Cultivating Developer Enablement on Composable Platforms

One key takeaway from our previous post on composable learning resources was that although several companies have entered the composable race, only a handful have made strides to educate the industry about its benefits and implementation. Recently, I have thought about its broader implications for Developer Experience (DevX) and its effect on adopting composable platforms.

The increasing emphasis on Developer Enablement is no accident. It directly impacts how effectively and happily developers work. Providing developers with the right resources and tools enables them to be productive and removes obstacles. This leads to quicker development cycles and a more engaged development team.

While Developer Enablement is a hot topic in DevOps and Platform Engineering (IDPs), it’s not so much news in the composable ecosystem. These platforms offer pre-built components for faster development, which is great. However, to truly unlock their potential, developer enablement must be prioritized.

As Erik Thorsell aptly puts it, "To maximize the time our developers spend building revenue-generating software, we need to minimize the amount of time they spend planning and struggling with processes."

Despite their many promises, composable platforms are far from the plug-and-play image they project. One of the biggest challenges with composability is integrating all the different components effortlessly. This requires extensive knowledge of web technologies, coding best practices, and design principles. It also requires developers to understand how different software interacts with each other and how it can be integrated into a single platform.

Moreover, if two components or systems have compatibility issues, the developer must find a workaround or replace one component with another.

Could Developer Enablement be your key advantage in this fierce fight to win over customers and market share? We'll spotlight some composable platforms that have invested in Developer Enablement and the benefits it could bring to your organization.

What constitutes Developer Enablement in composable platforms?

Composable architecture is a foundational element for efficient development. It's the underlying principle that allows for faster building and easier maintenance. While composability is necessary, it does not actively "enable" developers in the same way that providing resources and streamlining processes does.

The benefits of composability are often implicitly understood. Developments become faster and more efficient when developers have well-designed, reusable components. On the other hand, developer enablement is an explicit effort to address developer needs and remove roadblocks. It's a more proactive approach that gets explicitly called out.

Say you’re building a house.

• Developer enablement would provide builders with the best tools, clear blueprints, and readily available materials (like pre-cut lumber).
• Composability would be the design of the house itself – modular components (walls, windows, doors) that can be easily assembled.

Composability and Developer Enablement are complementary. Strong Developer Enablement allows developers to leverage the full potential of a composable architecture, leading to a truly efficient and productive development environment.

Therefore, Developer Enablement in composable platforms involves providing the tools, resources, and support necessary to build, integrate, and manage composable systems effectively. Here are the key components that constitute developer enablement:

What to expect when you prioritize Developer Enablement

On the technical side, focusing on developer enablement creates a developer paradise —well, maybe not paradise, but you get it. We're talking about empowered teams innovating at breakneck speed, confidently experimenting with new ideas thanks to good documentation, self-service solutions, engineering standards, best practices, and safe environments.

It's much like stepping into a well-stocked workshop. Intuitive tools surround you, and expert guidance is always within reach. This is the experience you should curate for developers using your composable platform.

Moreover, this experience naturally translates to your marketing bottom line. Here's why:

• Developers become champions: By prioritizing developer enablement, you create a passionate user base. These "champion" developers become vocal advocates within your prospects' organizations, naturally steering integration efforts toward your platform because they love using it.

• Faster time to integration: Happy developers are productive developers. With good documentation, tutorials, training resources, and intuitive tools, your platform becomes easy to integrate, saving everyone valuable time and resources.

• Encourages developer-driven innovation: Empowered developers are innovative developers. When developers love your platform's ease of use and flexibility, they're more likely to experiment and contribute fresh ideas. This constant innovation cycle fuels the growth and functionality of your platform, attracting even more developers to your ecosystem.

• Valuable feedback loop: When developers genuinely engage with your platform, they become assets for helpful feedback. Their insights are freely shared because they're invested in your success and act as a constant source of improvement, ensuring your platform stays ahead of the curve.

In short, you're not just building a platform by prioritizing developer enablement. You're building a vibrant developer community. This engaged user base is your strongest marketing force, attracting new developers, accelerating adoption, and fueling innovation—a win-win for everyone.

Composable platforms Developers love: top players in Developer Enablement

In the table above, we developed 12 criteria for developer enablement: expansive documentation and learning resources, seamless integration capabilities, availability of development tools and support, flexibility for customization, and collaboration and community, among others. Based on these criteria, the top four composable platforms excelling in developer enablement are Contentful, Hygraph, AgilityCMS, and Webiny, in no particular order**.**

1. Contentful

Contentful, arguably a leader in developer enablement, provides a sweeping suite of tools and resources designed to empower developers, much like AgilityCMS:

• Developer portal: Contentful’s Developer Portal is a hub for community engagement. It offers quick start guides, videos, tutorials, and a showcase of impressive projects built by the community.
• Extensive documentation: In-depth documentation helps developers build with Contentful, covering various technologies, languages, and frameworks.
• Starter templates: Fast-track projects with pre-built templates for common use cases, such as Next.js, React, and SvelteKit.
• Community support: Active community support through Discord, events, meetups, and interactive live streams on Twitch.
• Flexible technology integration: Supports a wide range of languages and frameworks, including JavaScript, GraphQL, React, SvelteKit, and more, ensuring developers can use the tools they love.
• App framework: This allows customization and integration with favorite tools and services, enhancing the platform's extensibility and flexibility.
• CLI tooling: Detailed CLI tutorials and tools facilitate easy integration and command features within Contentful.

2. Hygraph

Hygraph stands out in developer enablement with an array of powerful features:

• Developer resources: Extensive Developer Hub with quick start guides, code snippets, and in-depth tutorials in multiple languages and frameworks.
• API flexibility: GraphQL-first headless CMS allows fluid data querying and migration, enhancing integration with other systems.
• Community support: Active Slack community for real-time help, knowledge sharing, and a repository of code examples.
• Learning Resources: Regular blog updates with tutorials on building various websites and applications, helping developers stay up-to-date with best practices.
• Extensibility and customization: A versatile Marketplace offering apps, templates, and starters to enhance and customize Hygraph projects easily.

3. AgilityCMS

Just like Hygraph, Agility CMS excels in empowering developers with robust features and flexibility:

• Developer resources: Agility CMS offers a complete Developer Hub with quick start guides, code snippets, and in-depth tutorials for various languages and frameworks.
• API flexibility: Boasts a fully API-first approach with REST and GraphQL APIs, ensuring smooth integration and limitless speed through its Sync SDK and Management API.
• DevOps compatibility: Works perfectly with any DevOps pipeline, supporting popular frameworks and providing dedicated integrations with platforms like Vercel and Netlify.
• Community support: An active Slack channel and community engagement for real-time help, as well as detailed documentation and user guides.
• Extensibility and customization: Fully extensible platform with lightning-fast integrations, webhooks, and a marketplace of starter projects, templates, and apps for enhanced functionality.

4. Webiny

Surprisingly, Webiny emerges as a notable contender, demonstrating a strong focus on developer enablement similar to Contentful. Here's why Webiny stands out:

• Elaborate documentation: Webiny offers inclusive developer docs, guides, and references, ensuring developers have all the resources they need to build with confidence.
• Seamless integration: With support for Next.js, Gatsby, React, Vue, and Flutter, Webiny flawlessly integrates with popular frameworks, providing flexibility and choice for developers.
• Developer community: Joining Webiny's community of over 2,500 developers offers invaluable networking opportunities, support, and collaboration.
• Product features: From a powerful Headless CMS to a versatile Page Builder, File Manager, and Form Builder, Webiny equips developers with robust tools to create dynamic and interactive digital experiences.
• Development support: Webiny offers video training courses, core development concepts, customization guides, CI/CD setup, security frameworks, and background task support, empowering developers at every stage of the development process.

Getting started with Developer Enablement

How do you start prioritizing developer enablement to achieve its benefits? The answer lies in providing the right resources, guides, tutorials, documentation, and a thriving community to promote a self-service culture among developers. Empowering developers with the tools and resources they need to succeed can transform your composable platform into an indispensable part of their workflow.

As a technical content writing and developer marketing agency, we can be your partner in this journey. We are passionate advocates of composable enterprises and have rich experience working with clients. Companies like Magnolia, Mia-Platform, Hygraph, and others have leveraged our expertise to scale their content production 80% faster (Check out our portfolio). We've helped them create comprehensive documentation, detailed tutorials, practical guides, and engaging articles, all tailored to enhance developer enablement.

By working with Hackmamba, you can ensure that your platform's resources are top-notch and readily accessible, making it easier for developers to integrate, innovate, and advocate for your solutions. Additionally, our community-driven approach helps drive product adoption as we engage with developers directly through the Hackmamba community. This engagement stimulates a sense of belonging and loyalty, encouraging developers to become champions of your platform.