All APIs must have support mechanisms to ensure API consumers have self-service or direct support channels, as well as regular feedback loops for soliciting feedback or answering specific API questions from consumers, going beyond the problems consumers may have encountered using APIs.
APIs Must Be Supported and Have Feedback Loops
Policies
Support
Outline what support is available for API consumers, including email, tickets, forums, and paid support services, making it easy for API consumers to understand how they can get the help they need ...
Feedback
Providing feedback on the business and technical details of each API contract, helping facilitate feedback from consumers and other stakeholders, but also from the learnings across other private an...
Questions
Empowering teams to ask questions via issue or discussion via Git repository, or directly via email about the API lifecycle, governance, as well as the business or technical elements of producing a...
Experiences
Alignment
Achieving alignment between teams producing APIs and their consumers is a persistent challenge in API operations. Effective collaboration between business and technical stakeholders requires ongoin...
Change
Managing and effectively communicating changes across one or more APIs is a leading cause of instability and friction in enterprise operations. While these changes often surface in applications use...
Communication
Consistent communication about the production and consumption of APIs is critical for effective enterprise governance. APIs are inherently difficult to visualize, making it essential to invest in m...
Consistency
Achieving consistency in the design, delivery, and maintenance of HTTP APIs across an enterprise is a significant challenge—one that often complicates API operations. Small differences, such as var...
Discovery
The average enterprise maintains approximately 0.5 APIs per employee, making it a constant challenge to track the growing inventory of HTTP APIs being produced and consumed. Enterprises often addre...
Quality
The quality of HTTP APIs powering an enterprise tends to decline as the number of ungoverned APIs grows across internal, partner, and public landscapes. Low-quality APIs lead to poor downstream exp...
Reliability
If an API isn’t reliable, consumers will eventually look for alternatives. Reliability starts with the platform and infrastructure where the API is deployed, but it also depends heavily on the pace...
Simplicity
Simplicity is a hallmark of well-designed HTTP APIs, but achieving simplicity requires effort. The likelihood that a partner or third-party developer will abandon an API increases as cognitive load...
