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10 Pa&erns in Successful API Programs
Greg Brail -‐ @gbrail
Brian Mulloy -‐ @landlessness
@landlessness @gbrail
Mapping out your API Strategy ✓
Pragma;c REST: API Design Fu ✓
10 Pa&erns in Successful API Programs
What to Measure
API Tech & Roadmap Considera;ons
Driving API Adop;on
API Workshop Webinar Series
PaHerns in Successful APIs and API Programs
1. Clear API ownership and strong internal evangelism
2. Early and consistent vision, strategy, and metrics 3. Compelling and differen:ated API 4. Reminder: Less is more
5. APIs are designed for adop:on 6. Get feedback early and iterate quickly 7. Create leverage with developer community 8. APIs designed to understand use, prevent misuse
9. Design business model and policies from start 10. Scalability and performance of plaYorm and process
1. Clear API ownership & strong internal evangelist
Strong sponsor and leader of API and developer program understands the company strategy and how APIs can help promote that strategy
Dedicated API team
dedicated product, engineering, community manager Effec:ve community manager
extrovert, can code, good at online and offline community constant internal evangelism, excitement, events
2. Early and consistent API vision, strategy, metrics
Consistent ar:cula:on of API vision – from execu:ves to engineers Alignment with company goals Vision, mission, strategy, objec;ves Early buy-‐in on top metrics
Makes it easy to priori;ze roadmap features Track actual numbers against projected numbers
Based on comparable data from compe;tors and conversion rates Publish weekly dashboard widely with discipline
Vision (the dream) Lead our industry in doing business beyond the browser
Mission (day-‐to-‐day guiding philosophy) Applica;on developers are customers
Strategy (how to get there fastest) Focus on mobile and social developers Smoothest on-‐ramp for new developers High-‐quality, responsive support
Objec:ves (top 3 metrics all agree on )
Reach -‐ Quan;ty of 3rd mobile and social apps Branding -‐ Logo impressions beyond the browser Revenue – Revenue generated from 3rd party apps
VMSO Framework
Example API Metrics Metric area Candidate KPIs Awareness marke;ng effec;veness
Audience: unique users, referrals, page views, engagement Traffic sources (Google, corp website, etc.)
Sign-‐ups messaging effec;veness
Registra;ons (developer keys)
Adop:on measure of product fit in market
Ac;ve developers, partners Applica;ons by type, geo, traffic End users Traffic (% vs. non-‐API), Lost Customers
Quality measures dev process effec;veness
‘Net promoter’ score user experienced problems Cri;cal situa;ons (CritSits)
Community measure of customer sa;sfac;on
Forum traffic and discussions 3rd party advocates
Financial measure of business success
Revenue? Cost of data served? Profit Market share
Example Metrics Dashboard
sec:on 1 strategic metrics from VMSO vs. realis;c projec;ons
sec:on 2 opera;onal metrics
sec:on 3 priori;zed projects
Objec;ve: Agreement on Key business metrics with senior management, product, and developer community team.
3. Compelling, differen;ated API
Your API should be valuable* Valuable = useful Do developers already solving this problem want to use it?
Code examples = top priority resource First-‐class product management effort Build for use cases focusing on developer problem
Will your customers really get this?” Clear differen;a;on How is our API different?
*Crea;ng successful developer programs -‐ Dave McClure
Product Posi;oning Example
For the target customer
Developers building web, mobile, and social apps using maps and driving direc;ons
Who needs primary need
Accurate, free, comprehensive mapping
Our Solu:on is category
Free, global, accurate mapping and direc;ons APIs
That key benefit
Provides the most accurate and comprehensive free mapping and driving direc;ons services
Unlike compe::on
Error-‐prone Google maps, or costly Mapquest direc;ons
Solu:on is greatest differen:a:on
The most accurate free maps and driving direc;ons available
What we don’t do Not every feature, no ‘for pay’ maps
4. Less is more Design for target developers and apps Horizontal or Ver;cal? i.e. iPhone apps? large partners? Certain plaYorms? Who are we building for?
When in doubt, leave it out Don’t try to make everyone happy You can add but never remove! Releasing internal API func;ons to external developers
Spend 10x more effort using API versus building it
Rule of 3 -‐ write 3 example apps similar to targeted apps* Then publish example apps for developers
“*How to design a good API and why it matters” - Google Tech Talk by Joshua Bloch
5. APIs are designed for adop;on Standard, simple APIs = more customers Pragma;c REST -‐ easier to learn and use without doc Great developer programs have great doc and sample code Bonus: Pragma;c REST is easier to secure, analyze
Don't add ‘anything weird' – straight REST, XML, JSON Keep calls small and granular No custom security schemes Use straight Oauth
Lots of APIs? Focus on consistent developer experience APIs look like from same company, same process to get started Lightning fast to register and get started!
6. Get feedback early and iterate You won’t get it right the first :me
Listen and respond honestly and quickly to developers “Our customers took us in an en;rely different direc;on”
Release to a select alpha then beta group for early feedback
First, find internal customers, friends, do a hack day Find developers solving the same problem and ask, “will you use it?”
Design for agility Bad versioning strategy will drown API team in maintenance Don't code in underlying architecture (example: SQL calls) Version in packages -‐ keep the version in the URL Determine costs of backward compa;bility
7. Create leverage through community Community is crucial for an API team to manage and drive adop:on
Responsive , open communica;on cri;cal to credibility, adop;on Store feedback to forums, FAQ, stay off the phone Can someone not on your payroll go do your demo?
Developer marke:ng != just a developer portal
Before building your own community – plug into exis;ng communi;es Target key communi;es – iOS, Android, php, … Think about audience, tools and community working together
Understand what mo:vates your developers
Developers hate marke;ng – want problems solved Developers want skills for their next job to see their products used to be famous to get paid There is a pecking order and ‘superstars’ with developers -‐ target them
Profile Developer Segments
Target specific communi;es
Apigee before and axer TwiHer Chirp
8. Good API design has many virtues API design facilitates analysis
Use a sub-‐domain to balance & analyze traffic; use API keys Lesson learned: discern Apps from Developers from Users
Analyze use and misuse -‐ inten:onal and otherwise Lesson learned: customers observed partners viola;ng terms Lesson learned: observe the old API before designing new API
Design usage policies from beginning Rate limits (ops policy) and quotas (business policy) Don’t enforce key policies axer the fact Implement your terms of use Don’t cut off developers or partners without communica;on
9. Set Business Model Expecta;ons Set expecta:ons with developers and partners ahead of :me Policies are implemented and enforced from the beginning Bake business model in from the start
Op:ons for mul:ple SLAs and :ered levels Free op;on for closed APIs to drive adop;on Paid op;ons and for partner and premium content
Set expecta:ons with execs Will API drive new business? Will API expand brand reach?
10. API Performance Poor API performance and reliability is a business issues
Do capacity planning -‐ use realis;c conversion rates Not just traffic but concurrency
Caching and traffic management controls can extend scalability
Rate-‐limi;ng vs. quotas Control bursts over planned peak Don’t cut off best developers
Design for scale of business processes Interview each area of the business to determine impact of API Model processes at an;cipated peak scale Design and Prac;ce processes as part of pre-‐launch checklist
Great APIs to Emulate Twilio -‐ pure telephony API Wordnik -‐ best API docs on earth Facebook Graph -‐ reads like a book Yelp -‐ poor API resources but unique content (user generated content) Yahoo -‐ great off line innova;on engine – Hack Day Google -‐ great online resources Twi&er -‐ laser focus, very easy to understand, developer console SimpleGeo -‐ smart geo API design GameSpy -‐ all they offer is an API eBay & Paypal -‐ great resources for affiliates Amazon -‐ API is not well done, but service is valuable Wufoo -‐ ar;cula;on of the API design and principles Stackoverflow -‐ deep developer community and engagement ProgrammableWeb -‐ great SEO, showcase developers, deep resources GitHub -‐ deep code resources
THANK YOU Ques%ons and ideas to: @landlessness @gbrail @apigee