I have been learning more about Apicurio, which is the open source API design editor I have been waiting for. There are a number of things I’m interested in when it comes to Apicurio, but one side element that caught my attention was their road map.
I am a big fan of encouraging folks to share their roadmap. It is an important part of helping establish a shared future between API provider and API consumer. Apicurio is an API tool, without any APIs (yet), but the roadmap purpose remains the same. I like how Apicurio shares their tech preview, beta, and 1.x plan, in a coherent and organized way–you do not have to be a developer to understand what they are planning.
As I was using Apicurio I had a lot of questions about what it didn’t do. I had a lot of ideas about what it should do, and before I set out writing these ideas on my blog I spent some time with their road map, syncing items on my list with items on their roadmap. After I was done, I had reduced my list of questions and ideas to just a handful of items–which I will write about shortly. Their proactive, coherent, and complete road map saved me time, but also will save them time when it comes to listening to my feedback (if they do).
Complete, coherent, and plain English road maps are another one of those super simple, captain obvious ideas that over 50% of the APIs I review DO NOT HAVE. Which is why I’m writing about it and showcasing a positive example like Apicurio. Please do not forget to share road map with your community–it will save us both time.
