How APIs Change Software Development

Craft [https://craft-conf.com/] 2021

Erik Wilde (@dret)
Axway Catalyst

June 4, 2021

[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]

This work is licensed under a CC
Attribution 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]

Contents Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

2Summary
1 Introduction
- 4Erik Wilde (@dret) [https://twitter.com/dret]
- 5Axway [https://www.axway.com] Catalysts [https://catalysts.axway.com]
2 From Systems to Ecosystems
- 7APIs: Old Wine in New Bottles?
- 8What is a Platform?
- 9Software Platforms: Betting on the Network Effect
- 10Jeff Bezos' API Mandate
3 Building Block Culture
- 12Consuming Building Blocks
- 13Building Building Blocks
4 All Products Needs APIs
- 15On a Platform, Your Product is Your API
- 16What is a Product?
- 17Always Plan For Extension
- 18Always Plan For Augmentation
- 19Always Plan For Automation
5 Conclusions
- 21Build Building Block Culture
- 22Thank You!

Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(2) Summary

Software engineering and development are changing because IT architecture and landscapes are changing. It used to be the case that organizations were building systems, and the main focus was on integration and how to maintain and evolve those systems. Microservices and other trends show us that this picture is changing: Now it is more about self-contained and independently deployable components which are part of an ecosystem of communicating components. The "glue" in this ecosystem are APIs, which are the only way how these components communicate. How does this shift in architecture affect software design and development? In this presentation we specifically look at how APIs affect both how components provide services, and how they consume them. The goal of this presentation is to allow software developers to better understand how APIs are an essential part of this rather fundamental shift in IT architecture.

Introduction

Outline (Introduction)

Introduction [2]
From Systems to Ecosystems [4]
Building Block Culture [2]
All Products Needs APIs [5]
Conclusions [2]

Introduction Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(4) Erik Wilde (`@dret`) [https://twitter.com/dret]

Erik Wilde, "From API Craftsmanship to API Landscaping", keynote at Nordic APIs 2018 Platform Summit, Stockholm, Sweden, 10/23/2018

Introduction Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(5) Axway [https://www.axway.com] Catalysts [https://catalysts.axway.com]

Small team of experts in the digital transformation and API space
- Help customers to make good decisions on their API journey
- Move the community of API practitioners and their practices forward
Team members are distributed globally
- Emmanuel Methivier: @e_methivier [https://twitter.com/e_methivier]
- Brian Otten: @bottencatalyst [https://twitter.com/bottencatalyst]
- Brian Pagano: @brianpagano [https://twitter.com/brianpagano]
- Eyal Sivan: @mropenbanking [https://twitter.com/mropenbanking]
- Erik Wilde: @dret [https://twitter.com/dret]
- Chris Wood: @SensibleWood [https://twitter.com/SensibleWood]

From Systems to Ecosystems

Outline (From Systems to Ecosystems)

Introduction [2]
From Systems to Ecosystems [4]
Building Block Culture [2]
All Products Needs APIs [5]
Conclusions [2]

From Systems to Ecosystems Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(7) APIs: Old Wine in New Bottles?

APIs have been around forever
- APIs have been part of computers since their very beginning (1940s)
- Network APIs have been in use since two computers were connected (1950s)
Today's APIs are a business strategy and not a technology
- Establish a platform of digital building blocks that represent your business
- Adapt to changes by quickly changing or launching products as needed
It's not about having APIs, it's about how you're using them
- Stop betting on snowflakes: Expensive to build and hard to reuse
- Start betting on platforms: Create and change products effectively

From Systems to Ecosystems Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(8) What is a Platform?

From Systems to Ecosystems Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(9) Software Platforms: Betting on the Network Effect

No product is perfect and all products can be improved
Building blocks emerge as components of products
Product value always must be exposed as a building block
There is no network effect without a network

From Systems to Ecosystems Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(10) Jeff Bezos' API Mandate

Data and Capabilities must be exposed through APIs
Team Communications must be through APIs
There can be no side-channels/shortcuts
Technology choice is secondary
APIs must be externalizable

Building Block Culture

Outline (Building Block Culture)

Introduction [2]
From Systems to Ecosystems [4]
Building Block Culture [2]
All Products Needs APIs [5]
Conclusions [2]

Building Block Culture Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(12) Consuming Building Blocks

Building valuable products should be done as effectively as possible
- Maximize ratio of effort to build the product and value delivered through the product
Consume responsibly and always plan for graceful degradation
- Risk: Is it worth taking the risk of a dependency?
- Replacement: Are there plans for temporary/permanent replacements?
- Redundancy: Is there a failover API to use during outages?
- Resilience: Is the client handling API problems responsibly?
- Rightsizing: Is the scope well-defined and at the right size?
- Representation: Is the client isolating the specific API model?
- Reporting: Is the dependency monitored for analytics and errors?

Building Block Culture Erik Wilde (@dret): How APIs Change Software Development

(13) Building Building Blocks

Always focus on the value of your building blocks
- What drives product value?
- How is value exposed to consumers?
- How can value be reused as a building block?
Make it easy to find and consume building blocks
- A building block that's not used has no network value
- A building block that's hard to use diminishes its own value

All Products Needs APIs

Outline (All Products Needs APIs)

Introduction [2]
From Systems to Ecosystems [4]
Building Block Culture [2]
All Products Needs APIs [5]
Conclusions [2]