All APIs must have change management baked into the definition, delivery, and iteration, ensuring that producers and consumers are in alignment regarding the communication, quality, and velocity of change that is occurring for each individual API, driving planning as well as API provenance.
Change is Actively Managed for Each API
Policies
Road Map
A road map is one of the most underrated building blocks of API operations. Even if nothing is planned, sharing that information builds trust. Consumers want to know what the future looks like.
Change Log
A change log is essential for tracking everything that has been added, updated, or removed. I look at change logs as the honest record of an API's evolution that builds trust with consumers.
Experiences
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...
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...
Quality
I see the quality of APIs eroding across the landscape. Teams ship fast and never look back, but consumers feel every rough edge, every missing example, every inconsistent response. Quality is what...
Reliability
Reliability is where the rubber meets the road in the API landscape. If your APIs aren't up when consumers need them, and if new versions don't land smoothly, none of the other building blocks matter.