A Tool is used by a DevRel practitioner to carry out their function and complete tasks. The Tools Catalog is a collection of the resources that can be acquired by an organization for use in these day-to-day work activities.
Typically, this includes assets such as:
- digital
- physical
Tutorials related to the use of a specific tool are relevant, but other knowledge resources in general such as books, frameworks, processes, communities, content distribution channels, etc. are out of scope.
The DevRel Foundation Tools Catalog (DEVREL-TC) is an opinionated-framework for defining tools that are included and to aid devrel teams in the evaluation and selection of tools.
It is not challenging to identify a list of available tools. Selection of the tools is the core problem because it becomes a matching problem.
- difficult to categorize tools in an intuitive way for all audiences
- difficult to evaluate tools (licensing, costs, interoperability, etc.) that may be dependent on organization environment
- difficult to source practical recommendations
- difficult to address bias as many tools are commercial or for promotional purposes
The DevRel Tools Catalog supports practitioners by sourcing and indexing relevant tools that can be presented in various views.
This is valuable because it aids in:
- prioritization
- acquisition
- application of tool to a task
Further, the tool catalog is helpful for:
- identifying for new employees during onboarding all the tools they should use to accomplish a niche devrel task
- help us re-tool and grow in our process and workflows
Some of the core concepts for the Tools Catalog:
- Structured Syntax
- Jobs to be Done
- Evaluating Programs
- Indexing Tools
To get value from a tool we must:
- find tools that solve the problem we have (but may not know the taxonomy)
- be able to figure out the problems a tool solves
- be able to add criteria to discovery and evaluation
The DEVREL-TC is a schema and data structure instead of a simple list. In some cases we want a list for easy scanning, but in others for evaluation we may want a more data rich description to help with selection or how to learn. The tools to support the syntax allows us to accomplish this.
- JSON schema
- validation tools
- transformation tools
- many-to-many relationship for categorization
Taking inspiration from Jobs to be Done:
- labels - simple categorization
- job categories - based on roles
- situation --> when I ...
- motivation --> I want to ...
- outcomes --> so I can ...
Tool Stacks acknowledge that for many jobs, a single tool is insufficient to achieve an outcome.
Some examples of job categories include: Technical Writing, Public Speaking, Graphic Design, User Experience, Developer Marketing, Web Development, Video Production, and so on.
Some examples of outcomes include: create infographic, create a logo, create a tutorial, create API reference, create a video tutorial, etc.
Tools are often selected by recommendations from others who have successfully used it in practice. DevRel will often look to DevRel as a proof point on whether adopting a tool will be successful within an environment.
Some of the evaluation criteria includes:
- program: the devrel team that has provided insight into their evaluation and decision
- pricing: free open-source, saas, etc.
- compatibility: framework, web-based apps, mobile apps, etc.
- customizability: components, configuration, open-source
- notes: free-form recommendations
The indexes allow us to present the tools in multiple views with consistent validated data.
- by label
- by job to be done
- by tool stack
- by devrel program
Automation of these tools would be centrally managed to make it easier to contribute and consume tool insights.
To be added as part of 1.0 release.