5 Things Every Product Manager Should Know When It Comes To Develop A Successful API: Part 1
First Steps And What To Outsource
About this series
In the next 5 articles, you will learn best practices in developing public APIs and how to take the first steps on this path.
Each article goes through one of the main topics in developing these interfaces. These are the topics that you will get access to:
- First steps and what to outsource → This One
- Dependencies and infrastructure → 11/10 at The Technical PM’s Newsletter
- Product mindset in API development
- Business model and growth
- How to write documentation for an API
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First steps and what to outsource
The first point that you need to understand is which features to outsource within your service portfolio.
The choice of this group of features is essential for you to be able to dedicate efforts to what can bring you business answers.
If your product has a lot of features, it is not expected that the first version of your API contains all of them from the very beginning.
The first version of your API needs to deliver value to those who wish to consume your application. This value comes through some benefit or problem-solving, just like any other product.
For example, if you expect to externalize the first endpoint for companies to request data from your market, this information should be useful in different application contexts.
Take the example of a financial market company, outsourcing stock market data through an API, different players can consume that data to generate studies, visualizations, recommendations, and so.
What you need to take into consideration is that what will be available through the API needs to generate value for those who are going to consume the application.
Think about the benefits
You should not only look at the features when it comes to understanding what to externalize at the first moment.
A good practice is to always think about the benefits and value of the most essential features that your API can deliver. Understanding the benefits provided will give you better visibility.
For example, if you expect to outsource an endpoint for users to request market data, try to understand how it can be used. Through this information, can whoever is using my API build something of value on their side?
Those who consume your API are not just looking for the infrastructure as an end, but as a means to develop their own solution.
Also, by making your APIs clearly beneficial, you can make your features more attractive and find out what is not working.
Some questions to think about
During the process of defining how to start the process of outsourcing services, you should ask yourself some questions.
- What is the problem that the user or company that will consume my API has?
- What features can provide benefits to those who will use my API?
- How can I make my services available for consuming them?
One of the important things you need to know about is the concept of dependency (which we will talk about in the next article).
Basically, some features depend on others in order to work, and this “chain of needs” can increase the development effort of your first version.
In this first step, look for those features that are in some way more independent than others.
That way, you can build services that deliver value without having to do much development in the first version.
See you in the next chapter.