This talk describes ING Bank’s journey from API Doing towards API Thinking. Seems a bit reverse? Shouldn’t thinking come before doing? Yet, this is how our journey went. Something we did not set out to explicitly make, rather we stumbled into its importance along the way. The talk gives a brief history of APIs at ING Bank and captures important milestones. 3 years ago, when we started this journey, our primary inspiration came from diverse articles and talks on the web. This fueled our thinking. We dove right in and started building REST APIs. Gradually, we created an API training that consolidated this knowledge and understanding into a repeatable story. Then came the API Platform. And later API communities that served as a podium for people to showcase their APIs. What started as a local endeavor is now an important global strategy. APIs are no longer a nice to have integration piece, they’re a cornerstone of how we atomize our business. With more teams, countries building APIs, new ideas came in. At this point, we see a need for write down our API Thinking. We can no longer rely on only web articles and posts for this. We want to publish ‘ING API Thinking’ field guide. This forms a theoretical foundation and thinking tools for APIs. A set of tools and principles to help many at our bank thinking and communicate on APIs. It’s the right time for API Thinking.

1. from API Doing
to API Thinking
@flaviasomething

2. Banker of the Future

3. Last week, I got a mail from ING Communication
on a campaign they were working on – Banker of
the Future. This will be published soon on
ing.com.
They wanted me to answer some questions.
”

4. Would you consider yourself to be a banker?
What are you working at the moment?

5. … I was at your presentation 2 years ago about
APIs and Service Blueprinting. We didn’t do much
with it then because our tribe wasn’t ready for it.
However, now we’ll like to see if we can use it for
some of the challenges we’re facing.
How about coffee soon at HBP?

6. This is another email I received couple of weeks
back. From a product owner of one of the tribes
at ING.
I know right, 2 years, 2 years!! Gosh. This should
give you an idea about the size of the
organization that is ING Bank.
And there’s this little me, who joined it 4 years
back in November 2013, and thought - let’s do
APIs. Here's my story.
”

7. 2013

9. Within the first days at ING, I felt that the
company understood that software can change
a very traditional business. They knew their new
competition. They had a vision for the future.
“People want banking and not banks.”
They were aware of the obstacles and were
resolved to smash them one by one.
And there, right there I got this amazing sense of
mission. I can be a part of this transformation.
”

11. But where to start? how to start? with what to
start? The battles to be fought were many.
DevOps, Continuous Delivery, UX, etc etc.
I knew that ING wanted to create an APIs based
architecture. I had some experience with APIs
already. So I thought, maybe APIs then. I loved
architecture and APIs were these wonderful
integration objects.
”

13. My opportunity came in December 2012 at the first API Community Meeting
During the meeting, there was this huge discussion about APIs versus
Webservices. After all, our current architecture was webservices based. I saw the
audience sinking into the mindset - they are essentially the same. So why
change.
I was at this job for only 3 weeks now, so thought I'd shut up. But I couldn't. I saw
APIs differently, and hence gathered all the courage I could to make the
statement – “APIs are different. APIs are designed outside-in”.
I still remember the moment, the room went silent. It felt like forever before
words came back. Then one guy said - what's outside-in.
I was prepared for that question. Then came a big description about designing
APIs from the perspective of the users, the developers using the API. As
compared to inside-out.
”

14. ”This took that meeting on a different trail. Some moments
later, I found myself using the word Customer Journeys. I
should have shut up.
The same guy said, O yeah, we made those for this project
we're doing. I happened to know that project, and I said - great,
can I see them?
This was it, he got it. Customer Journeys were not a business
only artifact. They were a great way to come to an API design
outside-in. He promised me to give me the Customer Journeys
so that I can design beautiful APIs. I felt nervous, and excited at
the same time.

19. ”We created an "Introduction to APIs" training. A 3
hour classroom training. Initially to a techie crowd.
Initially, we got a lot of push back. After all, this was
a change - it was to replace the current
architecture. And people let us know that.
But we persevered, and kept giving this training to
over 1200 people. It became the vehicle to
understand the company and how it worked.

20. Thank you for coming to Arnhem. People from
the Ivory Tower never come here.
It’s good those APIs, we’ll still use Tibco. Are they
here to stay, what do you think?

22. ”Things were moving. APIs had the management
support. It was the new architecture. We were
going for “API First”. Teams started creating APIs.
Hurray. Right?
Not quite. This is where the next obstacle hit.
The teams did not have enough support to build
and release APIs smoothly. Our infrastructure and
delivery process was not suited for APIs.
We started building our API Platform.

23. 2015

24. ”Soon I found myself in a new role - a Product
Owner. This was “making time”.
I learnt so much being a PO. Nothing I had done
before. I had stakeholders, customers, a team. It
was like running a small company. Every two weeks
we churned out pieces of functionality. It was an
awesome awesome time.

26. 2016

27. ”ING was going global and so were we. Our very
local initiative spread. It went global. Our local API
Platform became the Global API Platform.
This meant new people, from different locations,
different languages and a new start.
I handed my products over to the new & energetic
people.
And took a break from APIs to explore Design and
Design Thinking.

29. ”
After a year, I returned to the Global API Platform
programme.
Funnily enough through a Design Thinking
workshop with the team. In this workshop, we
discovered that API design is not getting enough
space in a setting that is building platform
components. And that the outside-in mindset is
getting lost. And this reflected in the APIs that were
getting built.
There were new questions now. More ‘thinking
questions’

30. We have to open up our APIs. How do we go
about with this?
We just started building our API? What can your
platform do for us?

33. ”What we need is a method and toolbox to help
people think about APIs and design them. We
needed API Thinking.
So once again, I signed up for this mission. Only this
time, I knew a trick or two ;)

34. Banker of the Future

35. Would you consider yourself to be a banker?
What are you working at the moment?

36. ”Yes, I consider myself a banker. People have always
needed ‘banking’ and not ‘banks’. I believe
technology and design have the potential to
provide just that. I do not wear business suits. I’m a
banker who can program, design, create and like
my coffee black and in single shots. Maybe I’m a bit
different than the stereotypes in our heads.

37. ”I’m working on making ING a successful 21st century company
through APIs and Platforms. APIs allow software to talk. To give
an example, when you ride an Uber, you’re using a map and
make a payment. Both are APIs. When you think of platforms,
think of places where people meet. Names like Facebook,
Amazon, Airbnb come to mind, but also our own.
Specifically, I work on how we design our APIs and how we
think about platforms. I consider myself as an API Thinker. My
goal is to meet lot of people, and help them understand the
changing business. I do this by giving talks, trainings and
design workshops.

38. Flavia Sequeira,
API Thinker
@flaviasomething
yes, we are hiring