You have probably heard of user experience also known as UX in your day-to-day work. Terms such as UX/UI are not new to people in the tech industry as the businesses are more oriented to the consumer journey. On the aspect of knowledge area, content related to UX is multiplying daily even though there is very limited content on developer experience (DX). If you go through Instagram, you would find one million-plus UX-related content, while there is only 100 plus content on DX.
What is Developer Experience?
If UX means how the user feels when they use a product, DX means how a developer feels when they use a particular product be it a library, a tool, a framework, or an API. It is the overall experience a developer will have while using or working on a product. Even though DX and UX sound similar, there are some differences in practice because developers have different needs compared to a consumer user.
In many companies, dealing with DX is secondary to that of UX due to this contrast between the developer and the consumer. However, DX is much more important for a business for many considerable reasons.
Why DX?
Developers are expensive, hard to find, and even harder to keep. The DX in your business is crucial for successful and effective company culture. Having a positive DX will reward your company by improving productivity at a high rate. On the contrary, bad DX creates developer frustration that affects product goals and business performance.
Having a positive developer experience ensures that your developers are satisfied, happy, and less likely to leave your team. Companies with positive DX are highly productive and characterized by these factors.
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Great sense of responsibility
When the developers are satisfied with their experience, there is no chance of pointing fingers at each other. They are responsible for the success of the whole team, and the company.
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Taking calculated risks
Developers take the calculated risks as they are aware of how much of an impact every action could produce.
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Sense of impact
When DX culture is positive, developers don’t work just for the money. They know that their work matters and they work for a greater impact.
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Working for common goals
Positive DX gathers the developers to work on a common goal with the team, their division, and the company as a whole.
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Less risk of failure
Where there is a positive DX, there is a high responsibility which produces a high success rate.
Conclusion
Consideration of developer experience is needed more attention for the overall company productivity. One certain solid fact is that when you leverage the developer experience, you can increase productivity and engagement. Stay tuned for the next article on “How to Implement the Good Developer Experience”.