Jeffrey Lebowski is not the sort of guy you’d expect to help you reach developers. The 1990s pacifist (and fictional character) has at least one skill we could all use.

The main character of The Big Lebowski, known as The Dude, is not particularly organized. He pays for half and half with a check and can’t keep track of his cassette tapes. But when intimidated and belittled by a fellow bowler, he doesn’t back down:

It’s as unprofessional as it is obvious. Surely there’s not much about attracting developers that you would entrust to The Dude.

But here’s what we can learn: how to spot an opinion.

Can you spot it more eloquently? Yes. More important than spotting the opinion is what you do with it.

Every company has opinions.

McDonald’s. Home Depot. Robin Hood. You can probably decipher their opinions. Some may even use those opinions as slogans.

Developer-focused companies and products absolutely have opinions. Get a founder, early employee, or engineer talking about why the product exists and you’ll hear a clear viewpoint. It’ll be hard to miss.

Yet, that point of view doesn’t always translate to the website or blog posts or even documentation.

The opinions get lost.

You need to find your inner Lebowski, so you can identify the opinions. Read through your documentation, blog posts, and other content. If you don’t hear The Dude in your head, something is wrong.

☝️ That’s what an opinion looks like.

The number one problem we see with developer content is it’s generic.

It may be key word stuffed. But it’s not opinion stuffed.

That Optic example, on the other hand, is clear. Direct. Not generic. You could imagine The Dude’s retort.

Yeah, that is our opinion. And our company and product are built upon it.