11. On Engagement
• The API Economy is a social phenomenon
• Community management is not optional – invest in people
• Your people may already be good at this
• Hiring gets easier
• Web APIs set the bar for consumability
• APIs can’t build communities
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12. On Design
• Good APIs generate great PR - early adopters as evangelists
• Bad APIs generate a ton of calls to your support organisation
• REST not SOAP (and definitely not WS-*)
• JSON not XML
• API first design encourages service modularity, enabling reuse
• Easy to Learn, Easy to Use, Easy to Extend
• Minimum Progress to Declare Victory. Avoid “Requirement Creep”
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13. “The lumber industry sells what used to be
waste — sawdust, chips, and shredded wood
— for a pretty profit. Today you’ll find these
by-products in synthetic fireplace logs,
concrete, mulch, particle board, fuel, livestock
and pet bedding, winter road traction, weed
killing and more.”
Jason Fried, 37signals
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