The Four Pillars of Support in Developer Relations

A presentation at DevConf.CZ in January 2020 in Brno, Czechia by Mary Thengvall

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The Four Pillars of Support in Developer Relations DevConf.CZ 2020 Rain Leander Mary Thengvall @mary_grace @rainleander

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“Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” -Misty Copeland @mary_grace @rainleander

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K Rain Leander @rainleander @mary_grace @rainleander

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Mary Thengvall @mary_grace @mary_grace @rainleander

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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.” -

  • dictionary.com @mary_grace @rainleander

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Developer Relations “The purpose of Developer Relations is to build relationships with and enable technical communities.” -

  • http://bit.ly/what-is-devrel @mary_grace @rainleander

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Customer Support No. @mary_grace @rainleander

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Community Support - How to sustain, encourage, and uphold the individuals, maintainers, and projects within a community. - @mary_grace @rainleander

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Individuals Contributors to open source projects who do so in their own time and of their own volition. @mary_grace @rainleander

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It’s about building relationships. @mary_grace @rainleander

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How do we support individuals? ● ● ● ● Content Contributor Guidelines Communication Weekly Meetings @mary_grace @rainleander

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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

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They are the backbone of GetShitDoneTM; responsible for the hard work that often gets ignored. @mary_grace @rainleander

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How do we support maintainers? ● Communicate early and often ● Weekly Meetings ● Burnout prevention @mary_grace @rainleander

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Projects ● Open Source Projects ● Upstream / Enterprise Products ● Product Teams @mary_grace @rainleander

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The impact we have expands beyond the end users of our products. @mary_grace @rainleander

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How do we support projects? ● Communicating feedback ● Helping to fix quick bugs ● Being the “hub” of the wheel @mary_grace @rainleander

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Community A group of people who not only share common principles, but also develop and share practices that help individuals in the group thrive. -

  • The Business Value of Developer Relations @mary_grace @rainleander

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Alone, we can do so little; Together, we can do so much. -Helen Keller @mary_grace @rainleander

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How do we support communities? ● ● ● ● Code of Conduct Documentation Mentorship Metrics @mary_grace @rainleander

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Sustain. Encourage. Uphold. ● Individuals ○ Mentorship program ● Maintainers ○ Burnout prevention ● Projects ○ Being the hub of the wheel ● Community ○ Metrics @mary_grace @rainleander

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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

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Thank You @mary_grace @rainleander