

If developers are decision makers, they buy better tools - vonnik
http://blog.airbriteinc.com/post/66982016976/if-developers-decisionmakers-they-buy-better
The rise of developers as decisionsmakers is changing the software industry, fragmenting the enterprise market and changing the way businesses communicate.
======
vinayan3
Only developers would read that title and be certain of the meaning :).

I agree with the bit about developers looking at software skeptically. Most of
us do indeed think it doesn't work, it's a gimmick, and it could have been
built better.

This isn't the first time people have said making developers happy was
important... Anyone remember Steve Ballmer:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE)

~~~
vonnik
:) I think the mods made the headline human readable now.

For those who didn't see it, it's still on the blog.

------
bazzargh
Something in the opposite direction, from a few years back. Shortly after
Oracle took over Sun (which had pitched itself at developers, as the article
suggests), Tim Bray visited Oracle OpenWorld. Quote:

"My question was: “OpenWorld is this totally all-about-business conference.
The Oracle Develop meeting is just a second-rate sidebar. Where does Oracle go
about building developer mindshare?”

"I’ll try to reproduce the answer in full as best as I can remember it:

 _“You don’t get it. The central relationship between Oracle and its customers
is a business relationship, between an Oracle business expert and a customer
business leader. The issues that come up in their conversations are business
issues._

 _“The concerns of developers are just not material at the level of that
conversation; in fact, they’re apt to be dangerous distractions. ‘Developer
mindshare’... what’s that, and why would Oracle care?”_

[http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/08/31/A-Story-
of...](http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/08/31/A-Story-of-O)

~~~
vonnik
Things have changed. Oracle is a perfect example of a company losing ground
because it courts CIOs at the expense of developers. Its rivals are eating its
lunch.

[http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/24/oracle-is-bleeding-at-
the-h...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/24/oracle-is-bleeding-at-the-hands-of-
database-rivals/)

[http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/oracle-losing-
gr...](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/oracle-losing-ground-as-
more-businesses-look-to-the-cloud)

------
7Figures2Commas
> Non-developers respond to ads that entertain, inspire and probably feature
> celebrities they aspire to be. You’re selling dreams and feelings...They
> don’t really pay attention to specs and features.

Not only is this an amazingly denigrating statement which implies that non-
developers are all irrational and driven solely by emotion, it's completely
out of touch with reality. "Non-developers" are the decision-makers in the
vast majority of B2B purchases, and because "B2B" is so broad, it's hard to
credibly make general statements like this.

That said, I don't know how anybody who has successfully sold a product or
service to a non-developer can write that non-developers "don't really pay
attention to specs and features." If anything, it's possible to argue that
decision-makers often pay _too much_ attention to specs and features and wind
up buying more than they need.

> You make statements developers can test and prove to their satisfaction.
> They are deeply, deeply skeptical.

This is a significant overgeneralization. Are there skeptical developers who
will thoroughly test a product or service before making a purchasing decision?
Of course. But if you have been in the game long enough, you'll find that
there are plenty of technical decision-makers who buy products and services
without any real due diligence. There are a variety of reasons for this
ranging from laziness to career security (i.e. "Nobody has been fired for
using [x]").

I get the whole B2D concept, but a great developer isn't necessarily capable
of making great purchasing decisions. A lot of companies, and startups in
particular, are buying third-party "tools" that won't be around in five years,
aren't well supported, can't scale beyond a certain point, aren't
competitively priced, lock them into closed ecosystems and/or represent core
functionality that should be built and maintained in-house. What looks
"better" today can very well be a nightmare tomorrow.

~~~
vonnik
You make some great points. By "nondevelopers," I was referring to consumers
rather than CIOs.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
Huh? Your post begins with, "Programmers will tell you the reason they’re
replacing chief information officers in choosing third-party software is
because CIOs don’t understand what’s going on" and has nothing to do with
consumers, who don't make the kind of technology purchasing decisions you're
discussing in the first place.

~~~
vonnik
You're misreading it. The passage you call denigrating is about marketing in
general, not CIOs in particular. It comes two paragraphs after I mention B2C,
_end users_ and a new marketing model. It's written for people in comms, and
from a marketing perspective. And I don't think any of them would disagree
with me.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
Notwithstanding the fact that it makes no sense to discuss consumer marketing
in a blog post about how technology is sold to companies, if we assume for
argument's sake that I misread your post, your statement ("Non-developers
respond to ads that entertain, inspire and probably feature celebrities they
aspire to be. You’re selling dreams and feelings...They don’t really pay
attention to specs and features") becomes even more arrogant.

Now instead of insulting the intelligence of non-developers who make B2B
purchasing decisions, you're insulting the intelligence of _everybody_ who is
not a developer who makes _any_ purchasing decision.

Do you honestly believe that folks who don't write code for a living never
make logical, informed purchasing decisions, and that people who do write code
for a living never make purchasing decisions based on feelings, aspirations or
relationships?

I know that the SF/Silicon Valley "developers rule the world" mentality is
intoxicating, but assuming that non-programmers are basically irrational,
lesser beings is a huge mistake for any business.

~~~
vonnik
Of course people make logical, informed purchasing decisions. But marketing
and company communications are not what they rely upon to make them. They rely
on trusted third parties. My blog post was not directed at those parties.

I'm explaining how marketers need to communicate with developers differently.
Those same marketers will probably have models for how a campaign should work.
And those models, if they are effective, are brief and do not appeal to logic,
because most people don't have the time to wade through lengthy arguments.
Marketers have a few seconds to connect with consumers. They do so with images
and emotion. The point is too self-evident to belabor.

The post wasn't arguing that developers rule the world. It was arguing that
developers, due to several factors, are becoming more powerful in the world,
and that new power has consequences.

Have you finished with your straw men?

------
diziet
Developers don't sign huge checks, yet. Unless it comes to hosting or other
very critical infrastructure, you're hard pressed to find developers paying a
lot. Developers look at a SAAS product and think _I can build the core
features of this in a week_.

~~~
vonnik
Sure. It's all about prioritizing. When SAAS sells it's because it helps
developers save time or make money.

------
VladRussian2
interesting, as i can't really name any tool i'd buy. Anything what i think is
needed is available for free.

~~~
wil421
VMware so I can do testing in Windows with IE.

Virtual box just isnt cutting it.

~~~
hippich
Just curious, why VB is not enough for testing IE?

~~~
wil421
I guess when I bought it I needed to access certain Microsoft products for
school. So initially I guess it wasn't just for IE.

Ive never liked clunky apps VB has always been clunky compared to VMware
Fusion or Parallels. I'll pay for speed.

~~~
hippich
if it was a while ago, try VB today. It is quite speedy now.

------
cratermoon
Then there's the case I've seen more than once: Non-developers (non-technical
folks) can be vulnerable to what I call "The Listerine Effect".

While looking for something to fill a genuine need (as expressed by the
technical development team) the sales and marketing might convince them they
have a problem where they don't -- thus leading to purchasing something that
nobody really needs, but is required to use because "we spent too much on it
to let it go unused".

There's warehouses full of shelfware that got bought that way.

------
alexchamberlain
This is an awesome article, and I totally agree with it... but, it is an
advert disguised as a blog post. Or are all company blog posts actually just
adverts?

~~~
Zikes
I wish I could tell you, but as soon as the page finishes loading it
completely freezes up and eventually crashes the tab.

Chrome 29.0.1547.76 m on Win7

~~~
mtgx
Chrome is at version 31 now. Maybe you should upgrade.

------
lttlrck
"A new marketing model has developed. It’s not B2B or B2C — it’s B2D."

"D stands for different."

Ok...

