All API paths must conform to the overall organizational domain standards, utilizing plain language and a resourceful approach to delivering digital resources and capabilities via HTTP APIs, providing a common set of paths that can be used and reused across many different applications and consumers.
API Paths Must Conform to the Organization
Policies
Path Names
Path naming is one of those things that reveals how much thought went into an API's design. No version numbers in paths, no trailing slashes, no 'api' prefix -- clean paths show discipline.
Experiences
Access
I keep seeing teams struggle with getting consumers proper access to their APIs. The sign-up, authentication, and authorization process is where you lose people before they ever make their first AP...
Alignment
I see product and engineering teams talking past each other constantly when it comes to APIs. Without alignment on the why behind each API, you end up with technically sound resources that nobody a...
Automation
I keep shining a light on automation because it's the only way to scale API operations. When testing, validation, deployment, and governance are all manual, you're just adding human error and slowi...
Change
Change is the one constant across the API landscape, and I watch teams struggle with it every single day. If you aren't actively managing and communicating change across versions, deprecations, and...
Communication
I struggle with how little communication happens between the teams producing APIs and the people consuming them. Blogs, changelogs, roadmaps -- these are building blocks that most teams just skip, ...
Consistency
When I look across the API landscape, consistency is one of the biggest challenges I see. Every team does things differently, and the surface area of inconsistency just grows until governance becom...
Discovery
Discovery is the dark matter of the API landscape. Teams build APIs that already exist somewhere else, and consumers can't find the APIs they need. Without a catalog and proper metadata, you're jus...
Onboarding
I see teams dealing with massive friction during onboarding. If a consumer can't get from zero to their first successful API call in minutes, you've already lost them. Getting started guides, sandb...
Self-Service
Self-service is the goal I keep pushing teams toward. If a consumer can't find your API, sign up, get keys, and make their first call without emailing someone, you've created a bottleneck that will...
Simplicity
I am a big believer that the best APIs are the simple ones. When I see overly complex API designs, I know someone was thinking about their internal architecture instead of the consumer. Keep the su...