

Rethinking developer experience at T-Mobile: DevEx vs devprod, exec buy-in, and developer self-service
11 snips Jan 22, 2025
Chris Chandler, a Senior Member of the Technical Staff for Developer Productivity at T-Mobile, discusses his journey in enhancing developer experience. He delves into the shift from developer experience to productivity, the need for executive buy-in for initiatives, and the synergy between teams. Chris highlights the innovative Starter Kits that streamline collaboration, and explores the challenges of funding and developing solutions like Backstage. He also shares insights on the patent process and the importance of executing ideas to boost developer productivity.
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DevX vs. Productivity
- Developer experience is about making developers happy to increase productivity.
- Focusing solely on DevX without considering platform engineering has limitations.
Data-Driven Approach
- Use data to drive decisions and demonstrate the impact of your work, especially to executives.
- Show how your initiatives improve business outcomes, like increased productivity and safety.
Rebel Alliance
- Chris Chandler and a "rebel alliance" built common Helm charts and base images without explicit permission.
- This demonstrated the value of their initiative through data comparison.