I have written before about how we are going to create the Standard and Poors or Moodys for the API industry, and how an API ratings could be used as an economic engine. This is a topic I have folks reach out to me about regularly, wanting to create such a rating system, for a variety of business and political reasons. It is something I'd like to continue to get ahead of before someone who is eviler than I am (I am pretty evil), decides to set something in motion that doesn't include me (ego).
I may sound elitist saying this (I am), but there are very few people who get the API landscape at this level, understand the scope of this challenge, and can have a productive conversation about how to do this. Within 60 seconds of each Skype (yeah Skype) call I have with individuals about an API rating system I can tell which industry they come from and their understanding of what actually affect the quality of APIs--across the technical, business, and politics layers of operations. You have to have been in the space a while, and seen the positive and negative outcomes of API operations to really get the nuance of how you rank and rate API operations in a meaningful way.
Developing an API rating and ranking system will take a lot of work, the involvement of the right folks, money, and time. This is an area that is floating higher up on my priority list and will be actively working to solidify a vision, before some of the folks I have talked with, ever get their way. The only existing model for this out in the open currently is from my friends at the API Rating Agency. They are some fo the handful of folks who I actually trust to execute on a vision of this importance and scale, but alas they ran into some of the common challenges around the scope of making something like this a reality.
I will be continuing to formalizing my definition of API ratings, but will also be soliciting funds to bring together the smart folks in the space who I feel should be contributing to such an important project. If your company, organization, institution, or agency would like to invest in the existence of an API rating and ranking system please contact me directly. I'm looking to fund the crafting of a formal plan in 2017, and need the money to bring folks together to a single location and discuss. Thanks for your support.
