Continuous API Management, 2nd Edition

Continuous API Management, 2nd Edition

by Mehdi Medjaoui, Erik Wilde, Ronnie Mitra, Mike Amundsen
Released October 2021
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781098103521

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Book description

A lot of work is required to release an API, but the effort doesn't always pay off. Overplanning before an API matures is a wasted investment, while underplanning can lead to disaster. The second edition of this book provides maturity models for individual APIs and multi-API landscapes to help you invest the right human and company resources for the right maturity level at the right time.

How do you balance the desire for agility and speed with the need for robust and scalable operations? Four experts show software architects, program directors, and product owners how to maximize the value of their APIs by managing them as products through a continuous lifecycle.

  • Learn which API decisions you need to govern
  • Design, deploy, and manage APIs using an API-as-a-product (AaaP) approach
  • Examine 10 pillars that form the foundation of API product work
  • Learn how the continuous improvement model governs changes throughout an API's lifetime
  • Explore the five stages of a complete API product lifecycle
  • Delve into team roles needed to design, build, and maintain your APIs
  • Learn how to manage APIs published by your organization

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Table of contents

  1. Foreword to the First Edition
  2. Preface
    1. Who Should Read This Book
    2. What’s in This Book
      1. The Outline
    3. What’s Not in This Book
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. O’Reilly Online Learning
    6. How to Contact Us
    7. Acknowledgments
  3. 1. The Challenge and Promise of API Management
    1. What Is API Management?
      1. The Business of APIs
      2. What Is an API?
      3. More Than Just the API
      4. API Maturity Stages
      5. More Than a Single API
    2. Why Is API Management Difficult?
      1. Scope
      2. Scale
      3. Standards
    3. Managing the API Landscape
      1. Technology
      2. Teams
      3. Governance
    4. Summary
  4. 2. API Governance
    1. Understanding API Governance
      1. Decisions
      2. Decision Management
      3. Governing Complex Systems
    2. Governing Decisions
      1. Centralization and Decentralization
      2. The Elements of a Decision
      3. Decision Mapping
      4. Decision Design in Practice
    3. Designing Your Governance System
      1. Governance Pattern #1: Design Authority
      2. Governance Pattern #2: Embedded Centralized Experts
      3. Governance Pattern #3: Influenced Self-Governance
    4. Implementing Governance Patterns
      1. Evolving Your Solution
      2. Observability and Visibility
      3. Operating Models
      4. Develop a Strategy for Standards Management
    5. Summary
  5. 3. The API as a Product
    1. The Programmable Economy Is API-Led
      1. Price, Promotion, Product, Place → Everywhere
    2. Design Thinking
      1. Match People’s Needs
      2. Viable Business Strategy
      3. The Bezos Mandate
      4. Applying Design Thinking to APIs
    3. Customer Onboarding
      1. Time to Wow!
      2. Onboarding for Your APIs
    4. Developer Experience
      1. Knowing Your Audience
      2. Making It Safe and Easy
      3. Why Are Developers So Important in the API Economy?
      4. Developer Relations for APIs as a Product
      5. API-as-a-Product Monetization and Pricing
    5. Summary
  6. 4. The Pillars of an API Product
    1. Introducing the Pillars
      1. Strategy
      2. Design
      3. Documentation
      4. Development
      5. Testing
      6. Deployment
      7. Security
      8. Monitoring
      9. Discovery
      10. Change Management
    2. Using the Pillars Together
      1. Applying Pillars When Performing Planning
      2. Using the Pillars for Creation
      3. Using the Pillars to Operate and Run
    3. Summary
  7. 5. Continuous API Improvement
    1. Managing Change Continuously
      1. Incremental Improvement
      2. API Change Velocity
    2. Changing an API
      1. The API Release Lifecycle
      2. Changing the Interface Model
      3. Changing the Implementation
      4. Changing the Instance
      5. Changing the Supporting Assets
    3. Improving API Changeability
      1. Effort Costs
      2. Opportunity Costs
      3. Coupling Costs
      4. Isn’t All This Just BDUF?
    4. Summary
  8. 6. API Styles
    1. APIs Are Languages
    2. The Five API Styles
      1. Tunnel Style
      2. Resource Style
      3. Hypermedia Style
      4. Query Style
      5. Event-Based Style
      6. How to Decide on API Style and Technology
    3. Avoid Painting Yourself into a Style Corner
    4. Summary
  9. 7. The API Product Lifecycle
    1. Measurements and Milestones
      1. OKRs and KPIs
      2. Defining an API Objective
      3. Identifying Measurable Results
    2. The API Product Lifecycle
      1. Stage 1: Create
      2. Stage 2: Publish
      3. Stage 3: Realize
      4. Methodology: Value Proposition Interface Canvas
      5. Stage 4: Maintain
      6. Stage 5: Retire
    3. Applying the Product Lifecycle to the Pillars
      1. Create
      2. Publish
      3. Realize
      4. Maintain
      5. Retire
    4. Summary
  10. 8. API Teams
    1. API Roles
      1. Business Roles
      2. Technical Roles
    2. API Teams
      1. Teams and API Maturity
      2. Scaling Up Your Teams
      3. Teams and Roles at Spotify
      4. Factors for Your Scaling Approach
    3. Culture and Teams
      1. Recognizing Conway’s Law
      2. Leveraging Dunbar’s Numbers
      3. Enabling Alexander’s Cultural Mosaic
      4. Supporting Experimentation
    4. Summary
  11. 9. API Landscapes
    1. API Archaeology
    2. API Management at Scale
      1. The Platform Principle
      2. Principles, Protocols, and Patterns
      3. API Landscapes as Language Landscapes
      4. API the APIs
    3. Understanding the Landscape
    4. The Eight Vs of API Landscapes
      1. Variety
      2. Vocabulary
      3. Volume
      4. Velocity
      5. Vulnerability
      6. Visibility
      7. Versioning
      8. Volatility
    5. Summary
  12. 10. API Landscape Journey
    1. Structuring Guidance in the API Landscape
    2. The Lifecycle of Guidance
    3. The Center for Enablement
      1. C4E Team and Context
    4. Maturity and the Eight Vs
      1. Variety
      2. Vocabulary
      3. Volume
      4. Velocity
      5. Vulnerability
      6. Visibility
      7. Versioning
      8. Volatility
    5. Summary
  13. 11. Managing the API Lifecycle in an Evolving Landscape
    1. Managing an Evolving Landscape in Practice
      1. Socialize Your “Red Lines”
      2. Platforms Over Projects (Eventually)
      3. Design for Consumers, Producers, and Sponsors
      4. Test, Measure, and Learn
    2. API Products and Lifecycle Pillars
      1. API Landscapes
      2. Decision Points and Maturity
    3. Landscape Aspects and API Lifecycle Pillars
      1. Strategy
      2. Design
      3. Documentation
      4. Development
      5. Testing
      6. Deployment
      7. Security
      8. Monitoring
      9. Discovery
      10. Change Management
    4. Summary
  14. 12. Continuing the Journey
    1. Continuing to Prepare for the Future
    2. Continue Managing Every Day
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Continuous API Management, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Mehdi Medjaoui, Erik Wilde, Ronnie Mitra, Mike Amundsen
  • Release date: October 2021
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781098103521