The DevEx blueprint, developed with Jon Kern, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, and our partner Adaptavist, frames software development as an experience-driven, data-informed cycle of measuring and adapting, moving seamlessly from user to developer and back.
This ebook presents the Developer Experience (DevEx) blueprint, viewing software development as a process of measuring and adapting through an experience-driven, data-informed cycle—from user to developer and back.
It outlines measure-act-learn cycles focused on quality (informed by user experience data) and productivity (informed by developer experience data).
Welcome to the DevEx playbook, a collaborative effort by Adaptavist and Network Perspective, designed to guide senior engineering leaders through the evolving landscape of Developer Experience (DevEx). In today's fast-paced digital environment, a robust DevEx is critical for successful software development, equipping teams with the necessary tools, metrics, and feedback loops to deliver exceptional user experiences. This ebook wouldn’t exist without the collaboration of Jon Kern, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, whose guidance and experience have deeply shaped its direction.
While developing software, you likely face growing complexity within your team and beyond. Internally, everything is interconnected. Externally, you must continuously adapt to meet ever-evolving and demanding user needs. How can you manage that balance effectively?www.linkedin.com/in/anita-zbieg
User Experience (UX) is always top of mind, but what role does your team play in ensuring that the actual user's experience meets their expectations? Dev teams are at the heart of it, but they can't always deliver the best results without the right metrics, goals, feedback loops, and tools. This is where Developer Experience (DevEx, or DX) comes in. It shifts the focus to the developer's journey—how they interact with people, metrics, tools, and processes that help them bring great software to life.
As I like to quip: software would be easy if it weren't for all of the people.
Developer experience is about sensing and responding differently to complexity. It places developers and their experiences at the centre, fostering curiosity and encouraging deliberate action. DevEx takes a holistic view of every aspect of the software development process. Providing data and response paths directly from and to teams creates space for innovative thinking and action.
The key question is always: How can we find ways to grow as a company, as a team, and as individuals to deliver value? The DevEx helps bring to light things you might want to consider being curious about. It’s about bringing more conversations, more curiosity, and the potential; we just have to make sure people don't get locked into one narrow focus.
Data that describes experiences serves as a powerful language for continuously adapting and aligning direction with delivery. Since experiences are constantly changing, data reflects those shifts. Data offers continuous feedback that's easy to distribute. Let data guide decisions and demonstrate progress. Yet do not let “numbers” define you completely. The data must stand up to the "smell test" so that you can trust it reflects the real world.
If you don't show people what good looks like or give them a goal, you're restricting their ability to make their own judgments. One of the most effective ways to work is to let people make micro-judgments.
At the core of developer experience is engaging in conversations about what truly matters. While relying on guesses and intuition when faced with uncertainty is easy, addressing the unknown is much more challenging. Data that accurately describes user experiences—whether it's churn rate, upsell, website performance, or any other key metric you choose to focus on—helps maintain clarity. It's crucial to focus on just five top metrics, not fifty. By narrowing the scope, you ensure that your team's efforts align with what matters most. This data provides continuous feedback to dev teams, guiding them to stay on track while taking action—two crucial elements for fostering autonomy. Over time, these top five will vary as improvements – or in some cases slippages – are made.
The team knows what's going on—let them assess themselves and drive it. You get better results because they own it; it's a group initiative.
Just as user experience data shapes software delivery quality for users, developer experience data informs productivity—focusing on delivery ease, speed, and quality for dev teams. Engineers, deeply familiar with day-to-day productivity challenges and priorities, provide invaluable insights.
The key part of developer experience is having autonomy and a clear 'flag in the distance,' a direction of travel that's continuously communicated. It permeates everything we do because we hire smart people. If we don't have that flag in the distance, a way for individuals to measure their ideas or actions against the goal—like, 'Am I getting warmer or colder?'—then you're left with command and control.
Software development has never truly been about optimising systems and machines—it’s about optimising experiences for both customers and dev teams. Optimising experiences presents a unique challenge, distinct from optimising systems. While systems remain stable, experiences are constantly evolving.
The best tech organisations have mastered the art of measuring, sensing, and responding to these experiences. Leadership in these organisations focus on gathering data, creating meaningful metrics, and establishing mechanisms to prioritise and align in complex systems—both external and internal.
Decisions are driven by data that reflects the real experiences of users and dev teams. It's not about command and control; it's about creating environments that allow emergent systems to thrive and evolve.
This approach builds competitive advantage by delivering software that users experience as magic, keeping top talent engaged, and unlocking the potential of signals and actions from both users and engineers.
These are all non-technical factors that shape clarity and collaboration. They help us understand and respond to user and developer experiences, improving delivery quality and productivity. Once framed, execution can become data-driven, technical, and sophisticated.
You can't just wiggle one part of the system without affecting the rest. What I've always done is build those mental models and make them explicit. With those models, you understand how the system works and the effects of wiggling different parts of it.
The DevEx evolution: aligning delivery with direction playbook, written in conjunction with Adaptavist, provides strategies for senior engineering leaders to enhance developer experience, align development with business goals, and empower teams. Read more to get insights from experts and real-world cases to drive meaningful change.
When things are complex and uncertain, and it feels like you are stuck, just take a step in any direction. If it was a bad way to go, you'll know, you'll sense it. Good thing we only did it for a day. Then try another way and get feedback. It doesn't have to be a big leap over a tall building.