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History of the Yahoo! Developer Network - Evans Data Developer Relations conference 2011.
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Lessons Learned from Building the Yahoo! Developer Network Jonathan LeBlanc Principal Software Engineer Yahoo! Developer Network Twitter: @jcleblanc Website: http://www.jcleblanc.com
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
History of YDN: The Founding (2005) Developer Network launched Staff of 2 dedicated employees +1 on search Funded by Jerry Yang to be the Yahoo! Technology Backbone Single product focus (search) Servers only on the west coast
History of YDN: Year of the Developer (2006) Focus on the developer community 20 developer APIs in YDN The first external hack day is created to foster the culture of hack Developers! Developers! Developers!
History of YDN: Year of the Open Strategy (2008) Focus on “open and social” development through new platforms and APIs Renewed focus on Open Source Strong evangelism and developer outreach programs Open APIs Open Source Social Strategy Continued growth of Hack
History of YDN: Year of Innovations (2011) Focus on fostering internal and external innovations 60+ developer offerings in YDN Internal and external hack events Tech Innovation Hack Day HackU HackU program for university innovations
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
Technology Stack: Our Products and Services 63 APIs and Tools http://developer.yahoo.com/everything.html Application Platforms YAP, Connected TV, Desktop Widgets APIs and Web Services YQL, Flickr, Local, Maps, GeoPlanet, Shopping, Social APIs Business Tools Finance, BOSS, APT Communication Tools Messenger, Mail
Technology Stack: A Commitment to Open Source Authentication and Authorization Platform Technologies Server and Cloud Technologies
Technology Stack: What We’ve Learned Abstract out difficult to implement technologies with SDKs. Focus on several core features of your technology offerings, not the entire stack. Open source initiatives provide an excellent “get started quickly” technology base.
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
Partner Strategies: Integration Success and Failure of Zynga • First round of “Mafia Wars” as an initial game partner for YAP in 2009. Failed to produce high install rates and difficult to integrate. • Second integration of “Mafia Wars” and “FishVille” in late 2010. Higher install rates, new viral channels and little integration pain.
Partner Strategies: Failure to Integrate “Company” • Third round partner integrating with our social services. • They created their own OAuth implementation since we did not have an appropriate SDK. • Integration failed near completion of the code.
Partner Strategies: Successful Integration of Mint • Second round productivity application partner. • Helped them integrate a high-security model into a low-security transfer platform. • Highly successful application push.
Partner Strategies: Core Takeaways Have tools in place to support development efforts (SDKs, Documentation). Ensure that you have a partner support arm to provide hands-on aid (E-Mail, Skype, Conference calls). Have a flexible product and release schedule where feedback can be implemented quickly.
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
Handling Developer Outreach: Forums http://developer.yahoo.net/forum
Handling Developer Outreach: Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ydn
Handling Developer Outreach: Facebook http://www.facebook.com/yahoodevelopernetwork
Handling Developer Outreach: Takeaways Not all outreach channels can be treated the same way. You need appropriate support channels internal to the company. Developers are your best source of bugs and features.
What We’re Going to Cover • The history of YDN and where we are now • Our technology stack and what we’ve learned from it • Successes and failures: Our partner strategies • How we handle developer outreach • Final lessons
Final Lessons: Takeaways If you can’t support it, don’t do it. Support your community where it starts, don’t artificially create one. Developers are not your enemy. Learn from your mistakes and your user complaints. Build a better product. Foster a culture, not a brand.
Questions? http://www.slideshare.net/jcleblanc/historyofydn Jonathan LeBlanc Yahoo! Developer Network Twitter: @jcleblanc