Planning Your Team's DevRel Strategy

A strategy is a framework for understanding what the right thing to do is and a tool for knowing roughly how you are going to achieve your goals. To come up with our devrel strategy at MongoDB, we invested a lot of time in preparing the planning session along with all the excercises and resources needed. After dogfooding our plan and iterating on it, we open-sourced our resources to enable other devrel teams to create better strategies with less preparation.

The first step towards creating your strategy is to analyze your current situation. From there, it is useful to think about your products, target audiences, competitors etc. With both an analysis of the current state and your products in mind, you can distill what your overarching goals and themes for the upcoming quarter(s) should be. With the themes set, you can ensure that your activities align with the themes and assign SMART goals to different initiatives.

The above process can easily take several days for your team to go through. It takes even longer to adequately plan the planning session for the team. To minimize the preparation time needed, the open-source step by step Developer Relations Strategy guide will lead you through the process and provide you with templates you can use for your planning session. After this talk, you should feel confident in using the given resources to lead a devrel strategy planning session.

This talk was given at DevRelCon SF (https://sf2019.devrel.net).

Transcript

1. Developer Advocate at MongoDB Hi. I’m Naomi. ! @naomi_pen ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ Communications Engineer, Office of the CTO Developer Advocate at MongoDB
2. why you need a well-defined strategy Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy* @naomi_pen *not just for team leads 1 2 how you can create your team’s strategy 3 a set of resources to help you
3. Reasons But why? " @naomi_pen Clarity & alignment across stakeholders 1 2 Increased productivity & targeted impact (side effects may include decreased anxiety) [A well-defined strategy]
4. The need for strategy is a common theme. @naomi_pen
5. Biggest challenges in Devrel @naomi_pen The State of Devrel, Hoopy, 2019 [A well-defined strategy]
6. Who can define the strategy? @naomi_pen “Many leaders in businesses now understand this need [for developer relations] (…). However, with this realisation still seems to be a lack of understanding about what the business specifically requires from the individual or team and hence everyone is looking for a Director, VP or Head of developer relations to define their strategy.” Phil Leggetter, The State of Devrel, Hoopy, 2019 [A well-defined strategy]
7. Who has the expertise? @naomi_pen “It’s difficult enough to hire an advocate with experience, let alone somebody who has the expertise to define the strategy for a business.” Phil Leggetter, The State of Devrel, Hoopy, 2019 [A well-defined strategy]
8. Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy @naomi_pen
9. Know your products 1 Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy @naomi_pen
10. Know your products Know your team and initiatives 1 2 @naomi_pen Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy
11. Know your products Know your team and initiatives Define themes 3 @naomi_pen Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy 1 2 Know your products Know your team and initiatives Define themes
12. Know your products Know your team and initiatives Define themes Define an event strategy 3 4 @naomi_pen Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy 1 2
13. Know your products Know your team and initiatives Define themes Define an event strategy Set SMART goals 4 5 @naomi_pen Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy 3 1 2
14. This is a lot to do @naomi_pen
15. Devrel Strategy: Step by Step An adaptable framework for preparing a strategy planning session for your devrel team @naomi_pen Available at bit.ly/planningdevrel
16. Credits A lot of the contents are based on Hoopy’s training, and other community members’ work # The MongoDB devrel team @naomi_pen
17. Outcomes @naomi_pen
18. Written assessments of your products. Outcomes @naomi_pen 1
19. Written assessments of your products. Written documentation and analysis of your current initiatives. Outcomes @naomi_pen 1 2
20. Written assessments of your products. Written documentation and analysis of your current initiatives. Defined themes for the upcoming months. Outcomes @naomi_pen 2 3 1
21. Written assessments of your products. Written documentation and analysis of your current initiatives. Defined themes for the upcoming months. Defined strategies & goals for each initiative. Outcomes @naomi_pen 3 4 1 2
22. Written assessments of your products. Written documentation and analysis of your current initiatives. Defined themes for the upcoming months. Defined strategies & goals for each initiative. A written overview of where your team sits in the company. Outcomes @naomi_pen 4 5 1 2 3
23. @naomi_pen The content is split into steps each step contains: • Outcomes • Introduction • Preparation • Tasks • Notes • Resources
24. @naomi_pen Know your products 1 Content • Tasks • Draw up org chart • Product Analyses • SWOT
25. Know your products @naomi_pen [Resources]
26. @naomi_pen Know your team and initiatives Content • Tasks • Team intros 2
27. Know your team and initiatives @naomi_pen [Resources]
28. @naomi_pen Know your team and initiatives Content • Tasks • Team intros • History of devrel • Initiative [review | retro] 2 • Tasks • Team intros • Tasks • Team intros
29. Know your team and initiatives @naomi_pen [Resources]
30. @naomi_pen Know your team and initiatives Content • Tasks • Team intros • History of devrel • Initiative [review | retro] • New ideas 2 • Tasks • Team intros • History of devrel • Initiative [review | retro]
31. @naomi_pen Define themes Content 3 • Tasks • Company goals • AAARRRP funnel • Articulate themes • Articulate mission statement • Alignment
32. @naomi_pen Define an event strategy Content 4 • Tasks • General selection criteria for events • Selection criteria based on your team • Generalizing your event strategy
33. @naomi_pen Set SMART goals Content 5 • Tasks • Examine each initiative and assign SMART goals
34. Set SMART goals @naomi_pen [Resources]
35. @naomi_pen Know your products Know your team and initiatives Define themes Define an event strategy Set SMART goals Content 1 2 3 4 5
36. @naomi_pen Bonus Content
37. @naomi_pen Communicate well Bonus Content 1
38. Communicate well @naomi_pen [Resources]
39. @naomi_pen Communicate well Documentation Bonus Content 0 6
40. Documentation @naomi_pen [Resources]
41. @naomi_pen Communicate well Documentation Extras 0 6 ✨ Bonus Content ✨ Example Schedule
42. Example Schedules @naomi_pen [Resources]
43. Calculate the time you’ll need @naomi_pen [Resources]
44. @naomi_pen Communicate well Documentation Extras 0 6 ✨ Bonus Content ✨ Example Schedule ✨ Energizer Ideas
45. Energizer Ideas @naomi_pen [Resources] Balloon Animals Cup stacking Cups Song
46. @naomi_pen Communicate well Documentation Extras 0 6 ✨ Bonus Content ✨ Example Schedule ✨ Energizer Ideas ✨ 6 Thinking hats
47. @naomi_pen Communicate well Documentation Extras Bonus Content ✨ 6 0 ✨ Example Schedule ✨ Energizer Ideas ✨ 6 Thinking hats ✨ Tips
48. Anyone on a team can lead this. @naomi_pen
49. Planning Your Team’s Devrel Strategy @naomi_pen why you need a well-defined strategy 1 2 how you can create your team’s strategy • Clarity & alignment across stakeholders • Increased productivity & targeted impact • Know your products • Know your team and initiatives • Define themes • Define an event strategy • Set SMART goals 3 a set of resources to help you • Available at bit.ly/planningdevrel
50. Get started at bit.ly/planningdevrel PRs & feedback welcome! @naomi_pen
51. @naomi_pen Thank you! Find me later with any questions! Slides are available at speakerdeck.com/npentrel By Naomi Pentrel