Many engineering organizations have a desire for better developer productivity, but struggle to turn that ambition into a clear, effective strategy. When Anna Sulkina joined Airbnb to lead developer productivity, she found an organization at this exact inflection point. Over the past two and a half years, she has led a remarkable transformation by focusing on clarity, alignment, and a deep sense of empathy for the developer journey.
"There was a desire, but the team was at the very beginning of the journey for how to do that, and also importantly, how to communicate the value," Sulkina explains.
This article explores the blueprint behind Airbnb's success, detailing how they built a foundation of trust through consistent measurement, crafted a powerful strategy with clear principles, and restructured their organization to deliver lasting improvements.
Starting with empathy and measurement
The transformation began with a foundation of customer focus and developer empathy. "I think it's really critical... really understanding and having the empathy for your developers, for your customers, that's certainly number one," Sulkina says.
To put this into practice, her team established a consistent, biannual developer experience survey. The results are shared transparently and sliced by director and VP, giving leaders insight into their specific teams. Over time, the survey has evolved to include new dimensions like tech culture, which measures factors like focus time and goal clarity.
By creating this consistent feedback loop and involving high-level individual contributors in the process, the team built a track record of acting on developer input. This has led to impressive results, including approximately 10% year-over-year growth in developer satisfaction. Today, stakeholders actively look forward to the survey results - a testament to the trust the team has built.
Crafting an effective developer experience strategy
With a clear understanding of the pain points, Sulkina led her team in crafting a compelling strategy. Their vision was simple but powerful: to equip Airbnb engineers to build the best software of their careers.
This vision was supported by a mission to maximize developer effectiveness through a dependable, easy-to-use platform. The team also established four guiding principles, with one becoming particularly important: "Make common easy and uncommon possible." This principle emphasizes creating "paved paths" for typical workflows while maintaining the flexibility needed for unique requirements.
The strategy focused on four key areas:
- A hyperfast inner loop (local edit-compile-test cycle).
- High-confidence continuous delivery.
- Reducing cognitive load for developers.
- Accelerating development with the latest technologies, including AI.
Building strategic stakeholder alignment
A clear strategy is only effective if stakeholders are bought in. A critical part of the transformation was ensuring that "people need to feel they are heard," as Sulkina emphasizes. This meant not just gathering information, but transparently communicating what was heard and what actions would be taken.
The team developed several key mechanisms for this, including regular one-on-ones, customer advisory boards, and tailored communications for different audiences - from developers to mid-level managers and executives. This intentional approach to alignment has dramatically shifted perceptions to the point where executives now acknowledge, "We've fixed developer experience. What else?"
Reorganizing teams to focus on problems, not tools
To execute the strategy effectively, Sulkina led a reorganization to break down silos within the developer platform organization. The new structure shifted from being tool-focused to being problem-focused. "I do strongly believe that organizations are living organisms," Sulkina observes, "and that means that the organism has to evolve with the needs of the business."
The reorganization created two main pillars: platform-agnostic teams focused on shared tooling and platform-specific teams focused on developer personas (iOS, Android, web). This encouraged teams to think holistically about the developer journey. The process also involved clarifying the roles and responsibilities between product managers, engineering managers, and tech leads, which Sulkina notes was a crucial exercise in alignment.
A journey of continuous improvement
Anna Sulkina's transformation of developer experience at Airbnb is a powerful case study in strategic leadership. It demonstrates that meaningful change isn't the result of a single initiative, but a holistic system built on deep empathy, strategic clarity, and unwavering commitment.
The journey provides a clear blueprint for other leaders. It starts with listening to developers through consistent and transparent measurement. It is guided by a clear strategy with powerful, memorable principles. It gains momentum through intentional stakeholder alignment, ensuring everyone feels heard. And it is sustained by an adaptable organizational structure designed to solve problems, not just manage tools.
Ultimately, Airbnb's success shows that investing in developer experience is not just an internal optimization - it's a powerful engine for innovation, talent retention, and long-term business success.
