Developer Experience as a Product
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The document discusses the vision and mission of a team focused on enhancing developer experience through APIs, emphasizing a customer-centric approach to problem-solving. Key initiatives include product discovery, tracking effectiveness, and execution excellence with a focus on holistic, evidence-based strategies. The ultimate goal is to create seamless integration and retention experiences for users while continuously refining the product based on feedback and analytical metrics.
![API v2
POST /v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/checks/
{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "document"
},
{
"name": "facial_similarity",
"variant": "standard"
}
]
}
OLD](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/copyofpublicapithedocsdeveloperexperienceasaproductbenminh-201201152440/85/Developer-Experience-as-a-Product-35-320.jpg)
![API v3
POST /v3/checks/
{
"applicant_id": "<APPLICANT_ID>",
"report_names": ["document","facial_similarity_photo"]
}
NEW](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/copyofpublicapithedocsdeveloperexperienceasaproductbenminh-201201152440/85/Developer-Experience-as-a-Product-36-320.jpg)
Developer Experience as a Product
- 1. Ben Ahmady and Minh Nguyen Developer Experience as a Product
- 2. Our Vision We’re creating an open world where identity is the key to access API at the core of our overall product offering
- 3. 🎯 The team's mission is to build a product experience that converts and retains customers at scale—from trial, to integration, through to long-term use. Our team ATTRACT ACTIVATE INTEGRATE ENGAGE 🧲 💰 👩💻 😍
- 4. Developer Experience as a Product (Minh) Beyond the code: a razor-sharp focus on the why (Minh) Product discovery: breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences (Ben) Execution excellence: mission-driven teams with end-to-end ownership
- 5. Developer Experience Faster integration Revenue Happy customers
- 7. Beyond the code When talking about developer experience and APIs... A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 9. Beyond the code Developer experience = an engineering thing? 🧑 💻 A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 10. Beyond the code Customers don’t use your API because they like you… ...they do it because it helps them solve a problem 💪 A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 11. Beyond the code Payment API ⚙ SMS API ⚙ Identity verification API ⚙ A razor-sharp focus on the why Collect money easily and securely 💰 Complete a second-factor step 🛡 Verify someone is who they say they are ✅
- 12. Beyond the code APIs are not neutral conduits, they are designed and built to solve a customer problem… A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 13. Beyond the code Let’s take an example. You have rainfall data, and are asked to build an API to monetise it. A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 14. Beyond the code A razor-sharp focus on the why NEW DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE ENGINEERING LEAD BUILD DOCUMENT 🧑 💻 👷 🛠 ✍ LAUNCH 🚀
- 15. Beyond the code A razor-sharp focus on the why NEW DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE ENGINEERING LEAD BUILD DOCUMENT 💡 👷 🛠 ✍ LAUNCH 🚀 NEW DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE RESEARCH AND VALIDATE USER NEEDS PROTOTYPE, DOCUMENT, TEST PROTOTYPE, DOCUMENT, TEST 💡 🧑 🔬 🛠 🛠 LAUNCH AND TRACK 🚀
- 16. Beyond the code What does it mean for my rainfall API? A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 17. Beyond the code APIs are not neutral conduits, they are designed and built to solve a customer problem… ... in a way that supports the business 🚀 A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 18. Beyond the code How do we know if we are effective at supporting the business? Defining and tracking metrics 📈 A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 19. Beyond the code 1. Health metrics 🏥 how performant and reliable are our systems? 2. Growth metrics 📈 how good are we at acquiring, activating, and retaining customers? 3. Feature metrics 🛠 how effective are we at solving customer problems? A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 20. Beyond the code Time to integrate A razor-sharp focus on the why Quick go-live Retained and renewing clients Number of support queries Time to upgrade Happy client
- 21. Beyond the code With critical objectives, constant feature requests, and evolving technology, a great experience comes from methodical prioritisation 🔬 A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 22. Beyond the code Pick from the framework toolbox: ● User story maps ● Kano model ● Simple, lovable, complete ● RICE As long as it’s: 1. Evidence-based 2. A shared exercise 3. Around common objectives A razor-sharp focus on the why
- 24. Product discovery Who interacts with your API? Who benefits from the value of your API? What motivates them? What environment are they in? What state-of-mind are they likely to be in? Breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences
- 25. Product discovery Avoid tunnel vision, consider the holistic developer experience Avoid individual heroes, take people on a collective journey Avoid local optimisation, be smart when picking which lever to pull Breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences
- 26. Product discovery Developer experience is layered like an onion Breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences
- 27. Product discovery Validate for utility and usability...not only feasibility 🧑 🔬 Breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences
- 28. Product discovery Deal with APIs’ inconvenient truth, backwards compatibility 🚧 Breaking changes don't have to mean breaking experiences
- 30. Execution excellence From developer-led to a holistic focus Rebranded client interfaces API v3 Improved analytics Developer Hub revamp Token cycling & management New quick-start guides Custom client libraries New docs system Product/tech content
- 31. Execution excellence ● Documentation as visible part of the product 👀 ● Distribution is key: ○ product marketing 🛒 ○ sales enablement 💲 ○ change management 🚥 ○ release notes ⌨ ● "Technical technical writer" = DX focus Cross-functional team centred around a shared mission
- 32. Execution excellence ● "Client Acquisition & Experience" ● DX - holistic API experience⚡ ○ reference documentation 📖 ○ information architecture 🏘 and tooling (Postman, client libraries, OpenAPI etc.) 🔨 ○ process and feedback 🟢 Mission-driven teams with end-to-end ownership
- 33. Execution excellence Holistic API experience⚡ ... not just the customer's! Mission-driven teams with end-to-end ownership
- 34. Execution excellence Enhanced token management (Dashboard)
- 35. API v2 POST /v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/checks/ { "type": "express", "reports": [ { "name": "document" }, { "name": "facial_similarity", "variant": "standard" } ] } OLD
- 36. API v3 POST /v3/checks/ { "applicant_id": "<APPLICANT_ID>", "report_names": ["document","facial_similarity_photo"] } NEW
- 37. Execution excellence Separation of product and technical content
- 38. Execution excellence ● "Developers like to copy + paste!" ● Simpler API experience = simpler documentation = 😁 ● Migration guide Assumptions (and intuition) aren't always bad
- 39. Execution excellence Simpler API and public documentation
- 40. Execution excellence Simpler API and public documentation
- 41. Execution excellence Simpler API and public documentation
- 43. Execution excellence Process... feedback! 3 Send URL via Slack, email if Git diff not possible 1 Make changes based on best assumptions or user research 2 Deploy changes internally with CI/CD (GitLab) 4 Receive feedback (several places) 5 Make more changes 6 Repeat 4-5
- 44. Execution excellence ● Treat the experience holistically ● Distribution is key 📮 ● We're all "technical" ⌨ ● Assumptions aren't always bad 🤔 ● Feedback is vital 🟢 ● Simpler overall experience = happy everyone! 😁 Summary
- 45. Thank you!