Building a Developer Platform

Transcript

1. BUILDING A DEVELOPER
   PLATFORM
   BRENDAN NEE
   

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2. CITY PLANNING &
   TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
   

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3. DEVELOPER
   Maps
   Open Data
   Javascript
   Node.js
   Python
   Front End
   Back End
   Developer Platforms
   

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4. AUTOMATIC
   

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5. BLINKTAG.COM
   

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7. YOU HAVE AN API
   YOU WANT
   DEVELOPERS TO USE IT
   

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8. ITS MORE THAN AN API
   ▸ Documentation
   ▸ Developer Website
   ▸ Libraries / SDKs
   ▸ Example Applications
   ▸ Developer Tools
   ▸ Tutorials
   ▸ App Gallery
   ▸ Developer Support
   ▸ Developer Notifications
   

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9. Publicity
   Developer
   Tools
   Useful Apps Recruitment
   BENEFITS OF A GOOD DEVELOPER PLATFORM
   Wider Reach
   Product
   Position
   

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10. DOCUMENTATION
    

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11. TEXT
    DOCUMENTATION
    ▸ Editability
    ▸ Versioning
    ▸ Single page, for easy search
    ▸ New users and existing users
    ▸ When in doubt, check what other
    good developer platforms use
    

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13. DEVELOPER WEBSITE
    

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14. developer.yoursite.com
    

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15. Documentation
    Developer
    Tools
    App Gallery
    Intro
    Developer
    Support
    Example Apps
    DEVELOPER WEBSITE
    Libraries
    Tutorials
    

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16. TEXT
    DEVELOPER WEBSITE
    ▸ Keep it simple, not fancy
    ▸ Focus on content
    ▸ Launch sooner rather than later
    

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17. AVOID UNNECESSARY FENCES
    

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18. LIBRARIES / SDKS
    

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19. OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
    

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20. TO COPY OTHERS IS
    NECESSARY, BUT TO COPY
    ONESELF IS PATHETIC.
    Pablo Picasso
    TEXT
    

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21. TEXT
    LIBRARIES - DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL
    ▸ Take best practices from an
    existing library that is similar
    ▸ Use the same format for
    documentation and examples
    

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22. USE THE LIBRARY
    IN YOUR CORE
    APP.
    

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23. EXAMPLE APPS
    

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24. OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
    

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25. DEVELOPER TOOLS
    

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26. TEXT
    DEVELOPER APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
    ▸ Support a developer owning multiple
    apps
    ▸ Support separate apps for staging and
    production
    ▸ API key and oAuth client/secret
    management
    ▸ App info: name, URL, oAuth redirect
    URL, category
    ▸ Scopes and permissions
    ▸ Webhook URL
    

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27. TEXT
    ADDITIONAL DEVELOPER TOOLS
    ▸ oAuth redirect URL generator
    ▸ Webhook/Websocket logs
    ▸ Application state / event simulator
    ▸ API playground
    

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28. TUTORIALS
    

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29. TEXT
    TYPES OF TUTORIALS
    ▸ “Hello World”
    ▸ Guide to building one of your
    sample apps
    ▸ Example of the most common use
    case
    ▸ Guide to a particularly tricky aspect
    of your service
    ▸ Tutorials in different popular
    languages and frameworks
    

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30. TEXT
    TUTORIALS
    ▸ Encourage developer feedback
    ▸ Push updates to the tutorial often
    ▸ Tutorials can help new team
    members, non-technical team
    members, partner organizations
    

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31. APP GALLERY
    

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32. TEXT
    APP GALLERY
    ▸ Expose useful 3rd party
    integrations of your service
    ▸ Determine API capabilities
    ▸ See novel uses of your API
    ▸ Developer recognition
    

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33. TEXT
    APP GALLERY PROMOTION
    ▸ Web based
    ▸ Integrated into your core app
    ▸ Highlight a new app in each
    developer newsletter
    ▸ Promote on developer social
    media
    

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34. DEVELOPER SUPPORT
    

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35. TEXT
    DEVELOPER SUPPORT
    ▸ developer@yourcompany.com
    ▸ Assign a specific person to be
    responsible
    ▸ Zendesk
    ▸ Accept pull requests
    ▸ Respond quickly, even if you won’t
    have an answer right away
    

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36. MOST COMMON DEVELOPER QUESTIONS
    UPDATE DOCUMENTATION
    CREATE TOOLS
    SAMPLE APPS
    

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37. TEXT
    FEATURE REQUESTS
    ▸ Developer support lead should be a
    developer advocate
    ▸ Compile most common feature
    requests
    ▸ Advocate to team why these are
    needed
    ▸ Respond to developers that their
    requests have been noted
    ▸ Allow interested 3rd parties to beta
    test new feature to get feedback
    

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38. DEVELOPER NOTIFICATIONS
    

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39. TEXT
    DEVELOPER NOTIFICATIONS
    ▸ API changes
    ▸ Downtime
    ▸ New features/endpoints
    ▸ Required updates
    ▸ Example apps
    ▸ Featured apps
    

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40. TEXT
    DEVELOPER NOTIFICATION EMAILS
    ▸ Auto-subscribe developers
    ▸ Allow unsubscribe
    ▸ Don’t use for marketing purposes
    ▸ Keep email format simple
    ▸ Publish on developer blog as well
    ▸ Reply address
    developer@yoursite.com
    

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41. DEVELOPER PLATFORM RECAP
    ▸ Documentation
    ▸ Developer Website
    ▸ Libraries
    ▸ Example Applications
    ▸ Developer Tools
    ▸ Tutorials
    ▸ App Gallery
    ▸ Developer Support
    ▸ Developer Notifications
    

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42. BRENDAN NEE
    QUESTIONS
    @BRENDANNEE
    

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