fast forward: deploying our best selves, to build the future of developer communities

FAST FORWARDDEPLOYING OUR BEST SELVES,

TO BUILD THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPER COMMUNITIES.

DevRelCon SF April Sixteenth • Two-Thousand Sixteen

Tim Falls • VP, Community Keen IO • [email protected] • @timfalls|

Thanks for the kind introduction. And thanks to Josh for setting the stage by catching us up with the history of developer relations, so that I can take the baton and move forward by looking at our future.

FAST FORWARDDEPLOYING OUR BEST SELVES,

TO BUILD THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPER COMMUNITIES BUSINESS.

DevRelCon SF April Sixteenth • Two-Thousand Sixteen

Tim Falls • VP, Community Keen IO • [email protected] • @timfalls|

…not only the future of developer communities, but the future of business.

Me?

So, I’ll start with a little bit about me, to establish some intimacy. I like to divide life into work/play, so here are a few fun facts about me:

PLAY Past passions: - the sport of wrestling (for 20+yrs, through university) - traveling non-stop, because community (still like to travel, but not non-stop)

Present passions: yoga and meditation pitbulls and advocacy for the breed capes

MOVIES!

(sure I like movies, but I’m no “buff;” I mostly include this to help the rest of my talk make sense😜 )

DID Y’ALL HERE ABOUT SNAPCHAT? It’s kinda the best thing on the internet today :P

WORK farmer mover manufacturer

[grad school: MBA]

Techstars Sendgrid Keen IO

You?

ENOUGH ABOUT ME. What about you?

Who’s title includes: - evangelist? advocate? community? - someone aspiring to have one of those titles - someone looking to hire one of those people?

- who likes string cheese? - who writes code? - who doesn’t write code? - who’s lives in the Bay Area? - who flew in for this? - shout out your home city, if you think you came from the farthest place!

…Okay, now we know a little bit about each other. Let’s move on!

Storytime! I’m gonna tell a story that starts on an airplane (imagine that, right?)

…so I was flying home from London, when I realized I made a big mistake. I’d booked my 2-week wonderfully unplugged vacation in Costa Rica right on top of this conference.

I was faced with the decision: speech or beach?

As you can see, I’m here now. (and don’t worry - that Costa Rica thing will happen in a few weeks.)

When this realization hit me, I was first amused, then frustrated, then annoyed, and that eventually gave way to a little bit of anger (which subsided to sadness.) Instead of making a decision on what to do at that time, I closed the laptop, got my early-delivered special meal (#protip), and turned on the movies.

The movie I watched on that flight was The Big Short.

It tells a story based on real events about how profit/$$$, can lead to humans doing stuff that stands to hurt other people. It’s really disturbing.

By the #s: According to the Department of Labor, ~8.7 million jobs were shed from Feb 2008 to Feb 2010, GDP contracted by 5.1%. Unemployment rose from 4.7% in Nov 2007 to peak at 10% in Oct of 2009.

The next week, back at home in SF, I watched another movie: The Revenant The Big Short is a modern-day story, enabled by technology, which is obviously relatable to us - especially because most of us remember experiencing it.

Unfortunately, these profit-driven disasters have been happening for centuries.

The Revenant is also based on true events. It is a story told at the beginning of the Industrial Age. Instead of subprime loans, they were selling furs.

In 1823 , as Europeans traveled across America to kill beavers, so that rich people could have fancy fur hats. In the course of this, Native Americans were displaced and slaughtered - literally.

Side note: this may seem much less relatable to us, but it shouldn’t, because similar things are happening today (see: tar sands in Canada)

But, I digress..

To bring my point home, let me get back to that trip to Costa Rica.

In dealing with this mistake, I had to call to and reschedule my fight. As you might imagine, it wasn’t as easy and painless as I’d hoped…

I spoke with the airline representative, and quickly learned that a) they’d made a mistake and b) their mistake added another $150 fee to the $400 in

fees they were trying to charge me for changing the booking.😕

I tried to reason with the customer service rep, but soon found myself in all too familiar situation — the person on the other end of the line suddenly sounds like a robot. She’s repeating herself over and over. It sounds as if she’s reading from a script. No matter what I say or ask, she just says, “ I’m sorry, sir, but…”

Corporations like the one that employed this person put structural restrictions around their employees, preventing them from being human and making decisions and acting in the best interest of their customers. Employees have been stripped of their personal agency. The procedural limitations around them are such that a customer service agent seems to believe (maybe they know) that they can’t truly help a customer beyond the standard operating procedures. They can’t use their best judgment and make a decision; they can only transfer you to their supervisor who is always in a meeting. So they resort to this roboticism (I’m coining this term, btw.)

I’m sure everyone in this room has experienced something similar - with an airline, a cell phone provider, a cable company, etc. These situations are completely baffling and leave me sad and empty and questioning the future of humanity.

Luckily, there is a competing force that is much bigger…

?

We are at an amazing and important moment in time and space. The industrial age has come and gone. The Digital Revolution has begun and given birth to the Information Age.

We are here. Meow. And in front of us is a big question mark. But we’re moving forward along that timeline, and our movement is characterized by significant change…

Industrial Revolution ?



Industrial Revolution

/—Industrial Age—/

?




/—Industrial Age—/

Digital Revolution ?




/—Industrial Age—/ /—Information Age —/

Digital Revolution ?




/—Industrial Age—/ /—Information Age —/

Digital Revolution

😻 ?WE ARE HERE.

MEOW.



EVIDENCE OF CHANGE…

And there is much evidence this change - both in the present and future.

For example: 1) HR Departments are “rebranding” to People Teams.


HR People




HR PeopleHR People




HR PeopleHR People

… 2) And private equity firms are beginning to focus on their investment in the people within their portfolio companies as much as the businesses themselves.


HR PeopleHR People

Private Equity firms invest in companies



HR PeopleHR People

Private Equity firms invest in companiesPrivate Equity firms invest in companies



HR PeopleHR People

Private Equity firms invest in companiesPrivate Equity firms invest in companiesPrivate Equity firms invest in people.



HR PeopleHR People

Private Equity firms invest in companiesPrivate Equity firms invest in companiesPrivate Equity firms invest in people.

US!

… 3) And the biggest sign of change: US — the community builders, evangelists, and advocates. The fact that we exist is a huge and clear indication that business leaders are changing their worldview - from one that dismisses the well-being of the people they touch (community, customers, employees), to one that has that same well-being at the forefront of its concerns. We represent companies that believe in fostering a healthy community and that doing so is imperative to their business’s success.

This is a paradigm shift of great proportions.

And this shift creates great opportunity.

And this opportunity brings with it great responsibility.

a paradigm shift




an opportunity

a paradigm shift




an opportunity

a paradigm shift

a responsibility




an opportunity

a paradigm shift

a responsibility

BIG

^^

^

To be sure, all of these things are BIG.

Should

Must

So, on that timeline, we stand at a crossroads. Where there are plenty of things that we could or should do, and a few things that we must do.

And I believe that WE are uniquely positioned to embrace the opportunity. And that we MUST assume some level of responsibility.

WE are uniquely positioned to embrace the opportunity.

Should

Must



WE are uniquely positioned to embrace the opportunity.

WE must assume some level of responsibility.

Should

Must



WHY US?

Here’s why we must help guide this movement forward - especially in its most formative stages. - number of developer evangelists, advocates, community pros - the powerful companies behind us, with resources of capital, technology, and influence

WHY US?

Titles* Evangelist: 29,160 Advocate: 287,761 Community: 824,270

Developer Evangelist: 3,152 Developer Advocate: 2,044 Developer Community: 11,348

*Source: LinkedIn

Here’s why we must help guide this movement forward - especially in its most formative stages. - number of developer evangelists, advocates, community pros - the powerful companies behind us, with resources of capital, technology, and influence

WHY US?

16,544

1,141,191Titles* Evangelist: 29,160 Advocate: 287,761 Community: 824,270

Developer Evangelist: 3,152 Developer Advocate: 2,044 Developer Community: 11,348

*Source: LinkedIn

At the high end, there’s over a million of us. At the low end, almost 17 thousand of us (just on LinkedIn.)

And we have great reach! Any one of us could write an article or build a hack that gets to the front of Hacker News tomorrow. From there it could easily go upstream to TechCrunch. And from there, it could just as quickly move to mainstream in the New York Times. And now we’re reaching millions if not billions of people. That’s real reach, which enables real influence.


/Industrial Age//Information Age/

Digital Revolution

😻🚀

So, again, we’re at this place in time and space moving along our timeline. And we have an opportunity to steer our rocket ship in the future full of companies who are human; companies full of people who care about the other people they work with and affect; businesses that behave with empathy and compassion toward the communities they impact.

A future where the companies that fail to cultivate healthy relationships within their community also fail to stay alive.

The rest of this talk is about how we can bring our best selves to this adventure, which will be challenging to say the least…

And to make the rest of this journey more fun, we’ll stick to our movie theme, only this time with a film this crowd might relate to a little more than the others I mentioned…

Enter: STAR WARS CRAWL

It is a period of transition. A shift is happening, toward a more human approach to business. We must prepare ourselves to seize this moment of opportunity and restore freedom to the galaxy.

(watch video here: https://youtu.be/TYZEtMF1PU4)

We’re just about ready to shift into hyperdrive and take this ship forward…

ENGAGE HYPERDRIVE?

We’re just about ready to shift into hyperdrive and take this ship forward…

ALMOST. BUT FIRST…

But first, some Jedi training…

WE VISIT DAGOBAH…

FOR [INTROSPECTION]

TRAINING

INTROSPECTION

I ask for your participation once again, but no need to raise your hands. Just think inside your head. The following questions are meant to encourage you to be introspective, asking yourself “why?”

Why are you here today at this conference on Saturday?

…is it because your boss asked you to be here? …because you wanted to come learn more about your craft? …because you think it will help you achieve some metrics to which your team has been held accountable? (eg, recruits, brand/product awareness, signups) …is it because you knew you’d get to see a bunch of old friends and meet new ones?

And why are you in this role? Whatever role you’re in, whatever title you have, why is that you? Why have you chosen this path at this point in your career/life?

…is it because of chance? right place/right time? (that’s part of why I’m here, I think) …because you were meant to be part of this movement? (also, part of why I’m here, I think) …because you were tired of writing code every day and wanted to get out of the office more often? …is it because you’ve always wanted to travel the world, and the military seemed like an inferior option? …or maybe, simply, because you love to help people and feel the feeling of knowing you just made someone else’s life more enjoyable, more fun, and

INTROSPECTION

WHY’S & I’S ?

I ask for your participation once again, but no need to raise your hands. Just think inside your head. The following questions are meant to encourage you to be introspective, asking yourself “why?”

Why are you here today at this conference on Saturday?

…is it because your boss asked you to be here? …because you wanted to come learn more about your craft? …because you think it will help you achieve some metrics to which your team has been held accountable? (eg, recruits, brand/product awareness, signups) …is it because you knew you’d get to see a bunch of old friends and meet new ones?

And why are you in this role? Whatever role you’re in, whatever title you have, why is that you? Why have you chosen this path at this point in your career/life?

…is it because of chance? right place/right time? (that’s part of why I’m here, I think) …because you were meant to be part of this movement? (also, part of why I’m here, I think) …because you were tired of writing code every day and wanted to get out of the office more often? …is it because you’ve always wanted to travel the world, and the military seemed like an inferior option? …or maybe, simply, because you love to help people and feel the feeling of knowing you just made someone else’s life more enjoyable, more fun, and

I probably wouldn’t be too far off, if I guessed that this room’s collective answer to those Q’s encompassed all of those answers and many more.

What’s really important as we move forward: the motivations behind your answers to those questions (and others) and how close to your heart you hold each one of those motivations.

This will influence the way you interpret the rest of my message today and the way you apply it in your life/work next Monday and going forward.

Ok, now we’re ready to kick it in to overdrive!

POV —> ACTION —> BENEFITS

Hit it, Chewie!

Of course, we’ll need some lightsaber crystals (and maybe a dependable droid) by our side. These crystals: a set of tools to help us navigate the unknown universe of tomorrow’s corporate world.

My 3 lightsaber crystals for you, on your journey…

"The crystal is not, by itself, the power source of the weapon.

…for a Jedi, the lightsaber becomes more: it is a manifestation of a Jedi's connection to

the Force."

Of course, we’ll need some lightsaber crystals (and maybe a dependable droid) by our side. These crystals: a set of tools to help us navigate the unknown universe of tomorrow’s corporate world.

My 3 lightsaber crystals for you, on your journey…

1

Your first crystal: Effective communication Without a doubt, we need to be better at expressing what we do and why we do it.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

1

Your first crystal: Effective communication Without a doubt, we need to be better at expressing what we do and why we do it.

Effective communication must be mastered in both one to one environments … and one to many.

Effective communication must be a two-way road: - it’s not only about how you communicate to others, but also how you receive and interpret signals from others

- eg, avoiding pitfalls: cognitive distortions (i.e., jumping to illogical conclusions, in the absence of context)

Quantitative7%

8%

10%

11%

29%

35%

Additionally, effective communication must speak to multiple audiences in different ways: 1) It must be quantitative, so that those who speak the language of numbers can understand

Qualitative

… 2) It must also be qualitative, so that those who prefer the language of anecdotes can reach a point of understanding.

Tell a story with both numbers and words. Get creative, and achieve a balance - formulate your communication based on an understanding of your audience.

They goal is to communicate so well to others, that they can effectively re-communicate it to their an audience of their own.

E.G., ESTABLISH FILTERS

Example: at Keen, our sales team asked, “How do we approach sales in a community-minded way?”

Instead of trying to tell them how to do their jobs, we encouraged them to apply the filters of Humanness, Helpfulness, and Honesty (truth+transparency) to all of their communications/interactions with prospects and customers.

E.G., ESTABLISH FILTERS

Human Helpful Honest (transparent)

Example: at Keen, our sales team asked, “How do we approach sales in a community-minded way?”

Instead of trying to tell them how to do their jobs, we encouraged them to apply the filters of Humanness, Helpfulness, and Honesty (truth+transparency) to all of their communications/interactions with prospects and customers.

2

Your second crystal: Participation & Inclusion

PARTICIPATION: ENCOURAGE & ENABLE IT!

INCLUSION: ENSURE IT!

2

Your second crystal: Participation & Inclusion

PARTICIPATION

Participation is about involving in community efforts your coworkers — namely those who are not on the evangelist/advocate/community team.

This tactic strongly complements effective communication, by facilitating the first-hand experience of community-building. This experience is perhaps the best way for someone to fully understand what you do and why you do it.

E.G., PARTICIPATION

AFTER DARK WITH KEEN IOEXPLORATORIUM

Example: Keen IO night at the Exploratorium.

We took ~100 community members to a science museum in SF. With only 3 community team members in town, we need to enlist other Keenies to participate and engage with our guests. 15-20 employees came out and did just that. And they experienced for themselves, what we do and why we do it.

INCLUSION

Inclusion (for the purposes of this conversation) is about ensuring involvement from all walks of life within your community. - this a necessary/critical part of the shift - it’s happening throughout society, slowly but surely - we must blaze the trail forward and set an example for the business world - right now, our industry is not doing so hot in this category, but we can

In order for healthy inclusion to be the norm, we must be mindful and put forth a real, conscious effort. It will require lots of self-awareness, mindfulness, and intentional, deliberate behavioral adjustments.

E.G., INCLUSION

“First SV talk I've attended with an all female panel where the topic isn't women about

women in tech #datainformed #babysteps”

Because talking the talk isn’t enough, I wanted to show an example of the walk being walked:

This is from a meetup at Keen IO HQ in SF. SJ, from our community team, is very diligent and intentional in ensuring that women are included in our events. Though she didn’t try to make this panel an all-women panel, it turned out that way. And this is a quote from from one of the attendees of that meetup.

3

Your third crystal: Begin within yourself.

This might strike you as a selfish thing, especially since our position (and thus our tendency) is one of selflessness. But, it’s not.

In order to go out be a shining, positive light in the world, we must first focus on being our best and most nourished selves. We can’t do our job - helping others - if we haven’t first helped ourselves.

BEGIN WITHIN

3

Your third crystal: Begin within yourself.

This might strike you as a selfish thing, especially since our position (and thus our tendency) is one of selflessness. But, it’s not.

In order to go out be a shining, positive light in the world, we must first focus on being our best and most nourished selves. We can’t do our job - helping others - if we haven’t first helped ourselves.

Our self-care must focus equally on both physical well-being and mental hygiene. We often forget both, but as a society we much more neglect the latter (mental hygiene.)

physical well-being


physical well-being +

mental hygiene


Let’s face it, we can be a woeful bunch 🙄 I’m guilty as much as the next person, and we are such with good reason.

But, there’s a Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that could be useful for us in these times of self-pity, and goes something like this:

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

eg, the pain of traveling 75% of the time sometimes just comes with the territory, but the amount of time/energy we spend suffering from that is up to us — we can reframe our suffering from the weekend we worked or our lack of sleep; we can plan differently (eg, always non-stop if possible/no layovers; saying NO to the opportunity to which you just “can’t” say NO, and/or simply not dwelling on it and instead focusing on the amazingness that came along in balance with that pain.

pain is inevitable





suffering is optional

pain is inevitable





Humans are capable of being self-aware, which gives us the capacity to be introspective, which (when practiced) leads us to be more mindful of our presence and impact on the world around us. This is a magical set of super powers, which we should recognize and employ in the best, most positive ways possible.

Self-awareness


Self-awareness

👇 Introspection


Self-awareness

👇 Mindfulness

👇 Introspection


Introspection Happy Hour

Self-care can happen through community, too: Introspection doesn’t have to happen in a room by yourself; it can happen within a communal environment (eg, in the office)

Example: Introspection Happy Hour — we do this at Keen every Thursday afternoon - at the office for our SF team, and on a Google Hangout for all our remote folks. We break into small groups and share our feelings and emotions with each other. Wanna try it? Come on by and experience this with us!

We are human.

(Know it. Believe it.)

We are human.

Humans are capable of so much. (Even shaping the future of business)


Some say, our potential is without limit.

We are human.

Humans are capable of so much. (Even shaping the future of business)


Remind you of anyone? 😉

Recognize it, then do everything you can to realize it.

We have been chosen by our companies/employers/teams to represent the humanness behind the businesses.

With sufficient self-care, self-discovery, and self-actualization, we can become the best version of ourselves. Only by being our best selves can we go out into the world and spread the positive energy we mean to share. And only with that positive energy can we be maximally effective in playing our role in the business’s success.

Isn’t it amazing and aren’t we privileged for this reality? That the better we treat ourselves, the better we’ll be at our jobs, and the more successful our companies will be today/tomorrow.

/Information Age/

Digital Revolution

😻

🌌

To recap the flight path for this impending journey into our future: - A movement is happening, and we’re part of it. - The opportunity to guide this change is immense, as is the importance of its guided direction - WE are uniquely well-positioned to seize this opportunity and help shape the future of business.

As seen in the history of developer relations, we embarked upon this path a long time ago. We know that it’s a path of empathy and compassion and care for the people and communities we touch. We know that it’s much different than the path that far too many modern corporations are following: that which dismisses, neglects, and even harms the communities they touch and the lives they impact.

/Information Age/

Digital Revolution

😻🚀

🌌



/Information Age/

Digital Revolution

😻

🌌



In order to seize this opportunity and take on this responsibility and create the future we wish for ourselves and others, we must use our power crystals. These three are only a start; we’ll need powers down the road…

1 Effective Communication



2 Participation & Inclusion


3 Begin Within


2 Participation & Inclusion


The resulting benefits:

HUMAN companies


HUMAN companiesHEALTHY workplaces


HUMAN companiesHEALTHY workplacesHAPPY people


The resulting benefits (cont’d):

Sustainable success


Sustainable successFulfilling lives/careers


Sustainable successFulfilling lives/careersBalanced societies


If that’s not enough, we’ll have a dance party with Ewoks in the treetops!

Credits where credits are due:

LET’S DISCUSS!

@TimFalls (on all the things)

[email protected]

timfalls.community

Bonus notes:

What is your meditation? - it’s about training your brain. exercising your mind, practicing. - throughout our lives, we’ve developed certain neural pathways in our brains - they (subconsciously) determine how we view people, how we react to triggers/situations, etc

Over time, you can form new pathways, through conscious efforts. Being intentional with this practice/training will lead you to be a better version of yourself, allowing you to go out and be a more positive energy in the world, thus positively affecting those around you. In a job like ours, where we’re meant to go out and help others. Doesn’t it just make sense that we prepare ourselves to do that by helping ourselves first? We have a job that is largely characterized by selflessness. We want to do the best by them; and in order to do so, we must do best by ourselves first…

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