microservices meetupnz dec16

Digital Economy and APIsAPI Strategy Best Practice

Alex Wilson. CISSPAPI Evangelist and Educator

New Zealand – December [email protected]

2 © 2016 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Reference Material for further reading

Cattle v Pets

https://www.infoq.com/articles/microservices-revolution

Conway

https://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-sailors-microservices

Apple – dog food lesson

http://nordicapis.com/lessons-learned-apples-api-strategy/

API Academy

http://www.apiacademy.co/

https://www.infoq.com/articles/microservices-revolution

https://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-sailors-microservices

http://nordicapis.com/lessons-learned-apples-api-strategy/

http://www.apiacademy.co/


What is a “Web API”?

Technical Definition

• A network-addressable (usually by HTTP) interface that enables state transfer of data representations

Fielding, R. T. (2000). Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm

Cox, J.(2001). Network World. Jan. 29, 2001. Volume 18, No. 5. https://books.google.ca/books?id=dBsEAAAAMBAJ

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm

https://books.google.ca/books?id=dBsEAAAAMBAJ


So what’s the big deal?

http://history.apievangelist.com/

http://history.apievangelist.com/


The Business Value of APIs

It’s not what they are, it’s what they enable


Common Questions

Is this Digital Transformation in action?

How can I leverage this?

How much can I do?


Alignment & Usefulness

Engagement & Usability

Scalability & Evolvability

Manageability & Security

API360: An Enterprise Model for API Success



A company’s APIs should align with its business goals

A company’s APIs should be useful to a target audience


API Strategy Anti-Patterns

• For Open APIs, don’t assume that “if you build it they will come”Faith in the Long Tail

• Don’t start by trying to build the complete set of perfect APIs that will serve every possible consumerService Perfectionism

• Don’t start by picking languages, frameworks and software components

Technological Obsession

• Don’t let single API consumer projects (e.g. mobile) put in long term barriersTunnel Vision


Successful Strategy

Strategy = Goals + Plan + Execution


http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Store-Bezos-Amazon-ebook/dp/B00BWQW73E

Alignment & Usefulness Case Study: Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Store-Bezos-Amazon-ebook/dp/B00BWQW73E


“We don’t make money when we sell things.We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions.”

Idealism Pragmatism

Alignment & Usefulness Case Study: Amazon


Alignment & Usefulness – Key Questions

What are my business goals, and how can APIs help me achieve them?

Do I have funded projects that could benefit from APIs?

What are the gaps in my industry that

can be exploited through APIs?

What business model does my API enable or extend?



A company should focus on engaging its target developers

APIs should be easy for these developers to use


Engagement & Usability Case Study: Twilio



Competition in the communication API

marketplace



Keys to Success

• Aggressive Marketing

• First Mover Advantage

• Focus on usability



•Developer registrations

•TTHW (Time to “Hello World”)

•Developer community activity

API Usability Metrics:


Engagement & Usability – Key Questions

Who are the intended and expected

consumers of my APIs?

How do I attract and retain the right consumers and

developers?

How do I factor my API consumer needs into my API design?

How do I continually enhance the

developer experience (DX) for my API?



APIs should be able to shrink and grow with the business

APIs should be able to change and adapt over time


Good Enterprise Architecture

DO

• Focus on the horizon

• Synthesize multiple perspectives

• Impose appropriate constraints

DO NOT

• Obsess about standardization

• Only care about technology

• Favour model over reality


SOA, APIs & Microservice Architecture (μSA)

Decompose systems into

reusable services. That’s good!

Respect the human element.

That’s new!

Be good at change, be prepared for failure.

That’s novel!


Scalability & Evolvability – Key Questions

What factors will affect the design time scalability of

my APIs?

How should I version my APIs?

What are the technology trends I need to consider for

my APIs?

What are the organizational

constraints that will affect my success?



It should be easy to see and control an API’s activity

An API should only give the right data to the right consumers


Manageability & Security – Key Questions

What metrics do I need for my APIs?

How can I control access to my APIs

without putting up new barriers?

Who are the principals involved in my APIs and how can

I protect privacy?

What new threats do I need to protect against for APIs?


The Five Pillars of API Management

From https://www.ca.com/us/collateral/ebooks/na/5-pillars-of-api-management.aspx

https://www.ca.com/us/collateral/ebooks/na/5-pillars-of-api-management.aspx






SummaryAPI360: An Enterprise Model for API Success

Microservices – What use are they?

Alex Wilson. CISSPAPI Evangelist and Educator


Marc Andreessen

“This is a pattern that we love

to fund:

unbundle X from Y, but then

use the liberation of X as

leverage to do amazing new

things with X.”


«unbundled by»

Remember AOL?


«unbundled by»


Unbundling(the) greatest disruptor of tech industry

“The most unbundled form

of your product portfolio

are your APIs”

– Irakli Nadareishvili. API Academy


“Microservices unbundle

your business for internal and

[controlled] external

disruption”

Lesson


Once upon a time…


Software engineering today…


μ

What are

Microservices?

A microservice is an

independently deployable

component of bounded scope

that supports interoperability

through message based

communications.

Microservice Architecture is

a style of engineering highly-

automated, evolvable software

systems made up of

capability-aligned

microservices.

SmallContinuous

improvementEvolutionary Automated

Loosely

Coupled

Container-

basedConway’s law

Independent

Deployability

Decentralized

Governance

Decentralized

Data

Immutable Message BasedService-

oriented

Products not

Projects

Smart

Endpoints

Dumb Pipes

Bounded in

ScopeModular

Smart

Endpoints

Continuous

Deployment

Asynchronous

Messaging

InteroperableCapability

Aligned

Design for

FailureEvent Based Autonomous

Microservice Complexity

• Microservices are simple

• Microservice systems are complex

A microservice is an independently

deployable component of bounded

scope that supports interoperability

through message based communications.

Microservice Architecture is a style

of engineering highly-automated,

evolvable software systems made up

of capability-aligned microservices.

Service

(micro)

Solution

(macro)

Organization Culture

Process

and

Tools

The Microservices Way

Speed and Safety at Scale

and in Harmony

Examples of Increasing Speed

• Zero bureaucracy, don’t ask for permission

• Zero validation, don’t test anything

• Increase change frequency

• Higher faster programmers

• Use un-constrained languages and tools

• Change production directly

Facebook’s Motto

Move Fast and Break

Things

“

”

Mark Zuckerberg

We want to combine the extraordinary

customer-serving capabilities that are enabled

by size with the speed of movement,

nimbleness, and risk-acceptance mentality

normally associated with entrepreneurial start-

ups.

Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon to be Fast

“

”Jeff Bezos

Amazon 2015 Letter to Shareholders

Examples of Increasing Safety

• Strong governance, control everything

• Always validate, test everything

• Reduce change frequency

• Higher safer programmers

• Use constrained languages and tools

• No access to production environments

Facebook’s Motto (reprised)

Move Fast and Break

Things

“

”

Facebook’s Motto (reprised)

Move Fast and Break

Things

“

”

Move Fast with

Stable Infra

“

”

Facebook’s motto in 2014

Applying the Microservices Way

1. Establish the right boundaries everywhere

2. Build a system that makes change feel easy and safe

3. Implement the right processes and standards

4. Steer the system and measure it

5. Accept that right, easy and safe are a product of time

and context

Thank you!

microservices meetupnz dec16

Technology