The New Kingmakers

Chapter 6. Final Thoughts

Developers and Negotiating with Populations

Developers are the most-important, most-valuable constituency in business today, regardless of industry. Technologists newly empowered with tools, hyper-connected via specialized collaboration and communication networks, and increasingly aware of their own value are no longer content to be mere stage players. They’re taking an active hand at direction. That genie is out of the bottle, and will not be returned to it.

Businesses will never have the same control over developer populations that they once did, even if the supply of developers eventually comes closer to matching the demand. Now that developers have finally been handed the tools to control their own destiny, they are taking full advantage and making their influence known, both through the technologies they use and the ones that they ignore. Developers have, in half a decade, propelled Amazon from a mere retailer to a force to be reckoned with. They’ve pushed formerly dominant businesses like Nokia or Research in Motion to the brink in even less time.

Successful businesses perpetually seek a competitive advantage, an edge over their would-be market rivals. For many businesses, developers will be that edge. Businesses that will be successful over the next decade will be those that understand and appreciate that importance of developers. Whether they’re lowering costs and accelerating infrastructure, building the applications that make a platform more compelling, ...