Today, AI and automated processes have become an integral part of our lives in different shapes and forms. As AI increasingly shapes the world we live in, we as human beings might start asking ourselves: What role does the human touch play?
On top of leveraging AI and automation to enhance efficiencies and accelerate innovation, we at Cisco DevNet invest in understanding human experience. We believe this approach is crucial to maximize the impact of new technologies and what we have been advocating for – network programmability, automation, and APIs. To build empathy with our community, we need platforms for them to voice out.
This is where Share Your Experience (SYE) comes in.
What is Share Your Experience?
Share Your Experience isn’t just another feedback mechanism; it is a vibrant, hands-on initiative conducted at Cisco conferences. In SYE, we run a series of interactive, user-participatory activities where developers, customers, and Cisco experts come together to co-create, explore, and provide direct feedback on topics critical to Cisco and DevNet strategies. The conversations are facilitated by a team of Cisco experts, including user researchers, developer advocates, product/engineering leads across different Cisco product teams, etc. It is a tactile and engaging experience designed to move beyond surveys and truly connect with our community.
In the past few years, you might have spotted us in the DevNet Zone at Cisco Live in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, and San Diego. In the busy conference floor filled with countless digital screens everywhere you go, there lives a unique space for genuine, down-to-earth human interaction.
Here, attendees jot down their feedback on little stickies and place the stickers as their vote on the board. The notes and voting dots are more than just data. Each and every one of them represents the voice of our community. They get to talk to the team in person, ask questions, and share their thoughts. It feels real.
Design Thinking in Action
At its core, SYE leverages the Design Thinking framework: solving problems by putting the human at the center.
You might wonder, “But I’m not a designer!” This framework isn’t exclusive to designers only. Indeed, it’s been adopted by many Cisco product teams to build better services and products for customers for many years. In SYE, we conduct a wide variety of design thinking activities focusing on topics such as AI, API, and developer resources. Through activities like user interviews, empathy maps, prototyping puzzle games, card ranking, and many more, we build empathy for developers, understanding their tasks, job roles, and personas.
All feedback and votes are anonymous. Participants feel comfortable sharing their pain points and candid feedback with us given the welcoming vibe at SYE. The open environment in the conference setting also encourages more ad-hoc discussions and collaborations among attendees, whether they’ve met before or not.
I vividly recall a customer sharing with me how she felt so much better about her skills in network programmability after seeing all the voting dots placed in the same bucket as her vote. For the longest time, she thought she was one of the few outliers facing the challenges. “I don’t feel as lonely anymore,” she said, feeling content after making the connection in SYE.
Not only do we build empathy with attendees, but they also get to empathize, inspire, and learn from each other. It’s definitely a win-win!
From Gathering Feedback to Generating Impact
Since its launch, DevNet has been committed to providing comprehensive developer resources across Cisco technologies to the community. To improve the developer experience, we partner with teams across our core portfolio, including Meraki, Catalyst Center, ACI, Nexus Dashboard, and Crosswork Network Controller, to capture direct feedback from the developer community. Product managers, engineering leaders, and designers from the product team are staffed at SYE to connect with the customers. Insights gathered are shared with the broader team, influencing feature development, product roadmaps, and strategic decisions. Through active listening and concept-validation, we ensure that Cisco’s innovations are aligned with real-world needs.
Over the past several years, DevNet has focused on advocating for API-driven automation, helping developers transform their workflows from traditional CLI-based management. Through these engagements, we have gathered critical feedback on API quality, such as inconsistencies across endpoints, error-handling challenges, and gaps in API documentation and feature functionality.
Today, as technology accelerates toward AI, we are supporting the community as they advance from API-based automation to AI-enhanced workflows. From our past research, we have learned that while many of you know this shift is necessary, it can be tough to know where to start, how to fit AI into your current routine, or which tools to trust. By capturing these insights, DevNet is committed to bridging that gap. For example, we have used this feedback to curate practical resources like the Code Exchange AI repository and MCP server catalog, which provide the trusted toolsets you need to start using AI effectively in your own projects.
Experience SYE 2.0 at Cisco Live Las Vegas
To keep this momentum going and continue providing a better developer experience for you, we are back at the DevNet Zone in Cisco Live Las Vegas this week to connect with you again!
This time, we are taking the SYE initiative to the next level. We have upgraded the experience to be a hybrid of tactile and digital interaction. You will still find the hands-on activities you love, but now with a fun, gamified touch-screen experience that makes sharing your insights even more engaging.
We are excited to continue the conversations around API quality, AI adoption, and integration strategies with you. Specifically, we want to hear about your real-world AI use cases and how you are navigating the new world of MCP servers and AI agents. Whether you are wondering where to start, what they are, or how to put them to work, we want to hear your questions and your ideas. If you are at the conference, come find us in the DevNet Zone and share your experience with us.
Help us help you! We can’t wait to share the outcomes and the new resources we build based on your input once we return.
