Five Tools of Developer Advocacy

Baseball was my first love. While I would eventually get immersed in most aspects of the sport, its history, and the stadiums, my initial obsession was baseball cards and player statistics. Starting as a 10-year-old, collecting cards was my gateway to appreciating the most talented players, and the numbers used to calculate their performance and rank among the best in the league.

My first favorite player was Jim Rice, all-star left fielder with the Boston Red Sox and eventual Hall of Famer. One of the best players in the game, his card was the first I was truly excited to collect. He was already a Red Sox legend and took over the position held by former greats Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams. In addition to his ability as a player, he earned a heroic status for saving a fan’s life during a game at Fenway Park.

One thing I loved about baseball cards was that, besides the cool photos on the front, each card had its own printed database of baseball statistics on the back. I studied and memorized the data on the back of his card, which highlighted that in 1978, the year he won league MVP, Jim Rice led the league in hits, triples, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, games played, and at bats. The statistic made famous by the 2004 book-turned-movie (2011), Moneyball, On Base%, was not highlighted and didn’t really show up on cards until the 90s.

Another reference to a player’s ability in baseball is the five tools. These are also mentioned in the film Moneyball — when they show scouts from the Mets luring a young Billy Beane away from his alternative future at Stanford. These five tools are the ability to hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw.?

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So now that you’ve hung in here with me for 4+ paragraphs, let’s relate this to my monthly series on what I love doing, Developer Relations, and the role of Developer Advocacy.?

A five-tool player in baseball is a special breed. And talented Developer Advocates are a very special breed of professionals in tech. Having built many DevRel teams and programs around great Advocates, there are definitely tools, traits, and abilities I look for. These are beyond the obvious foundational technical abilities and public speaking. They are five tools that special Advocates have or work towards building. And if you’re getting into this role, I hope this helps you focus on some areas as you develop your own skills.

1) Code-side manner

This is an Advocate’s ability to demonstrate incredible patience with others as they show something new. It also involves knowing the steps to code, integrate, or deploy something so well that they can walk others through it and overcome any related challenges. When done successfully, this creates an enjoyable and encouraging experience to continue building and trying new things on whichever platform the Advocate represents.

2) Authenticity

Always having genuine enthusiasm in what you’re showing, sharing, or presenting is most effective. Even the most seasoned Advocates can get jaded or have doubts about features or the value of what they are asked to share. It shows. Great Advocates can partition out what doesn’t sit right and focus on what does. They develop trust with their teams and the technology, knowing when to call features “too new” as beta and avoiding certain things in live demos.

3) Curiosity

As noted above, technical ability is foundational. But that alone doesn’t enable an Advocate to stay current, if not ahead, of the capabilities they need to work with and share. A healthy curiosity helps Advocates continue looking for new best practices to improve and inform how they guide developers. Curiosity has Advocates looking deep into other communities or competitors’ platforms for new paths and ideas. Most of all, it drives pushing the envelope with examples and projects, often into new frameworks, languages, and devices.

4) Welcoming

I was really enlightened about this seven years ago when a first-time Advocate made it a mission to change our company’s culture to be way more inclusive around developer activities. Their work continues to inspire my programs today. I appreciate Advocates who understand and make it clear that, regardless of ability or background, everyone has a place in the community. This can factor into everything, from communications to Champions programs to programming content. An example of inclusion around ability: Advocates who are exceptional at welcoming, even when giving a workshop or session geared to more advanced developers, will connect with those feeling excluded and find other opportunities to follow up.

5) Highlight others

Advocates often work in a very bright spotlight. And again, as noted above, public speaking is a foundational capability. What’s always impressive to me is Advocates knowing when to step out of that light and shine it on others. As a community grows and the platform matures, developers will emerge who are doing amazing things. Amazing Developer Advocates will know when their objective to share and inspire can be equally, if not better, served by others. They will take the opportunity to elevate others around them. It’s a win-win for everyone.

These are five of the best attributes I see in talented Developer Advocates. As I’m writing each month, please reach out and let me know if there’s anything here you’d like me to write more about. I’m interested in what tools, traits, and capabilities you look for and admire among those in DevRel or Advocacy.?

In case you missed it, my first post in this series was about Finding and Measuring Inspiration in Developer Relations.