In 2020, Adam '@adamd' DuVander, previously writer at ProgrammableWeb and content strategist at Zapier, introduced the DEV Content Framework in his book ‘Developer Marketing Doesn’t Exist.’
This post is an introduction to the framework with real-world examples to help you leverage it for your developer-first product.
The DEV Content Framework
TL,DR: DEV stands for:
- Discovery,
- Education, and
- Viewpoint.
D stands for Discovery
The more accessible your product and docs are, the better.
It should be straightforward for developers to access the data they need and get started with your product. The first-time experience is vital. Take Stripe. From the homepage, you can access the API documentation and recent product updates. Sign in, and you can start playing with the API. It’s simple.
The Stripe Onboarding Flow - Speaker Deck
Twitter embraced the new Stripe homepage. How about its user onboarding? This week, I review the Stripe first-time user experience. What struck you the most in this review? If you enjoyed the read, <a href="https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1404843547228966916">please share it on Twitter</a>!
speakerdeck.com
E stands for Education
Make your content helpful, educative, and inspiring.
It takes time to master an API, a new library, or a framework. Your content should help developers embrace its full potential by educating and inspiring them. Take Liveblocks. The team wrote in-depth case studies, full of live examples. It makes you want to use the product because it feels like the team puts lots of thinking and hard work into them.
How to animate multiplayer cursors | Liveblocks blog
Smoothly rendering live cursors is more difficult than it sounds when real‑world conditions are taken into account—here’s a quick introduction to a few different methods, plus some React snippets.
liveblocks.io
V stands for Viewpoint
Have an opinion. Stand for how things should work.
Last but not least, you should have an opinion. By default, technology enables you to build whatever you want. Why would developers even care about your product if they can build it by themselves? Stand for how things should work. Take Linear. Many software helps you track issues. Linear wants you to enjoy doing it. “Software should feel magical,” they say.
Over to you
Thanks for reading!
Have you implemented the DEV content framework in your team? How do you apply it to your own content strategy? What are your best practices?
I’m eager to learn how you leverage this framework.
And if you enjoyed this story, please do share!
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