UX, DX, DSX: Developers And Data Scientists As Users

More and more companies nowadays are investing heavily in building infrastructure for developers and data scientists. But often, building infrastructure products are treated as pure engineering practices and differentiated from feature products.

I would like to share my experience leading a team at BuzzFeed in building user-centric infrastructure products for our developers and data scientists, and how I integrate and adapt traditional PM techniques for technical products.

Building software for our peers is a double-edged sword. On one hand, our users are technologists themselves and have immense appreciation for well-designed infrastructure and tools. On the other hand, it is very tempting for us as developers to make assumptions about those folks with whom we work closely. When building tools for data scientists, it is especially crucial to keep in mind that they have their own distinct workflows and needs.