Scaling API Design @restfest
Download as PPTX, PDF0 likes647 views
Jason Harmon, head of API design at PayPal, discusses principles for scaling API design, emphasizing the importance of thinking big, respecting customer language, and following design principles such as usability and scalability. The document outlines strategies like the 'inverse Conway maneuver' and the need for a parallel design process. Overall, it highlights the significance of collaboration, education, and maintaining standards in API development.
Scaling API Design @restfest
- 1. Scaling API Design Jason Harmon, Head of API Design September 2014 © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary.
- 2. About me Scaling API Design Jason Harmon • Leads API design at Paypal • Design phase of the “PPaaS” aka “Paypal as a Service" program • Engineering-wide initiative • Collaborate on designs for all internal/external/partner/whatever APIs • Maintain style/standards • Stakeholder for internal developer portal & tools teams • Internal API design training/evangelism @jharmn Jasonh-n-austin © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary. 2
- 3. Let’s think big What if your startup takes off? © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 3
- 4. Distributed architecture Everyone starts with a monolith © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 4
- 5. Portfolio is platform product Think in capabilities first © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 5
- 6. Respect customer language Think about the big picture; nouns matter © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 6
- 7. Inverse Conway Maneuver Make your software look like your customers see you “Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.” © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 7
- 8. Design first Right after portfolio © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 8
- 9. Mock it Break it before you build it © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 9
- 10. Design first: Parallelize © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 10
- 11. Design principles Sustainability APIUX: http://apiux.com/2014/09/05/api-design-sustainability © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 11
- 12. Design principles Usability http://softexpert.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/526604 86_6ca085f7a8.jpg?w=780 © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 12
- 13. Design principles Scalability https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5414982/il_fullxfull.191 894533.jpg © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 13
- 14. Design principles Consistency http://minorcreations.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/one.png © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 14
- 15. Education Decentralize through learning © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. 15
- 16. Scaling API Design Thanks! Jason Harmon Head of API Design Paypal @jharmn Jasonh-n-austin © 2014 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary. 16
Editor's Notes
- #6: API Product Managers are key, but they’re hard to find Start with capabilities, not resources Identify capabilities by way of use cases Provide internal/external/partner developer portals to provide visibility Use caution with product names
- #7: Describe for business AND developers
- #8: Inverse Conway’s Law “Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.” Don’t design your APIs to reflect your systems or organizations Make your software look like your customers see you
- #9: Specification formats Swagger, RAML, Blueprint: whatever suits you Portal/Docs/Reference Codegen server/client/SDK Mocking Consistency Validation Respect spec storage Separate from implementation, track minor versions on iterations All in one place – Platform skeleton Docs are specs too Get API client feedback on mock APIs Real usability is only measurable with tactile feedback Weakness: multi-scenario and errors are hard to mock
- #10: Describe for business AND developers
- #12: Goldilocks principle - Just right
- #13: Goldilocks principle - Just right
- #14: Goldilocks principle - Just right
- #15: Goldilocks principle - Just right
- #16: Start central to create standards and practices, once it becomes habit, you