What is DX and why is it worth attention?
Length:
4 min
Published:
April 8, 2021
Almost everyone knows UX (user experience). Far fewer people know DX (developer experience), even among professionals. We want to change that, because developers and their satisfaction are key to successful digital products.
DX = Developer Experience
What does the term cover? DX is the experience developers get while they work, while they use the tools they need, and while they are part of a team with its own dynamics.
DX has two sides: internal and external. The internal side streamlines processes in the team and removes the obstacles that get in the way of work or of the team itself.
What belongs to internal DX
- Communication in the team and trust between its members,
- meaningful and accurate job assignments,
- substitutability,
- roles set up so that people enjoy them,
- team rituals (retrospectives, 1-on-1s, planning, mentoring),
- the art of resolving conflicts,
- getting things done faster with the right tools,
- more automation and less tedious manual work.
What external DX includes
- Clear, easy-to-use developer portals,
- documentation that is high-quality and easy to understand (API docs, product docs for developers, and more),
- tools that work well (clear, meaningful, easy to use, time-saving),
- SDKs that make integrating third parties easy,
- a high-quality product (low error rate, and so on),
- the speed of integrating one developer's product into another.
So why does it matter to keep an eye on how well DX is set up? Because the development experience shapes the quality of the final product. Satisfied developers build better products. When they enjoy their work, they work faster and with fewer errors, and the product gets better and more successful as a result. You also reduce team turnover, which keeps the business running without disruption.
Why DX Heroes?
We have been part of IT development teams ourselves, so we know what DX looks like and how it affects people and the results of their work. Most companies overlook it, and we want to change that. That is why we founded DX Heroes, and why we have spent the last two years improving the development experience.
Not sure how your developers score on DX? Get in touch and we will figure out together how we can help. We are happy to share our experience, advise you on how to measure and improve DX, and help you set up processes and evaluation criteria.
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