Tips for creating a truly miserable experience with your API program

1. HOW TO FAIL MISERABLY
WITH YOUR API PROGRAM
Case Studies in What Not
To Do
Lorinda Brandon
Director, API Partner Development
SmartBear Software
@lindybrandon

2. BE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE
REST
•50 SMS APIs
•45 location APIs
•88 business APIs
Mashape
•4378 mapping
APIs
•1086 music APIs
•48 gambling APIs
ProgrammableWeb
@LINDYBRANDON

3. OR… FIND YOUR “SECRET SAUCE”
Make sure you know:
- Why you’re building an API
- Who you’re building it for
- What makes you unique
Only the ingredients should be
secret – don’t forget to
evangelize your “specialness”
@LINDYBRANDON

4. BE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
•“Worst
documented
audio API in
history”
CoreAudio
•“The Worst API
Ever Made”
Event Tracing
for Windows
@LINDYBRANDON

5. OR.. STRIVE FOR CLARITY
Applying the 3-30-3 rule to APIs:
3 seconds to understand what the API
does
30 seconds to find the endpoint
3 minutes to be up and running
@LINDYBRANDON

6. CHANGE YOUR MIND
•“Twitter's access
token limit claims
another victim”
Twitter
•“One closed API at a
time, the era of the
open web is waning.”
Netflix
•“Most small
developers without
deep pockets or
ample time likely
won’t be able to
partake”
LinkedIn
@LINDYBRANDON

7. OR… BUILD YOUR LONG-TERM
STRATEGY TODAY
Launch your API after answering these
questions:
What does success look like?
Which audience contributes to that success –
developer or end-user?
What is the impact to our audience if we
change strategies?
Changing your business strategy is not the
same as versioning your API
@LINDYBRANDON

8. DON’T WORRY ABOUT SECURITY
•“Your average developer
can build something in a
day’s time that interacts
with Snapchat’s API and
saves everything that
comes through it”
Snapchat
•“Anyone with rudimentary
programming skills could
query the Tinder API
directly and pull down the
co-ordinates of any user"
Tinder
@LINDYBRANDON

9. OR… BUILD SECURITY INTO YOUR
PLANS
Identify your weak points and vulnerabilities
Don’t expose specific or personal information
unless absolutely necessary
Include safeguards (like rate limits)
Don’t ignore warnings
Leaving security up to someone else is
your first major security flaw
@LINDYBRANDON

10. DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE
BACKEND
• “Since its official
debut yesterday,
Apple Maps has been
nearly universally
heralded as a
disaster.”
Apple Maps
• “Pulling wrong data
with the API is a major
issue!"
Google PPC
@LINDYBRANDON

11. OR…MAKE SURE YOUR
DATA/SERVICE ROCKS
Take responsibility for ensuring your secret
sauce is tasty
Validate both the API and the responses it
gives
Spend release cycles on improvements, not
reworks
If the API returns incorrect information, it
is a reflection on the API itself
@LINDYBRANDON

12. NOW… HOW TO SUCCEED
Be unique in some way
Be easy to understand and adopt
Have a short-term and long-term plan
Identify security risks and plug them before
you launch
Make sure your backend is as good as your
API itself

13. @LINDYBRANDON