The Art of Building Developer Tools

Transcript

1. The Art of Building Developer Tools
2. Samuel Giddins Realm
4. LLVM I couldn’t do my job without it.
6. What do these projects, and countless others, have in common?
8. Developer Tools
9. How we get from point A to point B. Every day.
10. My Projects
15. Each is a different kind of tool
16. How can I make these things?
17. 1. Find something that’s missing from your workflow 2. Build it 3. Build it in such a way others can use it 4. Receive feedback 5. Ignore 70% of it 6. Have a thick skin 7. Keep on improving
18. Is this something I want to do?
19. Maybe Don’t rush into it. It’s a lot of work, and you won’t succeed unless it’s a project that makes you happy.
20. Is there a real problem space here? Can someone in my position provide a solution?
21. Think risk vs. reward. Think about access. Think about time.
22. Does my experience leave me ready to solve this problem?
23. —Is it general? —Is it in-depth? —Is it unavoidable?
24. ! Great
25. ! Great Go Forth and Build
27. Solve a small, difficult problem first. Do it better than anyone ever has before.
28. Document it up the wazoo. Both header docs and ‘guides’. Yes, you need both.
29. Initial traction comes easier the more focused your solution is.
30. Once you have an audience, start spreading out. Find the ancillary problems, and solve them one at a time.
31. As your project grows, it will lose people. Not everyone loves a monolith. So try and make sure the things you bolt on both belong and don’t take over.
32. On the negative side
33. There Will Be Issues
34. There Will Be Insults
35. There Will Be Holy Wars
36. everything is terrible, nothing works, people are horrible, and there will be cool people doing awesome things on a regular basis — André Arko
37. Ignore All of That (If you want to)
38. Above All, Have Empathy
39. You’re asking a fellow developer to spend their most precious resource on something you built. It’s an honor. It’s a heavy responsibility.
40. Conclusion
41. Conclusion Let’s go and build some cool stuff.
42. Available now on Speaker Deck. https://speakerdeck.com/segiddins/the-art-of- building-developer-tools
44. Samuel Giddins Realm @segiddins