A Developer's Quest: Enhancing DX with the Hero's Journey Framework

Turn boring developer docs into a thrilling journey by guiding your developers to success with the help of Campbell's hero's journey framework. This post shows you how to make navigating through developer documentation a fun and meaningful experience for developers, reducing abandonment rates and keeping them engaged.

Introduction

Have you ever heard of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey? It's a classic narrative structure that has been used in many epic stories like Star Wars, The Matrix, and Harry Potter. And the best part? You can use it to create an amazing experience for developers too! By using the hero's journey framework in your developer documentation, you can guide developers through problem-solving and growth, resulting in a better overall experience.

The hero's journey consists of three stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return. In the Departure stage, the hero is called to adventure and sets off on their quest. The Initiation stage involves overcoming trials and tests, leading to the hero's transformation. The Return stage is when the hero returns to their original world, bringing with them the knowledge and power they gained.

From Zero to Hero: Applying the hero's journey to developer documentation

To use the hero's journey in your developer documentation, you first need to understand the problems and goals of your developers. Then, you can use the hero's journey framework to guide them through solving these problems and reaching their goals. We'll break down the developer documentation into three main stages:

Departure Stage:

• What it's about:
  • This stage sets the scene for the hero's journey. The developer is presented with a call to action, inviting them to leave their comfort zone and embark on a new adventure. Your documentation should clearly explain the value and significance of this journey.
• Pages included:
  • Landing Page
  • Getting Started

Initiation Stage

• What it's about:
  • In this stage, developers face a series of challenges and must navigate through them. Your documentation should provide clear instructions and guidance to help developers overcome these challenges and reach the end goal.
• Pages included:
  • Quick Start
  • Tutorials
  • What You've Learned

Return Stage

• What it's about:
  • In this stage, the developer has successfully solved the challenges and gained valuable knowledge and skills. This stage is about wrapping up the journey and inspiring the developer to continue learning and embark on their next adventure.
• Pages included:
  • Congratulations
  • What's Next / Continue Learning
  • Deployment
  • Running in Production

Debugging your hero's journey

If you've already used the hero's journey to design your docs or if you just want to use the framework on your existing documentation to drive down abandonment rates and avoid funnel drop outs - here are some ideas to debug your developer docs

Departure Stage:

• Observation: Little engagement from landing page / getting started to quick start & tutorials
• Questions to ask
  • Are you offering a meaningful enough journey?
  • How can you communicate the value better?
  • How can you lower barriers of entry?
• Tips
  • Be clear on who this adventure is for and for whom it is not
  • Crystallise 3-5 strong values propositions and present them as bullet points
  • Offer familiar ways of getting started as early as possible (eg. docker run or npm i)

Initiation Stage

• Observations:
  • Drop out early during quick starts
  • Few completed tutorials
  • Many "skip through" users
• Questions to ask
  • Are you offering an engaging code along?
  • What are possible points of frustration?
  • Are the tutorials to hard?
  • Is the experience not rewarding?
  • Are the tutorials not desirable enough adventures to own
• Tips
  • Depart from familiar frameworks and patterns to lower the bar
  • Offer code alongs which are inviting the user to problem solve
  • Make sure that your users can "own" their adventure. It is a good practice to offer a code along in a cloned git repository
  • Keep feedback loops very short and optimise for "time to dopamine"
  • After every cycle recap what the user has learned and whats next
  • Consider offering copy paste solutions in the next step if the user gets stuck

Return Stage

• Observations:
  • Drop outs after completing tutorial (eg.: few community sign ups, low click rates to advanced sections, few deployments etc)
• Questions to ask
  • Was the quality of the experience high enough?
  • Did the user learn enough to be excited to continue?
  • Was the journey to long?
  • Do your users come back from the journey with a story worth tell their peers?
  • Are the next steps following a hero's journey framework too? Can you debug?
• Tips
  • Add a congratulations page with a recap on what the user has learned
  • Offer clear next steps after every journey
  • Keep every hero's journey short and rewarding

Conclusion:

By using the hero's journey framework in your developer documentation, you can provide a meaningful and enjoyable experience for developers. By guiding them through the process of problem-solving and personal growth, you can create a powerful tool that will not only improve the developer experience but also help you build a better product.