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One year of Wagtail developer relations: team report

A year after the Wagtail developer relations team got started, here are highlights and reflections on what we’ve achieved.

What the team is about

The developer relations team are ten contributors dedicated to nurturing the Wagtail developer community. They make Wagtail more accessible, support contributors with the tools, resources, and events they need to thrive. We’re a diverse group of enthusiasts spread across different parts of the globe, with varied experiences in Wagtail and Django.

Our current members for the year were:

Team kickoff and initial plans

We kicked off the year with an introductory meeting where the team gathered to discuss what Developer Relations could mean for Wagtail. We reviewed the current developer relations efforts, such as Wagtail Space events, community channels, and the incredible docs.wagtail.org.

After brainstorming, we ended up with an extensive list of ideas to work on, with the most popular ones being:

  1. Produce Official Wagtail Swag
  2. Helping produce feature videos
  3. Wagtail starter project templates
  4. Developer experience survey
  5. Spread the word about i18n and l10n capabilities
  6. Maintaining ready-to-use Wagtail tutorials or workshops
  7. Supporting Wagtail Space events
  8. Speak about Wagtail in open source event and open booths.
  9. Wagtail Space event planning
  10. Wagtail x Django Girls collab
  11. Contributor recognition program
  12. Amplifying social media posts
  13. Support existing developer advocates
  14. LinkedIn page for Wagtail
  15. Tutorials and how-tos for developers
  16. Support Damilola’s tutorials project
  17. Create tutorials on the different features of Wagtail
  18. Ambassador program
  19. Wagtail podcast / Twitter Spaces

These ideas laid the foundation for our activities throughout the year.

Major initiatives and achievements

  • Wagtail swag: We partnered with FreeWear to create official Wagtail swag, including t-shirts and hoodies. The designs are still in progress behind the scenes.
  • We planned and hosted Wagtail Space 2023 as an online event, making it accessible to a wider audience. The event was a great success, with participants from around the world coming together to share knowledge and collaborate.
  • Contributors calendar: We launched a public contributors calendar, now available on the Wagtail website, to keep everyone informed about upcoming events and opportunities to get involved.
  • We promoted and supported Wagtail Space events globally, including collaborations with local communities.
  • Online platforms exploration: We experimented with alternative community platforms like Discord and Zulip to enhance openness and accessibility. This exploration is ongoing, and we’re considering the best options for fostering open, searchable discussions.
  • We expanded our documentation efforts, including tutorials for beginner and advanced users, and worked closely with the Google Season of Docs program to improve Wagtail’s documentation.

What’s next?

Moving forward, we’re diving into some of the top-voted initiatives from our planning sessions. Here’s what’s on our immediate roadmap:

  • We’re preparing more advanced tutorials and workshops to help developers tackle complex Wagtail configurations and integrations, such as deployment strategies and front-end frameworks like HTMX and Next.js.
  • We will continue to explore and experiment with alternative platforms to improve community engagement, openness, and accessibility.
  • Planning is well underway for the next Wagtail Space events, which will include both in-person and virtual components to ensure accessibility for everyone.

We’re also looking at enhancing our contributor recognition program, rewarding those who have made significant contributions to the community, whether through code, documentation, or event organization. Wagtail pins, anyone?

Reviewing our full list of ideas, here’s their current status at a glance:

Status Idea
In progress Produce Official Wagtail Swag
Unexplored Helping produce feature videos
In progress Wagtail starter project templates
Done Developer experience survey
Unexplored Spread the word about i18n and l10n capabilities
In progress Maintaining ready-to-use Wagtail tutorials or workshops
Done Supporting Wagtail Space events
Done Speak about Wagtail in open source event and open booths.
In progress Wagtail x Django Girls collab
Unexplored Contributor recognition program
Done Amplifying social media posts
Done Support existing developer advocates
Done LinkedIn page for Wagtail
Done Tutorials and how-tos for developers
Done Support Damilola’s tutorials project
Unexplored Ambassador program
Unexplored Wagtail podcast / Twitter Spaces

Join us

The Developer Relations team has made great strides this year, and is now on a hiatus, but will restart activities soon. See our Developer relations team: meeting update for more information.