Why is an API like a puppy?

There are many answers but the essence of this presentation from #CraftConf 2015 is that puppies and APIs are long-term commitments that most of us aren't ready for until we can show that we have thought through all the implications.

Transcript

1. Why is an API like a puppy? Ade Oshineye
2. Who am I and why am I here?
3. Share what you learn This is Dave and I at PLOP 2005. We’re grateful to the people who shared what they’ve learned. That’s why I’m going to share some things I’ve learned today.
4. Who here has young children? Imagine I were to visit you and give your children a free puppy. What would happen?
5. Who wants a free puppy?
6. Free as in speech/beer/puppy Free as in beer/speech/puppy The worst kind of free. Overlooks the costs, responsibilities and consequences
7. Real puppies Public APIs are different Let’s talk about some common but incorrect beliefs that people hold about public APIs
8. Public API with real users doing business-valuable things in a competitive environment It also means that when I say API (in this presentation) I mean...
9. Public API with real users doing business-valuable things in a competitive environment It also means that when I say API (in this presentation) I mean...
10. Public API with real users doing business-valuable things in a competitive environment It also means that when I say API (in this presentation) I mean...
11. Public API with real users doing business-valuable things in a competitive environment It also means that when I say API (in this presentation) I mean...
12. Public API with real users doing business-valuable things in a competitive environment It also means that when I say API (in this presentation) I mean...
13. Do you work on a public API?
14. Experience comes from mistakes At Google we’ve been around long enough to have believed and regretted all of the following misconceptions
15. Common assumptions
16. API-first development
17. API-first development Everybody can use the same API
18. 1 2 3 4 Private API Consumer-facing UI Public API Ship it! Building a new feature First you build a private API then you build the consumer-facing product on top of it then you expose a public API that others can use and then you find out if it’s a good idea.
19. • Inappropriate API design • Inappropriate authentication model Costs and consequences
20. • Slower pace of development • Less flexibility Costs and consequences
21. APIs are free
22. APIs are free Development is the main cost
23. • Who writes your public documentation? • Who answers questions on Stack Overflow? • Who promotes your API? Costs and consequences
24. • Who prioritises and fixes API-specific bugs? • Who identifies and resolves API abuse/spam? Costs and consequences
25. API design is a solved problem “Just use ReST” Generic clients and HATEOAS will take care of the rest
26. API design is a solved problem Just use ReST “Just use ReST” Generic clients and HATEOAS will take care of the rest
27. • You find yourself saying HATEOAS to angry people and it doesn’t make them less angry about the lack of documentation • You discover that the ways people want to use your APIs don’t map cleanly to the collections of resources that you designed Costs and consequences
28. • You discover that you need client libraries for a variety of languages • You discover painful trade-offs involving API keys and OAuth Costs and consequences
29. “If you build it they will come”
30. “If you build it they will come” API quality determines success
31. ???? This is a hackathon for Buzz in Stockholm in 2010. We did everything right from an API perspective but it wasn’t enough. We broke McKellar’s Law.
32. “A developer platform is only useful and interesting if it enhances something that’s already useful and is already used.” McKellar’s Law
33. Most successful public API at Google? What’s Google’s most commercially successful API? What technology does it use?
35. Popularity means success
36. These APIs have something in common Twitter Snapchat Google Translate They became popular and then realised that wasn’t why they built an API
37. Twitter’s quadrants Twitter realised that they could only make money with advertising if they controlled the most popular clients
38. Snapchat’s ephemerality Snapchat realised that there were guarantees that only a trusted client could enforce
39. Google Translate and abuse Translate was sunset and then revived with a pricing plan because that’s the only way to control the kinds of abuse that happens with machine translation
40. How do I know if I'm ready for an API?
41. Short* answer: maturity This is why parents typically tell their children “when you’re older” rather than “you’re not mature enough”
42. The API has a good reason to exist Whatever benefit you get from the API is enough to justify all of the costs
43. You have a value exchange that works You know why your API is valuable You give something You get something Both sides are happy
44. It scales with traffic 1 million QPD makes you happy 1 billion QPD also makes you happy 1 trillion QPD makes you even happier
45. It survives the passage of time It will still make sense in the future
46. You understand that public APIs have a lifecycle
47. Launch=>Versions=>Deprecation Ship V1. Ship new versions that break backwards compatibility. Shut down old versions.
48. You know how much your API will cost In terms of: - development -maintenance -support -staffing -opportunity cost for your core product
49. All aspects of the developer experience API Explorers to bug trackers
50. Do you have the right team? You understand all the aspects that need to exist for your team to succeed
51. Customers? You know who the potential customers and competitors are. You know how you will drive adoption of your API amongst those customers and in the face of competitive pressure
52. Competitors? You know who the potential customers and competitors are. You know how you will drive adoption of your API amongst those customers and in the face of competitive pressure
53. I’ve covered a lot of the pitfalls involved in launching a public API and hopefully it’s made you think twice. You now realise that the free puppy has hidden costs but my goal wasn’t to scare you away.
54. Personally I love APIs but I also know that...
55. APIs, like puppies, are an expensive long-term commitment... But sometimes they’re worth it.