I’ve been walking more lately. Rain or shine, I’ll step away from my desk a few times a day for 20 minutes or so.

I keep to the same loop through my quiet Portland neighborhood. It takes me past a couple of those little boxes next to the sidewalk where people put their old books.

Once a week, I may stop to browse, even though I rarely grab anything.

There are usually a few romance novels, some travel guides, and sometimes children’s books.

Recently, I did a double-take at something out of place.

I suppose it would have been weirder if it wasn’t a book. But this book was highly unlikely to be selected by a stranger passing by.

Here’s a photo of it:

Yep, somebody added the manual to their old (?) printer. Perhaps, they thought, somebody with a HL-L3290CDW will walk by. And, perhaps, that person will have not yet figured out how to operate their printer.

Surely, this very unlikely passerby’s day will be made by this discovery in the free library. Since that person was not me, I put it back in the box and moved on.

But it stayed with me…

I suspect the owner (or former owner) of the printer was doing some spring cleaning. They weren’t thinking through whether someone else would take it.

And this random printer manual reminds me of some haphazard approaches to developer content.

In an effort to reach developers, marketers will fill their blogs with product-focused tutorials. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a good tutorial. Your documentation needs these to help show how your product is used.

But documentation, like the printer manual, is for after someone has discovered you. Blog posts and other content meant to attract developers should limit their product focus.

Scattershot content strategy frequently starts with the product. A tutorial that only shows how to use your product sits out on the web waiting for the right person to happen by. Just as it’s unlikely for a HL-L3290CDW owner to find the manual in the free library, the numbers are against product-focused tutorials attracting developers.

Instead, publish what will attract developers and keep them reading.

It’s what we do for our clients. We also share our process, so you can use the D.E.V. Content Framework to create great developer content.