An Operating Model for API Platform Teams

How do we structure people, processes, and technology to deliver consistent, secure, high-quality APIs quickly at scale? Lessons from the NHS England API Platform Team.

Transcript

1. 0 Lessons from the NHS England API Platform Team Principal Consultant | Ikenna Consulting Presented by: Ikenna Nwaiwu 4 December 2024 An Operating Model for API Platform Teams
2. 1 About Me Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
3. 2 Author & Independent API Consultant Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929 Coming soon
4. 3 API Governance problems I help my clients solve: • API sprawl • API drift • High API delivery lead time 3 Advisory to API providers and API tool vendors.
5. 4 AGENDA 1. The Problem of API Delivery 2. The Two-customer mindset 3. Increase Abstraction
 4. Conclusion Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
6. 5 The Problem of API Delivery at Scale Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
7. 6 API DELIVERY PROBLEM How do we structure people, processes, and technology to deliver consistent, secure, high- quality APIs quickly at scale? Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
8. 7 SOLUTION: CREATE AN API PLATFORM An API platform is a collection of tools, capabilities, and documentation that supports developing, deploying, and operating APIs. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
9. 8 BUT HOW DO YOU ENSURE HIGH PLATFORM TEAM PERFORMANCE? •API customer satisfaction (quality proxy) •API delivery lead time Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
10. 9 TWO KEYS TO HIGH PERFORMANCE • Two-customer mindset: Serve two customers, not one. • Increase abstraction: Lower lead time and simplify by increasing the abstraction level. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
11. 10 Key 1: The two-customer mindset Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
12. 11 SERVE TWO CUSTOMERS NOT ONE API platform teams may think that API consumers are their only customers. PROBLEM COUNTERMEASURE Treat both API consumers and producers as customers using JTBD, surveys and benefit identification. OUTCOMES • Poor API producer experience. Frustration. • Slow API delivery. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
13. 12 EXAMPLE OF TWO- CUSTOMER MINDSET: NHS ENGLAND’S API MANAGEMENT TEAM Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
14. 13 API PLATFORM CONTEXT Interoperability in healthcare is hard from a technical, clinical, product and safety perspective.1 PROBLEM API satisfaction survey SUCCESS METRICS Make integration easier for everyone, both external and internal, with a one- stop API platform.1 GOAL Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
15. 14 BENEFITS TO API CONSUMERS DEFINED2 • Consistent experience using open standards using REST, FHIR, OAuth2.2 • Self-service access to test environments. • Comprehensive, clear docs based on OpenAPI. • Single point of contact for support. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
16. 15 BENEFITS TO API PRODUCERS DEFINED2 • Quicker, more predictable API delivery process. • One-click API platform set-up tool. • CI/CD pipeline for API deployment. • Multiple path-to-live environments. • Self-service guidance (API producer zone) • Dedicated support. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
17. 16 USER NEEDS ANALYSIS5 • External developers: • Learn how to integrate with NHS APIs • Understand the auth mechanism • Integrate & Test • Get help and support • Internal developers: • Understand API delivery lifecycle • Have a platform to build on • Get help and support Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
18. 17 API PLATFORM TOOLING AREA TOOL NOTES API Gateway Apigee Edge Cloud Provider AWS Local testing LocalStack Test AWS apps locally. Easier testing. Identity Provider KeyCloak Monitoring & Observability Splunk, Grafana & Prometheus Interactive Product Backlog Feature Upvote User feature request tracking3 Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
19. 18 RESULT CONFIRMATION Overall, API Mgt customer satisfaction has grown year on year.4 - 2.3 in 2020 - 3.0 in 2021 - 3.78 in 2023. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
21. 20 Slido Survey Results Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
22. 21 Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
23. 22 Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
24. 23 Two-Customer Mindset: Lessons • Treat API consumers and producers as customers. • Define the platform benefits to both of them. • Research to understand customer needs. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
25. 24 Key 2: Increase abstraction Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
26. 25 IMPROVING COMPLEX PROCESSES Manual or complex API delivery processes PROBLEM COUNTERMEASURE Lower lead time by implementing technology that raises the layer of abstraction. OUTCOMES • Error-prone. • High-lead time. • Non-scalable Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
27. 26 EXAMPLE: API DEPLOYMENT AT NHS ENGLAND Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
28. 27 API DEPLOYMENT AT NHS ENGLAND • Manual API proxy creation process. • Constraint: specialist knowledge of Apigee proxies. • High-lead time. Non- scalable. PROBLEM COUNTERMEASURE Abstract away Apigee deployments with a deployment service: Proxygen. RESULT • 75% reduction in lead time • 50% reduction in API support burden Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
29. 28 PROXYGEN SERVICE • Internal-use NHS England service for deploying APIs. • Generates Apigee API proxy using the OpenAPI description. • Available as API and CLI • Capabilities • Register new APIs on the platform • Publish API descriptions • Manage containers and secrets • Manage API proxies, products and security mechanisms • https://github.com/NHSDigital/proxygen-api-specification Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
30. 29 PROXYGEN SERVICE Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
31. 30 Introducing Abstractions: LESSONS • Abstraction changed from Apigee proxy to OpenAPI and proxygen. More Apigee agnostic. • Encourages standardisation of deployments and self-service. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
32. 31 CONCLUSION • To deliver APIs at scale, you need an API platform team. • Two keys to ensuring high API platform team performance • API platform teams should have a two customer-mindset. • In manual or complex processes, introduce abstractions to lower lead time. Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
33. 32 REFERENCES 1. NHS England API Platform by Manuel Reyes and Navin Bose (YouTube) 2. NHS Digital API Platform (Retrieved 20 Oct 2024) 3. NHS Digital API Management Product Backlog (Retrieved 20 Oct 2024). 4. Developer Integration Survey – January 2023. (Retrieved 20 Oct 2024). 5. API Producer Overview slide deck (Retrieved 20 Oct 2024) 6. From API review to collaborative API design (Retrieved 20 Oct 2024) Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929
34. 33 Thank you • Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikenna | • Subscribe to my newsletter https://ikenna.co.uk/newsletter Survey & Q&A: Slido #2636929