Charmaine Lee’s 10 Rules for Building Developer Tools | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
Developer tools feel “magical” not because of polished interfaces, but because they help users quickly become confident creators. Charmaine Lee argues that teams should optimize what happens after the initial “aha moment,” shorten the path to meaningful creation, and build products through close, authentic engagement with developers. ## Prioritize lasting adoption over onboarding - The first-time user experience (FTUE) should not be overloaded with every product capability. - The real measure of success is whether users understand and continue using the product after the initial discovery moment. - Lens Studio 5.0’s public beta omitted a formal FTUE, testing whether the product was intuitive enough to use independently. ## Shorten the path to “magic” - Teams should identify how long it takes users to move from downloading a tool to creating and sharing something valuable. - Lens Studio’s team mapped a 19-step journey from visiting the website to submitting a first project. - By removing unnecessary steps and avoiding guidance for actions users already understood, they reduced the experience to four key moments. - User-journey mapping and testing help reveal which steps create delight, friction, or confusion. ## Meet developers in their communities - Product managers should engage directly with developers at meetups, conferences, hackathons, livestreams, and online communities. - Charmaine monitors AR discussions and attends events to learn developers’ language and gather candid feedback. - Building long-term context from these conversations enables better product decisions and more informed responses to user needs. ## Replace traditional marketing with DevRel - Developers tend to respond poorly to conventional marketing and prefer authentic communication. - Effective developer relations includes: - Real experiences and detailed product-building stories - Transparency about mistakes and limitations - A balance between accessible explanations and technical depth - DevRel should be a company-wide responsibility, not limited to a specialized team. - When employees advocate for both the product and its users, they can foster a more loyal developer community. The excerpt’s central recommendation is to design for users’ sustained progress, not merely their first impression: remove unnecessary friction, understand developers firsthand, and communicate with them honestly.