When it’s time to clean your room (metaphorically)

Your secret is safe—I can’t see how many books are on your nightstand or the pile of clothes on your floor.

On the other hand, your documentation dirty laundry is public. We can all see it.

You can probably guess how successful it is when I tell my kids to “clean your room.”

You’d be equally unsuccessful if you attempted to clean up your Developer Experience. Where do you even start?

Think about cleaning the room again. This could mean:

• Pick up the laundry
• Make your bed
• Declutter the nightstand
• Sweep or vacuum
• Dust?
  ​

Some of those tasks might not even be required to have a clean room. You could skip many of them and post a picture to Instagram without embarrassment.

I’d have more success with my kids if I defined what I mean by clean and the things that are most important.

You can prioritize your Developer Experience the same way.

Define the things you want developers to achieve and then decide how you’ll measure your improvement.

My most recent post shows how we approach these projects and gives you a way to get a high-level measurement of your DX, so you put your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.