The Anatomy of a Successful Corporate Engineering Blog

As I've been discussing corporate engineering blogs with industry peers, I've noticed a peculiar trend. My personal blog often attracts more traffic than the engineering blogs of companies with nine to ten figure valuations. In fact, my blog sometimes receives an order of magnitude more traffic. This is surprising, given that these companies have hundreds to thousands of employees, which should, in theory, provide them with a wealth of interesting stories, in-depth knowledge, and compelling content.

So, what's behind this disparity? I believe it comes down to the blogging process itself. Companies with successful engineering blogs have a distinct approach that sets them apart from those with less compelling blogs. To understand the differences, I interviewed representatives from three companies with engaging engineering blogs (Cloudflare, Heap, and Segment) and three companies with less impressive blogs (which I won't name).

The common traits among the successful blogs were:

• A straightforward approval process with minimal hurdles
• Few or no non-engineering approvals required
• A fast turnaround time for approvals, often with a clear Service Level Objective (SLO)
• An editing process that focuses on making posts more compelling to engineers, rather than simply de-risking them
• Direct, high-level support from executives, such as co-founders, CTOs, or VPs, who prioritize a lightweight blogging process

In contrast, the less compelling blogs were characterized by:

• A slow and cumbersome approval process
• Multiple approvals required, often involving non-engineering stakeholders
• A focus on de-risking posts, which led to vague and uninteresting content
• Little to no high-level support for blogging, with leadership viewing it as a low priority
• A complex, bureaucratic process that made it difficult to streamline blogging

One person at a company with a successful blog noted that having only one approver can sometimes lead to delays, but this is still preferable to the lengthy, multi-month approval processes found at other companies.

To illustrate the differences, let's look at the blogging processes of the three companies I interviewed:

• Heap: An engineer writes a post, which is then paired with a "buddy" for editing and approval. The CTO provides minor feedback before publication.
• Segment: An engineer writes a draft, which may be reviewed by a senior engineer or manager. The company has a full-time editor who owns the editing process, and PR and legal teams provide lightweight approval.
• Cloudflare: An engineer writes a post, which is reviewed by the CTO, John Graham-Cumming. The company has a "very quick" legal approval process with a 1-hour SLO, and comms teams are not typically involved.

It's worth noting that these companies have different blogging styles, and what works for one may not work for another. However, the key takeaways are that a lightweight, engineer-focused approach, combined with high-level support, can lead to a successful and engaging corporate engineering blog.

In my opinion, the natural state of a corporate engineering blog, where engineers can share their experiences and insights, is inherently interesting. However, large corporations often inadvertently stifle this potential by introducing risk-averse, bureaucratic processes that prioritize caution over compelling content. It takes a willingness to take calculated risks and prioritize blogging as a valuable recruiting and morale-boosting tool for companies to create truly engaging engineering blogs.

As I've seen in other areas, having high-level support is crucial for overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and achieving success. While this post focuses on corporate engineering blogs, the principles apply to various areas where companies struggle to do something easy that has obvious, yet diffuse, value.

In the appendix, I've included examples of compelling blog posts from the companies mentioned, along with a brief explanation of why I found them interesting. These posts demonstrate the potential for corporate engineering blogs to be engaging, informative, and valuable to both the company and its readers.