My friend Emmanuel Paraskakis recently published a list the top 7 Ways To Screw Up Your API Product-—which I agree with, but told him I’d ponder and add some of my to the list. From Emmanuel’s experience, here are the top ways we cause ourselves API pain when it comes to enterprise operations.
- Don’t Explain What It Does
- Make It Hard To Sign Up
- Complex Pricing
- Don’t Pay Attention To Security
- Spotty Availability
- Inconsistent Data Updates
- Surprise Developers With API Changes
I took his list and compared it with my master list of the pain we cause ourselves as API producers, and I agree with it all, but I would add a couple of items. I don’t want to make the list too long, as he’s done a good job of getting at the nuance, but there are a few things I’ve included as part of my storytelling to my readers and customers.
- Can’t Find API and Resources
- Lack of Communication
- No Alignment with Business
- Everything is too Complex
I think that Emmanuel’s complex pricing overlaps with my no alignment with business and everything is too complex, but I think these issues go well beyond just pricing, and need attention. For me, this overall list reflects the common challenges I’ve heard from API consumers, but also business leadership when it comes to the problems that plague them when it comes to API operations. Some of these things are related to technical shortcomings, but for the most part they are business and people issues.
I will be including this in my list of solutions I am proposing as part of my API contract services. I am looking for more ways to speak to, but also equip business leadership with more ways they can lead teams away from making these common mistakes. My services aren’t quite ready for prime time until September, so if you are needing help in any of these areas, feel free to reach out to me in the meantime, or I highly recommend connecting with Emmanuel for a conversation—-he knows his stuff.
