# Make Something Developers Want

Source: https://leerob.io/blog/make-something-developers-want

## Summary

Lee Robinson argues that developer-facing products win developer adoption by following five practices: embracing open source, offering a free tier, providing excellent documentation, offering support from developers, and taking part in existing communities. Experienced developers favor open source because they have been burned by closed "black box" tools or by previously open tools that changed licenses or closed their source code, while newer developers value the transferable skills it builds. On free tiers, the article says developers want to try products with minimal friction and would rather start self-serve than go through months of sales negotiations, even when buying enterprise software. The article also says good documentation should teach beginners progressively while staying useful to experts, and that community engagement should be a long-term, non-transactional effort in spaces developers already use.

## Article

January 2025Lee Robinson

1. You should embrace open source

Experienced developers love open-source products because they’ve seen the opposite. They’ve struggled to debug a “black box” closed-source tool, or worse, had a previously open tool change licenses or close its source code.

New developers love open-source products because they’re learning skills that help them advance in their careers, where knowledge transfers from company to company. Open-source tools often have better documentation, as well.

2. You should have a free tier

Developers don’t want to talk to your sales team. They want to try out the product with as little friction as possible. Start free, then grow once they’ve validated the product works and solves their needs.

There are exceptions to this rule. You might have procured software that required months of negotiations, license keys to get access, and hand-guided provisioning of resources from a human. But ask your developers: they would have preferred to start self-serve.

3. You should have excellent documentation

The better the documentation, the more likely the developer is to try your product.

This isn’t about specific UI features like dark mode or ⌘+K search dialogs. How quickly can they find an answer to their problem? Great documentation is either a reference guide or an educational tool.

Educational material should be equally compelling for both beginners and experts. Experts love to hear concepts explained in a simple way. Beginners want new concepts progressively explained. Don’t drop ten new concepts and five acronyms right away. Write like you’re teaching beginners.

4. You should be able to get support from developers

When developers can’t find the answers in your docs, they’ll reach out to support.

They want to talk to someone who empathizes and understands their problems. It’s easy to tell whether the support person actually “gets it”. Minimize the number of hops between problem and solution, ideally cutting out layers of humans in the middle.

This is why roles like Developer Advocates or Customer Success Engineers exist. Developers expect to talk to developers.

5. You should be part of a community

Where do developers go to hang out? Online and in-person communities.

This doesn’t mean you need to start a community for your product. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Instead, look at where the developers are already spending time. Go there. Talk to them and contribute to the discourse.

Communities are not transactional relationships. You are there to provide value. This is a long game. It can take years for the value to come back, but it’s obvious in hindsight.