1. The link between technical documentation
and developer engagement
1
Sneha Sridharan

2. 2
Usage of video tutorials or screencasts in
developer documentation
Source: Trends in Developer Documentation 2020

3. Agenda
1. Accommodating multimedia content in developer documentation
2. Developer relations
3. The parallel between developer documentation, developer relations, and its impact on
developer engagement
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4. Why accommodate multimedia content in developer
documentation?
1. Catering to different learning styles, promoting inclusion
2. Reducing the time spent on skimming through documentation
3. Reduce support tickets
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5. But it is common in user docs
1. Users of a software application
2. How to navigate through user
interface
3. Simple straightforward instructions
to achieve a goal
4. Goal is well-known and well-defined
5. Example: How to order food using an
online food delivery app?
1. Developers who create applications
2. How to use an API in their project
3. Details of parts of an API
(authorizations, header, input)
4. Goal is to introduce your API as an
ingredient, with which the developer can
achieve anything
5. Example: How to extract weather data
using an API and display it in your app?
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User docs Developer docs

6. What constitutes an API doc? (Most of it is text)
1. Purpose
2. Endpoints
3. Attributes
4. Parameters
5. Sample code
6. Success and error responses
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7. Where can you add videos and screencasts in an API doc?
1. API demo.
Example: Here is how you can integrate Google Pay for your ecommerce
website in 4 simple steps.
2. Explaining the purpose.
Example: Google Pay API explained
3. Use cases - Scenarios where & where not to use a particular API
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8. Developer relations
DevRel involves helping developers use your products better; In other words,
help them achieve their goals using your APIs and SDKs.
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9. What constitutes DevRel?
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Source: State of Developer Relations 2020
1. Drive awareness & adoption
2. Educate & support developers
3. Drive engagement
4. Get feedback on product
5. Drive sales
6. Get code contributions

10. Let’s zoom in on “educate and support developers”
DevRels make the process of educating and supporting developers less tedious
1. Multimedia content (video tutorials, screencasts, podcasts)
2. Blogs with use cases and case studies
3. Tweets
4. Workshops
5. Conferences
6. Events and meetups
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11. The shared goal
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12. Key takeaways
1. The nature of GUI and API documentation differs significantly. This is why
multimedia content is more popular in GUI documentation than in
developer documentation.
2. However, there are several benefits of using multimedia content, mostly
in terms of catering to various learning styles.
3. You can accommodate multimedia content in your API docs by adding a
video on API demo, purpose, and/or use cases.
4. DevRels make educating engineers interesting and less tedious. Technical
writers can implement the same in developer documentation.
5. Thus, making it easier for developers to learn about your APIs among
other advantages.
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13. Thank you!
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Have any questions?
Reach out to me on twitter @amrithaasneha