A presentation at DevRelCon Earth 2020 by Mary Thengvall
The Four Pillars of Support in Developer Relations DevRelCon Earth 2020 Rain Leander Mary Thengvall @mary_grace @rainleander
“Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” -Misty Copeland @mary_grace @rainleander
K Rain Leander @rainleander @mary_grace @rainleander
Mary Thengvall @mary_grace @mary_grace @rainleander
Support “To hold up or add strength to, literally or figuratively. To serve as a foundation for, to sustain without giving way, to undergo or endure, especially with patience.” -
Developer Relations “The purpose of Developer Relations is to build relationships with and enable technical communities.” -
Customer Support No. @mary_grace @rainleander
Community Support - How to sustain, encourage, and uphold the individuals, maintainers, and projects within a community. - @mary_grace @rainleander
Individuals Contributors to open source projects who do so in their own time and of their own volition. @mary_grace @rainleander
It’s about building relationships. @mary_grace @rainleander
How do we support individuals? ● ● ● ● Content Contributor Guidelines Communication Weekly Meetings @mary_grace @rainleander
Maintainers One or more people tasked with ensuring the source code, (including patches and releases), are consistent and viable for use in the broader project. @mary_grace @rainleander
They are the backbone of GetShitDoneTM; responsible for the hard work that often gets ignored. @mary_grace @rainleander
How do we support maintainers? ● Communicate early and often ● Weekly Meetings ● Burnout prevention @mary_grace @rainleander
Projects ● Open Source Projects ● Upstream / Enterprise Products ● Product Teams @mary_grace @rainleander
The impact we have expands beyond the end users of our products. @mary_grace @rainleander
How do we support projects? ● Communicating feedback ● Helping to fix quick bugs ● Being the “hub” of the wheel @mary_grace @rainleander
Community A group of people who not only share common principles, but also develop and share practices that help individuals in the group thrive. -
Alone, we can do so little; Together, we can do so much. -Helen Keller @mary_grace @rainleander
How do we support communities? ● ● ● ● Code of Conduct Documentation Mentorship Metrics @mary_grace @rainleander
Sustain. Encourage. Uphold. ● Individuals ○ Mentorship program ● Maintainers ○ Burnout prevention ● Projects ○ Being the hub of the wheel ● Community ○ Metrics @mary_grace @rainleander
Resources ● OpenSource.guide ● OpenSource.com ● OpenSource.org ● divio.com/blog/documentation ● The Art of Community by Jono Bacon ● The Art of Community by Charles Vogl ● Forge Your Future With Open Source ● The Business Value of Developer Relations All images from Unsplash; Slide Design: Iden · SlidesCarnival @mary_grace @rainleander
Thank You @mary_grace @rainleander
The definition of support is to serve as a foundation for, to sustain without giving way, to undergo or endure, especially with patience. Two DevRel veterans discuss what support looks like in various DevRel / Community teams with regard to the individual, the project, and the community as a whole.
for free. You
can too.