In 2020, Buffer surveyed [2,300 remote workers](https://lp.buffer.com/2021-state-of-remote-work) and shared their insights. This year, 27 percent of remote workers selected not being able to unplug as their main struggle with remote work.

I’ve been working from home for 7 years, in 1 to 1,000-people companies across different timezones.

Here's what I learned:

**All is about routines.**

Routines make you switch from `Home` mode to `Work` mode. Researchers name it [Integration vs. Segmentation](https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/6421/phillips_multiple_roles.pdf).

In short, life is commonly split into 3 parts:

1. You leave home and go to work.

2. At work, you’re in your `Work` mode.

3. Then you go back home, and you switch to your `Home` mode.

While working from home, those steps are blurred. It’s easy to wake up, stay in pajamas and walk 5 meters to your work station. Definitely not the best productivity hack, isn’t it?

**How to make the switch smoothly?**

I built three routines to switch from one state to another and set me in the best possible conditions to work from home:

1. **Wake up and dress up, like a normal working day;**

2. **Anticipate action plan for the day;**

3. **stop working, really.**

## **Working from home**

### **Wake up and dress up like a normal working day**

A day working from home is just like any other working day. Start it as if you were going to work. It’s my best routine to switch from `Home` mode to `Work` mode.

Here's how I start my day:

* I wake up at 7 AM,

* do a 7-minute workout,

* have a shower,

* have breakfast,

* and read for 20 minutes.

When done, I sit in front of my laptop, and I know exactly what to do.

### **Anticipate your action plan for the day**

If you’re more productive in the morning, keep your agenda clean to focus on your work. I know I work better early in the morning. I have the energy, the clarity of mind, and the focus to do my best work. I don’t read emails. I don’t read my Slack conversations nor my social notifications. When I start my day, I know what to do, so I just do it and start working.

Later in the afternoon, I check what I’ve done, define my 2–3 main action items for the next day, so I’m ready for tomorrow. And ready to really stop working.

### **Stop working, really**

To really stop working is key for your work-life balance. To be honest, it’s one routine I’m still working on right now. Sometimes it feels hard to disconnect from your laptop and your smartphone. Leave 'em far, far away from you. How about a quick look at your work apps? Don’t. Do something else instead. Have a walk, do some meditation, or read a non-work book. Anything that makes you switch. My computer is in a dedicated room, and I don’t go in there when I’m not working. I shut it down every day, so I know I won’t open it — even if it starts in less than 4 seconds.

To stop working on your smartphone is harder. [I’m still running experiments](https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1270293812485726214?s=20) to reduce my screen time. I deleted most of my work apps — Gmail, Twitter, Slack… I’ve set up time limits for apps and downtime. I preferably use widgets. It’s still a running experiment.

## **Recap**

1. **Wake up and dress up. Like a normal working day;**

2. **Anticipate your action plan for the day;**

3. **Stop working. For real.**

**Thanks for reading!** **I hope you found some insights that would help you work better and get things done -- and fun -- while working from home.**

**What are your best practices to stay productive while working from home?**

Working from home

**If you're building an API company, the first-time experience is *vital*. It's what makes users fall in love with your product.**

Most developers sign up, set up their workflows, and never return. During this setup moment, you want them to get their job done and realize the value of the product as soon as possible.

In psychology, people call it the **Aha moment**.

> *The Aha moment is a moment of sudden insight or discovery. In software, it's the pivotal moment when a new user first realizes the value of your product and why they need it.*\
> \-- source: [growth.design](https://growth.design/psychology#aha-moment)

I had the opportunity to work on the developer experience at Specify. I benchmarked how awesome dev-first companies welcomed their users and ran experiments for conversion rate optimizations.

**Below are my key takeaways.**

## Unparalleled first-time developer experiences

When I started benchmarking how awesome dev-first companies welcomed their users, I wanted to understand the reasoning behind every detail, pixels and words, that makes the experiences unparalleled.

Above all, the first-time experience should answer:

**What should I know about your product? Anything I shouldn't miss?**

* Take Linear. It introduces its keyboard shortcut `Cmd+K` during the process.

* Stripe helps you "start accepting payments instantly." And so, it only takes three steps to get started.

* Zapier connects your apps and suggests automated workflows during the signup flow.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Flove%2F91ff865b-d25b-4017-991e-3240710510b8.png?alt=media&token=93726086-bad9-47c7-b5ec-30a71333326f","id":"91ff865b-d25b-4017-991e-3240710510b8","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-11-07-aGNZ2o3N@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Introducing Linear's command menu","border":false}]}
```

The first-time experience is a foretaste of your product. It's what makes your users reach the Aha moment and convert them into engaged, lifelong customers. This requires continuous improvements and experiments.

## How we welcomed new users at Specify

At Specify, we're building an API that helps engineering, product, and design teams set up design CI/CD workflows in minutes. Most users sign up, set up their pipeline, and never return. The pipeline is up and running, and "[it just works](https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1567091505067880450?s=20&t=tEDrDEXJEICOnQSEZhxinw)," users said.

During this setup moment, it's key to help users get their job done and reach their Aha moment as soon as possible.

We experimented with and shipped many improvements:

* added a step-by-step walkthrough;

* created [configuration templates](https://specifyapp.com/templates) to get started in minutes;

* added sample dataset to preview the value.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Flove%2F35167eaf-1842-4acd-ac24-632e7a2e248f.png?alt=media&token=be8fbccd-6f30-49a3-acbb-ed02bf957fc5","id":"35167eaf-1842-4acd-ac24-632e7a2e248f","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-11-07-UNMDlsgA@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Flove%2F2c26c447-6715-49c5-92b1-ab793970b5a8.png?alt=media&token=f987d258-3169-4d8a-b8e9-8087db1783bf","id":"2c26c447-6715-49c5-92b1-ab793970b5a8","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-11-07-jkuQ9WNK@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Flove%2F0c0fa65d-1da2-4d80-be7a-16032658149a.png?alt=media&token=9bfb3598-2210-4f70-a8f7-ea5f586c315f","id":"0c0fa65d-1da2-4d80-be7a-16032658149a","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-11-07-d1nnIq3r@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Flove%2F4f19107f-68b5-4b38-910a-ceb11c2e717f.png?alt=media&token=88d6aec4-9403-4ddd-b2ac-64f368ddc112","id":"4f19107f-68b5-4b38-910a-ceb11c2e717f","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-11-07-MgnMB9bT@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

## Final thoughts

Optimizing the first-time experience requires continuous improvements and experiments. And it's vital for your business. It converts users into engaged, lifelong advocates.

It's what makes them fall in love with your product. ❤️

First-time developer experiences

In 2019, Ryan Singer open-sourced how product development happens at Basecamp in a book called "[Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters](https://basecamp.com/shapeup)."

In case you're not familiar with the methodology, here's a quick TL,DR:

* 6-week cycles

* Shaping the work

* Making teams responsible

* Targeting risks

At [Specify](https://specifyapp.com), we started experimenting with the Shape Up methodology to define focused projects, address unknowns, and increase collaboration and engagement within the team. So, I started to learn more about how other teams implemented it, too.

## Leveraging Shape Up

### Slite works in 8-week cycles

Slite runs 8-week cycles and includes a [1-week build](https://slite.com/blog/leaving-the-roadmap-behind) every 2 cycles.

> *A Build is a project that a small team (say 2–4 people) can ship in a week.* -- Christophe Pasquier, CEO at Slite

Builds interrupt the team workflow in two ways. For one, Slite is a remote-first and async team. Builds go in-person. Secondly, the product strategy focuses on eight-week cycles. Builds are a 5-day practice.

### Memo Bank shapes the work for 2 weeks

[Memo Bank works in 8-week cycles](https://memo.bank/en/magazine/how-memo-bank-leveraged-shape-up), too - -  2 weeks of Shaping, then 6 weeks of Building. The Shaping phase doesn't occur simultaneously and includes all stakeholders, not only the product managers and lead developers.

During the 2 weeks of Shaping, the developers don't code. They still fix bugs, but their priority is the Shaping, like it is for everybody else in the company.

To focus on meaningful topics and avoid misalignments, the team created an additional meeting called "The strategy meeting." It brings together the CEO, the CTO, and the lead product manager. The objective is to decide which topics to tackle during the next Shaping phase. They review all the pitches and select the most critical ones.

Then, each developer and designer decide which percentage of their time they dedicate to the Building phase.

### Raycast runs 1-day cool-down phases every week

Raycast -- although it doesn't refer to Shape Up per se  -- runs 4-week cycles and a [1-day cool-down phase](https://www.raycast.com/blog/we-hack-every-friday) once a week.

> *Every beginning of the month, we write down what we work on for the next 30 days.*  -- Thomas Paul Mann, CEO at Raycast

This forces the team to make compromises and target the risk because there's only a limited amount of time and resources available.

## How we leveraged Shape Up at Specify

We started experimenting with the Shape Up methodology to define focused projects, address unknowns, and increase collaboration and engagement within the team.

### Principles

We split the team in 2 squads:

* The Core squad, and

* The Growth squad.

The Core squad owned the main app, and the Growth squad focused efforts on acquisition and conversion.

Each squad included 1 Product Manager, 1 Product Designer, and 1-2 Software Engineers. They had full responsibility to define their own tasks and make adjustments to the scope.

We worked in 4-week cycles:

* 3 weeks in the Building phase, and

* 1 week in the cool-down phase.

A small group including the CEO, the CTO, and the Product Manager, worked in parallel to the cycle teams to define the key elements of a solution before considering a project ready to work on.

### Results: What we built in 4-week cycles

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Fshape-up%2F175742d4-1232-419d-97e5-b9a9fb3f9e76.png?alt=media&token=076200ee-a951-4535-840d-9fd73e8ea276","id":"175742d4-1232-419d-97e5-b9a9fb3f9e76","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-10-10-UKarAgeR@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Specify — Configuration Templates","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2Fra0TkuGb81bzXW0mzyCeePuilo33%2Fshape-up%2Fd0413ae7-8b8b-4693-9749-30d91afb0a32.png?alt=media&token=b4a9e0bf-0bea-4f60-b4b1-956bd623ed7a","id":"d0413ae7-8b8b-4693-9749-30d91afb0a32","width":2784,"height":1774,"filename":"2023-10-10-IN6YGpGv@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Specify — Beta Program (Notion)","border":false}]}
```

If we're still in the early weeks of this experiment with Shape Up, we already measured a positive impact.

It helped us build momentum and ship [significant updates](https://medium.com/specifyapp/180-days-building-a-design-api-f9841ad682d)  --  like the Specify CLI, Configuration Templates, and an in-depth GitHub integration.

## Wrapping up

Have you implemented Shape Up in your team? How do you apply it to your own processes? What are your best practices? I'm eager to learn how you leverage Shape Up.

Join the conversation on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1551523159332904960).

Experimenting with Shape Up

In 2020, Adam DuVander, previously writer at ProgrammableWeb and content strategist at Zapier, introduced the DEV Content Framework in his book '[Developer Marketing Doesn’t Exist](https://everydeveloper.com/developer-marketing/book/).'

**This post is an introduction to the framework with examples to help you leverage it for your developer tool.**

## **The DEV Content Framework**

**TL,DR: \`DEV\` stands for Discovery, Education, and Viewpoint.**

### **D stands for Discovery**

> **The more accessible your product and docs are, the better.**

It should be straightforward for developers to access the data they need and get started with your product. The first-time experience is vital. Take Stripe. From the homepage, you can access the API documentation and recent product updates. Sign in, and you can start playing with the API. It’s simple.

### **E stands for Education**

> **Make your content helpful, educative, and inspiring.**

It takes time to master an API, a new library, or a framework. Your content should help developers embrace its full potential by educating and inspiring them. Take Liveblocks. The team wrote in-depth case studies, full of live examples. It makes you want to use the product because it feels like the team puts lots of thinking and hard work into them.

### **V stands for Viewpoint**

> **Have an opinion. Stand for how things should work.**

Last but not least, you should have an opinion. By default, technology enables you to build whatever you want. Why would developers even care about your product if they can build it by themselves? Stand for how things should work. Take Linear. Many software helps you track issues. Linear wants you to enjoy doing it. “Software should feel magical,” they say.

## **Wrapping up**

Thanks for reading!

Have you implemented the DEV content framework in your team? How do you apply it to your own content strategy? What are your best practices?

I’m eager to learn how you leverage this framework.

**And if you enjoyed this story, [please do share](https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1623738752966479873?s=20)!**

The DEV Content Framework

This story was originally published on [crowd.dev](https://dev.to/crowddotdev/increase-community-engagement-with-trunk-based-management-2108).

---

In software engineering, [trunk-based development](https://www.atlassian.com/continuous-delivery/continuous-integration/trunk-based-development) (TBD) is a strategy to manage git workflows that suggests merging commits in a single main branch, instead of the git flow that suggests working on multiple branches.

**This story is about applying this TBD strategy to community management to increase engagement.**

## Growing an engaging community with trunk-based management

Six months ago, I joined Ronak Ganatra, Jakub Czakon, and Ophir Prusak as an admin to co-run the [Developer Marketing Community](https://marketingto.dev/) — a place where tech founders and marketers hang out to share insights and best practices. People from dev-first companies like Algolia, PostHog, Supabase, Vercel, and Warp are all in.

**The objective? To grow an engaging community.**

At this time, the community had:

* 600+ members,

* 20% of weekly active members (120+), and

* 5% of members who post (30+).

Only 1 out of 5 people were active members. Worse, only 1 out of 50 people posted messages.

So, how to increase engagement and ignite conversations?

We had two radically opposite hypotheses:

1. More channels to inspire conversations,

2. Fewer channels for randomness.

### Hypothesis #1: more channels for inspiration

As founders and marketers in dev-first companies, we talk about many topics: developer relations, content marketing, product launches, SEO strategies, swag, and so on.

We initially created one channel per topic to reduce noise, focus discussions, and inspire.

We created nine different channels:

```
├── 1-general
├── 2-intros
├── 3-jobs
├── 4-content
├── 5-devrel
├── 6-feedback-requests
├── 7-first-time-marketers
├── 8-random
└── 9-shameless-plugs
```

In such a structure, some community members started to ask us: "Where to post? Is this channel the *right* place?"

Some channels were obvious: `#intros`, `#jobs`.

Now, picture this:

* You're a first-time marketer.

* You just published a blog post with lessons you learned attending a developer conference. Such a story would be an awesome resource for the community.

* Where should you post it?

`#content`, `#devrel`, and `#first-time-marketers` sound like relevant channels. Or `#general` because it has more community members and would increase reach? Or is it just `#shameless-plugs`?

We realized that to answer "where should I post," more options led to harder decisions.

In psychology, people call it the **Hick's Law**.

> *Hick's Law predicts that the time and the effort it takes to make a decision, increases with the number of options. The more choices, the more time people take to make their decisions.*\
> \-- source: [growth.design](https://growth.design/psychology#hicks-law)

The more options, the more time one takes to decide. Worse, we realized that when in doubt, community members just didn't post anything at all — and that's exactly what we wanted to avoid.

As a result, most conversations happened in `#general`, and 50% of channels were inactive.

If more channels don't inspire community members to engage more, what could inspire them? How about fewer options?

### Hypothesis #2: fewer channels for randomness

We completely redesigned the structure of the community. We archived the most inactive channels and renamed for clarity.

We had six different channels:

```
├── 1-announcements
├── 2-ask-anything
├── 3-intros
├── 4-jobs
├── 5-share-anything
└── 6-watercooler-chat
```

We defined topics for each channel as below:

* `#announcements`: Weekly highlights and notes from the admins.

* `#ask-anything`: Need help? Looking for feedback, quotes for your next blog post, or guests for your next podcast episode? Ask anything here.

* `#intros`: Introduce yourself!

* `#jobs`: Growing your team? Looking for a new opportunity? This channel is where you can post your open roles, recommend someone you've worked with, or drop your resume.

* `#share-anything`: Launching on Product Hunt? Need a boost on dev.to, LinkedIn, or X? Think of this channel as your engagement pod.

* `#watercooler-chat`: All-things *not* developer marketing.

In this experiment, `#ask-anything` and `#share-anything` are the most interesting channels from my perspective:

* Do you have anything to **ask**? Go to `#ask-anything`.

* Do you have anything to **share**? Go to `#share-anything`.

If we go back to the previous example:

* First-time marketer,

* That just published a blog post on DevRel.

* Where should you post it?

The answer is straightforward: `#share-anything`.

**Results?**

Six months later, the community has:

* 1,000+ members,

* 20% of weekly active members (200+), and

* 10% of members who post (100+).

By reducing the number of channels, we doubled the percentage of members who post while growing the community by +70% in six months.

## Wrapping up

If you need help building an engaging community, think trunk-based management.

Inspired by software engineering, this strategy suggests focusing conversations in a few main channels, instead of having multiple channels.

Reducing the number of options makes it simpler for your community members to start conversations.

Enjoy the fun!

Trunk-based management

Release notes are investor updates for customers.

They’re conversion tools, too.

As users, we read a changelog to get the latest product updates and figure out how much a team cares about its product by shipping new features and improvements.

Linear’s CEO Karri Saarinen wrote an insightful [blog post](https://linear.app/blog/startups-write-changelogs) on the topic.

Linear started writing changelogs to share the latest product changes with its early adopters and communicate how rapidly the team is adding new features and fixing bugs. And shipping fast, while valuing quality and craft, is appealing to many developers.

"Actions speak louder than words," Saarinen stated.

## Writing release notes that convert

My key takeaways from the read:

1. Set up a schedule, like a weekly or bi-weekly cadence.

2. Don’t include everything you do. Keep it simple and product-oriented.

3. Feature 1–3 significant changes, and collect the little fixes in one section. Include screenshots or videos of the features if possible.

**Release notes help keep the momentum, get new users, recruit, and build investor relationships. “All the things that help your company to be more successful,” Saarinen added.**

So, write changelogs.

## Further inspiration

Beyond the [Linear](https://linear.app/changelog) example, if you’re looking for great release notes for inspiration, below are two more examples from my [swipe file](https://dub.sh/swipe-this):

* [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/changelog) — product-oriented, including three categories (new, improvements, fixes) and one bullet point per item. It’s simple and straight to the point.

* [Liveblocks](https://liveblocks.io/blog/whats-new-in-v0-19) — releases notes that live in the blog section and highlight contributors from the community.

## Wrapping up

Thanks for reading! Hope you find it helpful.

**Do you see release notes as an instrument to acquire new users or is it a tool for better communication with existing users? What are your guidelines for writing great changelogs? What’s one changelog you enjoy reading?**

Join the conversation on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/fmerian/status/1620703754747269122?s=20).

Release notes are conversion tools

marketing to developers

The making of Design Data Platforms 101

Experimenting with Shape Up

Startup Employee Principles

Introduction to the DEV Content Framework

Remote routines

Introducing the Specify CLI

The future of design system documentation

180 days building a Design API

Interview questions

How Pitch automates design workflows with Specify

The anatomy of a customer story

Building trust through investor feedback

The README email

How to sync design tokens from Figma to CSS Custom Properties

Building a swipe file

Community Member of the Year

500 Mentorship Minutes

10 Mentorship Sessions

1,000 Mentorship Minutes

100 Mentorship Minutes

25 Mentorship Sessions

Making data reporting more efficient

Making team meetings more engaging

Onboarding users

Leveraging Slack Connect

Getting stars on GitHub

How Specify launched on Product Hunt

Launching on Product Hunt

Corbado — 2024 Release

Specify — Presentation Kit

Specify — Product Hunt

17K impressions; 10X DUV; not featured on Product Hunt.

Specify — Design Data Platforms 101

Featured on Product Hunt; 2K stars on GitHub.

How not to launch on Product Hunt (and reach #1 Product of the Day)

Documenso — 0.9

Specify — Public Launch

Specify — Beta Program

Specify — Configuration Templates

Documenso — Launch Week

Documenso — Launch Week #1

Documenso — 1.0

Specify — Blog

\#1 Developer Tool of the Week.

\> "We can recommend Flo to every developer tool that is planning to launch on Product Hunt." — Vincent Delitz, CEO

Open conversations with Stefan van Eerde, VP of Marketing, AxonIQ

Developer Marketing Open Sessions

marketingto.dev/jobs

42+ marketing ideas from Stripe, Linear, Vercel, and more.

marketingto.dev/swipe

1,000+ marketers from Algolia, PostHog, Supabase...

Developer Marketing Community

Flows

1,500+ marketers from Algolia, PostHog, Supabase...

\> "One of the most empathetic and impressive people I've collaborated with." — Ronak Ganatra, CMO, DatoCMS

Cracking the code of developer marketing

marketingto.dev

Polywork club for marketers in dev tool companies to share insights and best practices on developer marketing.

Developer Marketing Club

Developer Marketing Examples

launchweek.dev

SEO Best Practices

How Specify leverages Shape Up

Building pages that convert

Launching a developer tool on Product Hunt

Cracking the code of community engagement

Contributor

Marketing hire #1, enterprise-focused;
Increased MUV by 100%.

Launched non-profit to support startups with funding; \
Grew activity by 100% YoY.

General Manager, Digital Venture

Co-founder, CEO

Marketing hire #1, developer-first (B2D); \
Analyzed target audiences, ran interviews for insights; \
Shaped SEO experiments, drove product launches.

\# key results

Increased MUV by 5X YoY;
Featured on Product Hunt and TechCrunch.

\> "Florent knows how to roll up his sleeves. He's a doer for ambitious teams." — Valentin Chrétien, CEO

Marketing hire #1. Enterprise-focused. Ran growth experiments, with a focus on SEO-driven content (Increased MUV by 2X).

Documenso

Marketing Mentor

Board Member, Digital Venture

Co-founder, GTM

Introduction to Pitch

Brand Ambassador

Marketing hire #5, developer-first; \
Analyzed competitive landscape, ran interviews; \
Planned product launches.\
\
\> "Flo is an exceptionally creative and driven individual. Incredibly kind and thoughtful, he's just enjoyable to work with. I highly recommend." — Nick Parsons, CMO

Florent Merian

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