracking—not only are these easier to read and fewer chars to type, but you could also change their target if there are any problems with the old one ([Location 1700](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0BKNTPDFJ&location=1700)) ## Related - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Developer Marketing and Relations|Developer Marketing and Relations]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Developer Relations|Developer Relations]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Developer, Advocate!|Developer, Advocate!]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/The Business Value of Developer Relations|The Business Value of Developer Relations]] - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Docs for Developers|Docs for Developers]]