Start guide

This guide walks you through setting up DX for the first time—from configuring your team hierarchy to running your first snapshot and turning insights into action. For definitions of key terms, see Concepts.

Note: If you completed a proof-of-concept (POC), we still recommend following this guide. Some setup steps may have been skipped or simplified during your POC, and this ensures your production environment is fully configured. This guide helps you get started with both Fabric and DevEx Cloud.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following ready:

  • Ability to install the DX app in your Slack workspace, Microsoft Teams tenant, or Webex instance. If your organization uses a chat provider DX doesn’t currently support, you can run DX in email-only mode instead.
  • Credentials for tools you plan to connect (source control, CI/CD, issue tracking, incident management, AI tooling, etc.).
  • Access to team hierarchy data — an org chart, spreadsheet, or HRIS export showing who reports to whom.

Setting up DX

Connect DX to your workplace chat

DX uses a Slack, MS Teams, or Webex app to provision users, send quarterly surveys, and deliver notifications. This is the foundation for everything else - including standalone Fabric features - you’ll need to set the DX app up for the platform your team uses for workplace chat in order to get started.

If your organization uses a chat provider DX doesn’t currently support, you can run DX in email-only mode. Contact your DX representative to configure email-based survey distribution.

Set up your team hierarchy

Mimic your org chart and establish your team structure in DX—this ensures that data is routed to the right managers and insights are actionable at the team level. Include everyone who will participate in snapshots, may own components in your software catalog, and who you want included in DX reporting.

You can set this up via:

Connect tools

Correlating what developers say with what systems show is what makes DX insights actionable. DX recommends connecting your source control, issue tracking, CI/CD, incident management, and AI coding tools.

To connect a tool, go to Admin → Connections and select the tool you want to configure. View all available data connectors. Tools only need to be connected once, and are able to populate data in both Fabric and the rest of the DX platform.

If you don’t see a tool you use in the list, there are several additional ways to bring in data via custom API methods.

Attributes & user linking

Once tools are connected, link usernames (e.g., GitHub handles) to your team hierarchy so that system data maps to the right people. DX links users automatically by email when possible; in other cases, you may need to set usernames manually.

You should also add attributes—such as start date, seniority, or location—to enable powerful filtering and discover patterns across different cohorts. DX recommends updating your attributes and hierarchy data before every snapshot to ensure reporting accuracy.

You can set attributes using one of four methods:

Running your first snapshot

Note: If you’re using Fabric standalone, you can skip ahead straight to the Software Catalog overview as you will not be running snapshots.

A snapshot is a short survey (5-10 minutes) sent to your developers via Slack, Teams, Webex, or email. It captures how they feel about key aspects of their work—tools, processes, and collaboration—and identifies where friction exists. DX recommends running snapshots quarterly to track improvements over time.

Configure the snapshot

To configure your snapshot, click the Your next snapshot is (date) banner at the top of DX. You’ll choose which questions to include:

  • Drivers: Select which topics to measure—these are areas that impact developer productivity. Developers rate each driver and vote on what’s slowing them down most. Common choices: Code maintainability, Review turnaround, Deep work, and Incremental delivery.
  • Workflows: Select which tasks to measure—these track how much time developers spend on specific activities vs. recommended targets. Common choices: AI time savings, AI authored code, Code comprehension, and Review wait time.
  • CSAT (Customer Satisfaction): Add internal tools and platforms you want satisfaction scores for—AI coding assistants, internal developer platforms (IDPs), bespoke CI/CD systems, and more. CSAT can also be used to responsibly measure tools you’re considering phasing out, or tools you’re piloting for a specific cohort. Use dynamic audience selection to ensure individuals are asked the questions most relevant to them.

For detailed configuration options—including custom questions, branching, and CSAT groups—see Before each snapshot.

Communication plan

Strong communication drives high participation. Use these templates to announce the snapshot and keep your team engaged throughout:

Template Description
Pre-snapshot exec heads-up message 1:1 pre-snapshot message for execs and key stakeholders, to brief them, gather their input, and secure buy-in.
Pre-snapshot message Announce your upcoming DX snapshot, giving everyone clarity on what it is and what to expect.
Snapshot kickoff message Notify everyone that your DX snapshot has begun, reiterating what it is and what to expect.
Mid-snapshot message Mid-snapshot nudge to drive participation. DX also recommends you ask leaders at your organization to send this to their downlines.
Snapshot closing message A brief thank you message letting everyone know that the snapshot results are available, and what they should do and expect next.

After your first snapshot

Once the snapshot closes, you’ll have actionable data about your organization’s developer experience. Here’s how to turn insights into action:

Analyze results

Data is only useful if it’s understood. To view your results, go to Snapshots and select the completed snapshot. DX provides different lenses to view your snapshot data, ranging from high-level summaries to deep-dive analytics.

  • Developer Experience Index (DXI): A single score (out of 100) representing your overall developer experience, calculated from driver responses.
  • Industry benchmarks: See how your scores compare to other organizations in the industry.
  • Previous snapshots: Track trends over time by comparing results to prior snapshots.
  • Comments: Qualitative feedback from your team, surfaced alongside scores to provide context.

Triage results

Triage is how managers close the loop on their team’s feedback. Immediately after a snapshot, each manager has a window (typically 21 days) to review their team’s results and set a status for each driver.

To triage, go to Snapshots and click Triage in the top-right. For each driver, select one of three statuses:

  • Keep monitoring: Performance is acceptable; continue to track.
  • Make improvements: Action is needed; plans are being created.
  • Needs support: Help is required from leadership or platform teams.

DX recommends focusing first on drivers with the lowest scores or highest vote counts—these represent the areas where improvement will have the greatest impact.

When a team submits triage, DX notifies the organization. In the next snapshot, DX automatically flags score changes for items marked “Make improvements” to show progress.

Take action

While triage sets the strategy, engaging with the feedback is how you build trust.

  • Acknowledge feedback: The Comments sidebar shows all qualitative feedback. Managers should acknowledge comments by clicking ‘Like’ or replying directly to clarify issues.
  • Engage the team: Engaging with comments fosters collaboration and demonstrates to the team that their feedback drives actual change.
  • Use Playbooks: DX Playbooks provide research-backed strategies for improving specific drivers. When you identify an area to focus on, Playbooks offers concrete tactics your team can implement.

For a detailed breakdown of all snapshot results—including Workflows, Impact Analysis, Heatmaps, and Allocation—see After each snapshot.

Next steps

Once you’ve completed your first snapshot cycle, explore these features to get even more value from DX:

Dashboard

The DX Dashboard gives every engineer a personalized view of their PRs, issues, and metrics. Team leads see aggregated views across their team. It’s the daily home base for staying on top of engineering work.

Reports

DX includes more than 75 out-of-the-box reports covering DORA metrics, PR throughput, cycle time, and more. Every report is fully transparent—you can access the underlying SQL to see how data is calculated. Pin your most-used reports to your dashboard for quick access.

Data Studio

Data Studio enables you to explore your engineering data using a powerful SQL query editor for custom analysis. You can build tailored reports beyond standard DX offerings, and leverage DX AI to generate SQL queries from natural language.

Studies

Studies let you send targeted surveys to specific audiences for focused feedback on particular topics—whether evaluating a recent initiative, validating a hypothesis, or understanding team sentiment.

PlatformX

PlatformX helps platform teams gather in-the-moment feedback from users of internal developer tools. Track events from your web apps, CLI tools, build scripts, or code libraries, then send surveys triggered by specific interactions to capture feedback when it’s most relevant.