The document discusses the significance of web APIs in the context of the API economy, emphasizing community management and the importance of good API design for engagement and usability. It highlights the transformative potential of APIs as social tools and encourages organizations to view data as a valuable asset rather than a by-product. The document also touches on various aspects of API governance, quality, and the need for modular service design.

1. Web APIs and Enterprise: On Agility,
Community and Governance.
10.20.2005
Layer 7 Webinar April 19th 2012

2. Rise of the APIs
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3. Rise of the API Giants
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4. Fragmentation of Everything
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5. Explosion of Forms
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6. Language Tiers
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7. No Permission Required
Source @cbtacey, AppFog
data from National Venture Capital Association and UNH Center for Venture Research
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8. Forage
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9. Then Forge
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10. On Quality
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11. On Engagement
• The API Economy is a social phenomenon
• Community management is not optional – invest in people
• Your people may already be good at this
• Hiring gets easier
• Web APIs set the bar for consumability
• APIs can’t build communities
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12. On Design
• Good APIs generate great PR - early adopters as evangelists
• Bad APIs generate a ton of calls to your support organisation
• REST not SOAP (and definitely not WS-*)
• JSON not XML
• API first design encourages service modularity, enabling reuse
• Easy to Learn, Easy to Use, Easy to Extend
• Minimum Progress to Declare Victory. Avoid “Requirement Creep”
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13. “The lumber industry sells what used to be
waste — sawdust, chips, and shredded wood
— for a pretty profit. Today you’ll find these
by-products in synthetic fireplace logs,
concrete, mulch, particle board, fuel, livestock
and pet bedding, winter road traction, weed
killing and more.”
Jason Fried, 37signals
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14. Engagement with customers,
partners, employees,
and other stakeholders
generates data
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15. • Location, location, location
• Influence patterns
• Customer service feedback
• Sentiment
• Geographical trends
• Search Findings
• Predicting retail and property sales
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16. Right now, if you think of the data at all,
you probably consider it a by-product
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17. Why not turn it into API?
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18. QUESTIONS
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19. Photo credits
Breadcrumb – diongillard on Flickr
Pathway by ^riza^ on Flickr
SF in Cloud – SF Chronicle
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