Hey 👋. I’m Matt.
I help developer tools companies become the obvious choice.
I’ve spent 15+ years figuring out why some developer tools become beloved and others are avoided. Three things I’ve learned:
- Developers buy from people who understand their problems, not people who pitch solutions
- The best growth engine is a product operating model that understands its users, helping them look smart at work
- Community isn’t a marketing channel—it’s your product’s immune system
How I can help: Leading product and developer-oriented storytelling teams to scale developer experiences, design internal platform products, and improve how organizations build, ship, and operate software (especially in AI-augmented workflows). Currently open to Director/Principal/Head roles in product, growth, and developer relations teams.
Impact stories
Unifying an Internal Developer Platform — At Target, I led a data-driven pivot from a 3-year ServiceNow-based “single pane of glass” to a unified internal developer platform (TAP). Using Kano surveys and GQM analysis, I enabled VP/SVP decisions to EOL the failing initiative and focus 300+ engineers on a common vision. TAP scaled to 95%+ developer adoption, unified 1,200+ engineers, and introduced “developer capacity unlocked” as the northstar metric that influenced how all developer experience value, including GenAI, was calculated.
Establishing Product Management Standards at Enterprise Scale — I built a cross-functional working group to define modern PM standards anchored in SVPG’s strategic positioning. Over 2.5 years, we developed a new skills assessment, trained and aligned 700 PMs, 300+ leaders, and 30+ executives on a common definition of product, transforming how Target evaluated and developed PM talent.
Repositioning Communities as Growth Engines — At Red Hat, I led Digital Communities (23 people driving traffic comparable to RedHat.com). I repositioned these sites from publishing for page views to strategic awareness and acquisition engines. Using SEO/persona analysis to focus on high-intent topics, I redesigned four teams into a unified product-driven org, built a Salesforce integration POC connecting community behavior to pipeline signals, and influenced ~$25M in single-year bookings.
Expertise areas
Community leadership
Communities I’ve built — Co-founded DevRel Collective (2,000+ members). Co-hosted The Geek Whisperers podcast (140 episodes, 100K+ listeners). Designed Opensource.com Correspondent program, CHAOSScast, and Enable Architect. Led community programs for Sensu, Snap, EMC Elect, and Basho.
Open source contributions — Led the Kubernetes SIG contributor experience product marketing sub-group. Defined CHAOSS value metrics. See my GitHub contributions for more.
Learning communities — Deep in systems thinking: Team Topologies, Wardley Maps, John Cutler. Product management: Melissa Perri, SVPG. Technology: Kubernetes, CNCF, DevOps, Python, Go.
Recent insights
On Explorers Villager and Towns Planners of Simon Wardley
_Note: When I first learned this theory, it was called by another name.
The Impact of Mistaken Sales Cycles — An Analysis of Yelp
“You shouldn’t use Yelp,” told a new friend of mine. “Their sales model is extortion that bullies local businesses.
My Latest Obsession: Admins becoming Developers
A note: This post was created on a previous domain and migrated in 2018{: style=“color:gray; font-size: 80%; text-align: center;”}
The Oxymoron of Productivity
How I was more productive in the last 2 weeks without productivity tools than I ever was with them No matter your exact job role, you are a project manager.
Infrastructure as a Means, not an End
In philosophy, the term means to an end refers to any action (the means) carried out for the sole purpose of achieving something else (an end)
Cloud, DevOps, and Other Fads Sysadmins Don't Need to Care About (Yet)
Talk track from my keynote presented at VTUG Summer Slam 2013