Measurable Developer Relations With Data Protocol  ## Metadata - Author: [[Matthew Revell]] - Full Title: Measurable Developer Relations With Data Protocol - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #DeveloperEducation - #DevRel - #OpenSource Author: Matthew Revell (featuring Jake Ward’s perspective) Source: The WP Community Collective Blog / DeveloperRelations.com Reference: https://developerrelations.com/tooling/measurable-developer-relations-with-data-protocol date created: 2025-08-23 00:00 --- # Title: Measurable Developer Relations with Data Protocol — Transforming Developer Education for Success ## Table of Contents: - [🧭 Introduction](#-introduction) - [🚧 The Challenges of Developer Education](#-the-challenges-of-developer-education) - [🤝 Repositioning Developers as Partners](#-repositioning-developers-as-partners) - [📈 Moving Beyond a Cost Center](#-moving-beyond-a-cost-center) - [🧰 Data Protocol’s Approach: Software-Enabled Video](#-data-protocols-approach-software-enabled-video) - [🎛️ Crafting Experiences as the New DevRel Frontier](#-crafting-experiences-as-the-new-devrel-frontier) - [📝 Notes](#-notes) - [🔗 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items (OSPO/WordPress/Open Source Lens)](#-action-items-ospowordpressopen-source-lens) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - Matthew Revell, “Measurable developer relations with Data Protocol” - Jake Ward (Founder/CEO, Data Protocol) — quoted throughout - Data Protocol (context: interactive dev education; software-enabled video) Note: You’ve read as far as 51%. Your current scroll position is around 39%, which is a bit earlier than your furthest point. ## 🧭 Introduction The article argues that shipping developer products isn’t enough; adoption hinges on effective, measurable education that matches how developers actually learn. It profiles Data Protocol’s “software-enabled video” approach as an interactive, scalable alternative to traditional LMS and static docs, and urges a mindset shift: treat developers as partners and craft end-to-end experiences. ## 🚧 The Challenges of Developer Education - Developer attention is scarce; content must be high-quality, hands-on, and contextual. - DevRel must both market and enable: selling a better future for the developer, not just a feature list. - Tool fragmentation and silos make impact measurement hard, risking DevRel being seen as a cost center. ## 🤝 Repositioning Developers as Partners - Developers are co-creators whose ingenuity drives product value. - Treating developers as partners reframes education, feedback loops, and success metrics. ## 📈 Moving Beyond a Cost Center - DevRel layoffs often reflect attribution gaps, not lack of value. - A unified approach to measurement can show DevRel’s revenue contribution and drive sustainable investment. ## 🧰 Data Protocol’s Approach: Software-Enabled Video - Interactive, hands-on learning mimicking “pairing at the keyboard.” - Courses embed video + interactive code windows; easy to keep in sync with changing APIs. - Free for developers; content creation services help teams scale. - Goal: measurable engagement at scale. Direct quotes and key moments: - “Product innovation by itself isn’t enough…” (start) - “Repositioning developer as partners” (mid) - “We’re revolutionising the game with… ‘software enabled video’” (later) ## 🎛️ Crafting Experiences as the New DevRel Frontier - The differentiator is the end-to-end partnership and experience, not just a shiny tool. - Future DevRel: creating with developers, not broadcasting at them. ## 📝 Notes - Positioning - Developer education = enablement + marketing; sell an improved developer future. - Compete for attention with practical, detailed, contextual learning. - Problems to solve - Silos across community, customer, and learning platforms obscure attribution. - Static docs and generic LMS don’t match dev workflows; updates lag product changes. - Reframing developers - Developers power revenue via apps/businesses built atop your product. - Treat as partners: co-design roadmaps, co-own outcomes, share metrics. - Measurement - Define leading indicators: task completion in courses, successful API calls in sandboxes, time-to-first-success, retention across learning paths, community conversion. - Tie education milestones to product usage and revenue stages. - Data Protocol solution - Software-enabled video: pair-programming feel at scale. - Interactive code windows; rapid updates as APIs evolve. - Keeps experiences free for devs; services to produce bespoke learning tracks. - Strategy implications - Build experience stacks: docs + interactive labs + forums + events + analytics. - Measure across funnel: awareness → activation → adoption → advocacy. - Use insights to argue for DevRel as a revenue driver. ## 🔗 References - Article: Measurable developer relations with Data Protocol — https://developerrelations.com/tooling/measurable-developer-relations-with-data-protocol - Related context on developer learning efficacy: Learning-by-doing research and interactive tutorials (general literature; consider looking at empirical software engineering education studies). - Background on “pair programming” as a learning metaphor: Agile/XP literature. ## 🗣️ Paraphrase 1) Original gist: “Product innovation by itself isn’t enough… if developers can’t use your tech, did it really launch?” - Paraphrase: Shipping features is meaningless without developer adoption; until developers can successfully apply your technology, the launch hasn’t truly happened. 2) Original gist: “We’re revolutionising the game with ‘software enabled video’… accessible at a click… how developers learn.” - Paraphrase: Their model blends video with interactive practice to simulate a side-by-side mentoring session, delivered instantly online, aligning closely with developers’ preferred, hands-on learning style. ## 📰 Newsletter Learning web development just got more hands-on. This week we’re spotlighting a shift in DevRel: moving beyond static docs to true “learn-by-doing.” Data Protocol is experimenting with software-enabled video—think pair programming in your browser with interactive code windows and rapid updates when APIs change. For WordPress folks, this aligns with how we actually learn: small wins, quick feedback, and measurable progress. Recent updates: Gutenberg keeps iterating toward better editor performance, Core discussions continue around performance timing and sustainability, and community events are showcasing new contributor onboarding flows. New plugins worth a peek: block-level A/B testing tools, improved site health dashboards, and a GitHub Actions helper for WordPress deployments. Community highlights: Shoutout to organizers running contributor days with task-based learning tracks and mentorship circles—great example of education that respects developer time. If you’re teaching yourself JS/PHP this month, start with a tiny project, wire in automated tests, and publish your learnings. Sharing what you build helps the whole ecosystem. Links: - Data Protocol’s approach to interactive developer learning: “Measurable developer relations with Data Protocol” - WordPress developer resources: WP Developer Blog and Make Core updates - GitHub Actions for WordPress deployments: “Deploy WordPress with GitHub Actions” guides ## ✅ Action Items (OSPO/WordPress/Open Source Lens) Prompt you can reuse per article: “Analyze how this article advances open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and developer education within the WordPress ecosystem. Map insights to: - Advocacy: Identify policies, funding models, or narratives that sustain contributors and community (e.g., framing DevRel as revenue-driving to justify sustainable investment). - Engagement: Extract tactics for onboarding, mentoring, and retaining contributors (e - Summary: Developer relations and education play a crucial role in the success of new technologies. However, there are challenges in capturing developer attention and measuring the impact of developer relations efforts. Data Protocol offers a solution by repositioning developers as partners and providing a platform for delivering interactive learning experiences. By offering software-enabled video content and interactive code windows, Data Protocol aims to revolutionize developer education and engagement. The company also offers customized learning content and innovative ways to meet developer learning needs. The future of developer relations lies in creating meaningful partnerships and crafting experiences that go beyond traditional marketing efforts. - URL: https://developerrelations.com/tooling/measurable-developer-relations-with-data-protocol?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=measurable-developer-relations-with-data-protocol  Product innovation by itself isn’t enough. Like that tree falling in the forest, if developers can’t use your tech, then did it really launch? For developer educators and others in developer relations, this question isn’t just academic: it’s existential. Tasked with the mission of not only introducing but also convincing developers to embrace and proficiently wield new technologies, we in DevRel and developer education must innovate just as much as our colleagues in product and engineering. When it’s done well, developer education is as much a marketing activity as it is enablement. Our job is not just showcasing a product but selling a future in which the developer’s life is improved by that product. However, we all face two challenges: an ever growing task list and the fact that ours is only one of many voices among many demanding developer attention. With a plethora of resources at their fingertips and an array of languages, frameworks, and tools to choose from, capturing developer attention requires a step-up in both quality and detail. Developer education is about connection, engagement, and most importantly, understanding the rhythms of the developer psyche. So, how do DevRel teams and developer educators make sure their tool is not just another tab in a developer’s browser, but a pivotal aspect of their toolkit? The team at [Data Protocol](https://dataprotocol.com/) believe they have at least one part of the answer. #### **Repositioning developer as partners** [Jake Ward](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobmward/), founder and CEO of Data Protocol, was prompted to act when he came to the conclusion that the tools we’ve been using to educate developers up until this point have been lacking. *“Both developers and DevRel teams have been getting a bad deal. For developers, the way we’ve educated and supported them has been to use tools that were made for other people. Just because a learning management system works well for your finance team, that doesn’t mean it’ll work for developers.* “Then for DevRel teams, this mish mash of tools, channels, and platforms has made attribution almost impossible. And the result of that is talented, hard working DevRel teams––who have been doing the right thing, but in a way that’s not measurable––getting laid off.” For Jake, it wasn’t just a matter of new tooling. Instead, Jake advocates a shift in how companies view their developer communities. The success of developer tools depends on the ingenuity and hard work of end-user developers; the people building the apps and businesses that ultimately fund the company’s monthly service fees. Jake’s vision was clear. If your company offers a product for developers, then those developers are not just implementers. They’re partners and they need a relationship that treats them as such. #### **Moving beyond a cost centre** It’s no secret in DevRel that teams often struggle to communicate their value. In Jake’s view, one cause is that DevRel professionals end up juggling disparate toolkits—community management on one hand, customer management on the other, not forgetting learning management, and more. With so many silos, drawing out the data to measure and understand impact has been difficult, to say the least. *“In recent months, DevRel teams have been decimated inside companies because they’re thought of as cost centres. When we know that it’s not true. They’re driving revenue, they’re driving value.* “Our idea was that if we could put numbers behind this, we could measure engagement at scale.” So, how does Data Protocol help? #### **Delivering developer learning at scale** Learning an API or a framework is more hands-on than, for example, an HR person getting to grips with updates to employment law. For Jake, that meant Data Protocol needed to take a new approach. “*We’re revolutionising the game with what we’re calling software enabled video.’ It’s not just content; it’s an experience, pulling from the raw, hands-on ways developers truly learn. Imagine recreating the back and forth of sitting beside someone as they show you how to use a new bit of tech. But instead of having to be in-person, it’s accessible at a click. We’re not just delivering information; we’re getting right to the heart of how developers learn.”* Jake is insistent that the experience is (and remains) free for developers to use, but Data Protocol is more than just a platform. The team will also build your learning content to your specifications, enabling DevRel and developer education teams to scale their impact. *“We take your traditional developer docs and make them interactive. So, we deliver courses but with video and interactive code windows embedded. And because any developer tool is a moving target, we also make it easy to make changes as you go. If the parameters on an API call change, for example, we can dip and quickly update that part of the learning materials.”* The Data Protocol team is also developing innovative new ways to meet developer learning needs. A partner can quickly launch a channel on the platform, create a custom experience, or produce short TL;DR videos to keep their community engaged. #### **Crafting experiences: The new frontier of Developer Relations?** Developers are swamped with choices. But as Jake suggests, perhaps the real game-changer isn’t merely the tool—it’s the end-to-end partnership that developers establish with the vendors and communities who provide those tools. Real innovation isn’t just about making something shiny and new; it’s about the way it’s introduced, adopted, and becomes part of the developer’s universe. The future of DevRel isn’t just about driving awareness but about creating *with* developers. In the sprawling digital bazaar, companies like Data Protocol aren’t just setting up stalls; they’re crafting experiences. ##### *Related* The DevRel Awards is back as part of DevRelCon London this September to celebrate the best of developer relations. Now that the public nominations are closed, the awards jury is busy selecting the winners. Here's a quick look at who's who on the jury. Adam FitzGerald Current position: VP, Developer… It’s 9 p.m. at night and I’m three videos into a tutorial on how to integrate into Google Assistant. I have been on a bender, sifting through as many docs, videos and written tutorials as I can find online. I look at my watch again and it’s midnight. I haven’t… Tell me about your role at Roblox Grace: I joined Roblox a couple of years ago when the Developer Relations team was just a couple of people. Roblox as a whole has experienced rapid growth across player base, developers and our internal organization. Today, dev rel is a significant organization…, Measurable Developer Relations With Data Protocol, Matthew Revell, 01hcffd3312sxbysgdv9gmnqky.