INTERFACE by apidays 2023 - Mapping the No-Code/Low-Code Ecosystem with Your API Strategy, Jeremy Glassenberg, DocuSign

INTERFACE by apidays 2023
APIs for a “Smart” economy. Embedding AI to deliver Smart APIs and turn into an exponential organization
June 28 & 29, 2023

Mapping the No-Code/Low-Code Ecosystem with Your API Strategy
Jeremy Glassenberg, Product Lead – APIs at DocuSign
------

Check out our conferences at https://www.apidays.global/

Do you want to sponsor or talk at one of our conferences?
https://apidays.typeform.com/to/ILJeAaV8

Learn more on APIscene, the global media made by the community for the community:
https://www.apiscene.io

Explore the API ecosystem with the API Landscape:
https://apilandscape.apiscene.io/

Transcript

1. Mapping the No-Code/Low-Code Ecosystem With Your API Strategy
2. About Me Founder of the Box developer platform Early writer for ProgrammableWeb Managed these platforms Mentor, advisor, consultant for other developer platforms & accelerators
3. Agenda - A forgotten history of Low-code/no-code - Personas of the Domain - Product Segmentation - Navigating the space - Building your own solution and Infra
4. A Bit of History
5. Connectors Were Around (If you want to remember those days)
6. Why Is Low-Code/No-code “Recent?” Lack of UX Lack of Standards
7. The Identity Crisis Or Persona Crisis
8. Key Personas in this Space (No-code Solutions) Non-developer Interested in customization, connections, even app-building, but not writing code. (Low-code Solutions) Casual Developer Can code simple applications (Javascript) but not in a framework. (Low-code solutions, code-focused) Advanced Developer Not interested in developing lightweight apps, but looking for ways to build faster.
9. Understanding Product Segments Type Description App Builders Create a UI for a user-facing application Examples: AppSheet Connectors Focus on workflow - having existing services interact with each other. Usually IFTTT UX Examples: Zapier, Workato Embed Frameworks Enable third party solutions to interact within the app’s UI. Examples: Gmail Add-Ons, Wix Widgets, Stripe Checkout Embeddable Widgets/Scripts Enable your product to easily be embedded into other sites. Examples: Stripe Checkout, Zendesk Chat Smart Documents Usually a spreadsheet or doc utilizing online presence to function differently from MS Office Examples: Smartsheet, Airtable, Quip Misc Unique solutions that consider themselves low-code, often targeting advanced developers. Examples: RapidAPI, Corvid by wix.
10. Determine Your Value Points (New Customers) Growth Help Sales close deals Find new customers through channel partners (Existing Customers) Retention/Upsell Solve identified challenges for existing customers Product improvements (Support, Branding, Fixes) Miscellaneous Resolve known limitations through new tech. (Is this for customers or for partners to build?)
11. Partnering With Existing Solutions
12. Many Solutions Rely On Zapier
13. Have a Solid Foundation to Integrate Have scopes and rate limits ready to go… 03 • Be ready for new form of API activity Have an OpenAPI schema 02 • Plugs right into many low-code solutions • “No-code” connectivity into these platforms Have solid APIs 01 • Design-driven APIs really help • Poorly designed APIs become apparent
14. Building Your Own Solution?
15. Building Our Own Solution Determine MVP • Don’t built a full-fledge programming language (like Apex or Google Apps Script) without feedback. Build a solid foundation first • Identify the types of solutions we’ll have • Set standards for all product teams to utilize Focus on personas, use cases, categories • We may want to focus on both non-developers and casual developers. But each will require different solutions • From that, do you need workflow? Custom UI? Something else? Be clear with value points, validate with customers • Successful solutions weren’t built until they had customers clamoring
16. Builder for your APIs?
17. Embeddable Scripts
18. API Consistency: Authentication User Partner-Client (ex: Mobile app) Partner-Server Marqeta-API View Transactions View Transactions Request User token GET /transactions (user token) Transactions list
19. Remember Treat each persona separately, and focus Be clear about your goals Use cases + UX, not “this is cool!”