WSO2CON 2024 - Building the API First Enterprise – Running an API Program, from Idea to Value Creation

1. Building the API first
enterprise
Mifan Careem
Chief Solutions Officer
WSO2

2. APIs are your business abstraction.

3. The state of APIs
3
https://www.postman.com/state-of-api/api-first-strategies/#api-first-strategies Gartner, 2019 API usage and strategy survey

4. “API first development blurs the lines
between API design, implementation,
management and governance”

5. 5
Full API Life-cycle management
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
API Developers API Product
Managers API Consumers
● Enable business goals
● Define API roadmap
● Incorporate feedback
● Evangelise APIs
● Coordinate DevRel

6. Designing the right APIs
6
- Contract first vs code first
- By function
- Domain, Experience APIs
- By visibility
- Internal vs external
- By type
- REST, Async, Webhook, Websockets, GraphQL,.. https://twitter.com/alexxubyte/status/1663568959348826114

7. 7
API Implementation
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
(Expose as managed APIs)

8. 8
API Implementation
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
(Expose as managed APIs)
Integrations
as REST
API
(Expose as managed APIs)

9. 9
Hybrid Deployment Options
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Common DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
Integrations
as REST
API
(Expose as managed APIs)
Deploy
(Expose as managed APIs)

10. 10
Share APIs across teams
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Deploy
Common DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
Integrations
as REST
API
(Expose as managed APIs)
Share
Apps
(Publish API)
Dev Portal
(Subscribe
to APIs)
(Expose as managed APIs)

11. Dev portals enable developer engagement and reuse
11
Discover
Search
Code samples
Documentation
Onboarding
Subscribe
Registration
API keys
Workflows
Consume
SLAs
Notifications
Metrics
Sandbox vs Production
Feedback
Forums
Support
SLAs
Developer outreach

12. 12
Share APIs across teams
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Deploy
Common DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
Integrations
as REST
API
Apps
Share
(Publish API)
Dev Portal
(Expose as managed APIs)
(Subscribe
to APIs)
(Use APIs
through
connectors)
Marketplace
(Publish Connector)
(Expose as managed APIs)

13. 13
API Discovery
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Deploy
Common DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
Integrations
as REST
API
(Use APIs
through
connectors)
Apps
Share
Marketplace
(Publish Connector) (Publish API)
Dev Portal
(Expose as managed APIs)
(Subscribe
to APIs)
(Expose as managed APIs)
Teams
(Search for APIs) (Search for APIs)
(Build
Apps that
use APIs)
(Share APIs across teams)

14. Internal Enterprise Marketplace
14
- A marketplace for
not just APIs
- Filter based on
Domain
- Teams need access
to 3rd party APIs

15. 15
API Visibility - Internal vs External
Create APIs
Test
Manage
Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Deploy
Common DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
(Visible internally)
(Visible Externally)
Internal Teams
External App
Developers
Integrations
as REST
API
Apps
Share
Marketplace
(Publish Connector) (Publish API)
(Search for APIs) (Search for APIs)
Teams
Dev Portal
(Expose as managed APIs)
Control Visibility
(Subscribe
to APIs)
(Build
Apps that
use APIs)
(Expose as managed APIs)
(Share APIs across teams)
(Use APIs
through
connectors)

16. API first SDLC
16
16
Create APIs Test Manage Expose
Microservices
Implement Microservices
Deploy
Cloud DP Private DP
(Deploy into your own network)
(Deploy using Cloud GW)
(Expose as managed APIs)
Share Control Visibility
Marketplace
(Publish Connector) (Publish API)
(Share APIs across teams)
(Search for APIs) (Search for APIs)
(Visible internally)
(Visible Externally)
Dev Portal
Internal Teams
External App
Developers
Teams
Integrations as REST API
(Expose as managed APIs)
(Use APIs through connectors)
Apps
(Build Apps
that use APIs)
(Subscribe to APIs)

17. “The API lifecycle is the software
development lifecycle”
Christian Posta, “Full lifecycle API management is dead: build APIs
following your software development lifecycle using an Internal
developer plaform”, DZone, 2023

18. 18
● Runtime architecture, CICD, DevOps, Environments,
SecOps, Configuration Management, Version
management, Testing, Observability, Analytics, SRE,
● Code writing also needs access to reuse
● DevOps goes to Canary etc.
● Self Service and policy-driven
● Zero Trust environment
Only the digital natives have software manufacturing down to a science; all
others are struggling.
Developer GitHub
Digital
Experience
B2B
Employee
Consumer
Customer
Enterprise software engineering in the cloud native era
You write code. You want
to get it to the hands of
the customer ASAP.

19. Platformless
19
API-first
network
services are
the
fundamental
building blocks
of all modern
software
Cloud Native
Middleware
runtime
infrastructure
for building
and running
secure,
scalable cloud
native
distributed
systems
Platform
Engineering
internal
developer
platforms with
DevOps and
SRE
capabilities to
unleash
developers
Developer
Experience
passionate
developers
move focus
from platforms
to applications

20. Platformless with Choreo
20

21. Choreo -> Platformless
Developer
Experience (DX)
API-first
Cloud native
Middleware
Platform
Engineering

22. Takeaways
22
- Treat APIs as products and practice API product management.Reuse is the
ultimate goal most organizations strive for
- Focus on internal, enterprise marketplaces
- Organizations have to consume 3rd party APIs
- APIs are not all just REST
- API gateways are a commodity
- Enterprise software engineering is a continuum and the lines are blurred
between different parts

23. It is not the strongest of the species
that survives, nor the most intelligent
that survives. It is the one that is the
most adaptable to change.”
“ Charles Darwin

24. Thank You!