Companies that don’t prioritize developers’ needs are falling behind. As more developers are tasked with vetting and selecting SaaS providers, organizations need to reciprocate with attention and support at every level. Committing to a developer-first lifestyle won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth it. Establishing a developer-first culture does not happen overnight. It can require an overhaul in the way a company operates in order to champion developers as its core users. As the Head of Developer Experience at Galileo, Egan Anderson has spearheaded the company’s efforts to re-invent the way it interacts with developers. Galileo recently opened up its suite of APIs for external use. The process has not been frictionless – Anderson has navigated the challenging dynamic of balancing the needs of developers with the inevitable internal inertia that’s often resistant to change. However, advocating for developers and facilitating these discussions has helped Galileo grow into a more successful and profitable business.

2. Building a Developer-
First Product
Fundamentals that can
improve every product

3. Impossibly High
Standards
Increment Magazine

4. Impossibly High
Standards
Twilio Quest

5. Impossibly High
Standards
WWDC

6. Impossibly High
Standards
These initiatives might be a
little out of reach for some
teams…

7. Fundamentals
There are a few things almost
any company can do to
improve their DX

8. 1. Advocate

9. CFO
Affordability-first Product

10. CTO
Ease-of-engineering-first
Product

11. Relationship
Manager
Existing-client-happiness-first
Product

12. Security Architect
Security-first Product

13. Developer
Advocate
Somebody needs to be
constantly fighting for your
developers

14. 2. Be Consistent

17. Consistency
• Uniform
• Predictable
• Does what it is expected to,
every time

18. 3. Get Feedback

19. If they build it,
they will come
• Talk to developers at every
stage of the product’s
lifecycle
• They will help you build a
product they want to use

20. Surveys
• Proactively ask for feedback
• Try to avoid “yearbook
answers”

21. Hackathons
• See how your product is
used in real time
• Find out which questions
don’t get asked

22. Hackathons
• See how your product is
used in real time
• Find out which questions
don’t get asked

23. 4. Communicate

24. Documentation
• The instruction manual

25. Forums
• Stop answering questions in
isolation
• Stack Overflow
• Embedded in your
Documentation

26. Support Channel
• Meet your developers where
they are
• Remove communication
barriers
• Start building a community

27. Overview
How you’re going to build it What you’re going to build After it’s done
• Advocate • Be Consistent
• Get Feedback
• Communicate

28. galileo-ft.com
Thank you!
@andersonegan