Welcome to this edition of the API product management newsletter, dedicated to helping product teams drive more business value from their APIs and API products.
This week: Examples, examples everywhere! From some of the best Developer Portals out there (and best practices on how to build them), to examples for your target users on why they might use your API product, finished with a resource-filled pack from Jason Harmon of Stoplight.
But first, a reminder! We only include:
- The top 3 most useful resources we’ve come across the two weeks prior. Any more than that, and we find our browser tabs become unmanageable
- What we find personally useful – and digestible – as product and product marketing managers
- Educational content (whether an article, whitepaper or event). No product pitches – that includes yours truly.
💡The good stuff: This week’s API product management links:
8 Developer Portal Best Practices – Nordic APIs
Nordic APIs have been one of my Go-To publications for learning all about APIs ever since starting at Tyk. Their articles are always well-written, succinct and – most importantly – useful. This one from Kristopher Sandovel gives you eight considerations for building a quality developer portal and points you to some examples at the end.
The Shopify ‘Mock Shop’ – Shopify
Speaking of examples, if you find them useful, don’t you think your API users and developers might do too? Never underestimate the value of giving your customers some concrete examples of the types of apps that can be built on top of your Public APIs. Last week we flagged Thoughtworks’ trend on creating user-friendly demo front-ends to increase buy-in internally *and* externally; this week we have a great example from Shopify who recently launched their ‘Mock Shop’. Notice they also put their proposition front-and-centre, just like any other product: ‘High quality commerce data for your storefront’.
How to create an API Product Strategy – Jason Harmon
A jam-packed overview of API strategy from Stoplight’s CTO, Jason Harmon which covers the different facets of API product management. I particularly liked the section of the embedded slide deck on how to get executive buy-in for your API-as-a-Product programme. You have to take that user-focused approach all the way up to the internal C-Suite; key quote here: ‘if you’re not putting the business perspective around why you’re building APIs, it’s really easy to kill it from the management PoV’.
♟️ Looking to make a move? Current API product management vacancies:
Product Manager – Developer Tools – Figma (London)
Product Director – Core Banking – Numi (Hybrid / London)
That’s it for this time. If you found this useful, please consider sharing with someone else who may benefit from it!
💥 Got an article, video or event that belongs on this list? Respond to this email telling us why you think it’s useful to product managers learning about APIs and the API lifecycle. If you’d like a shout-out, please include your Twitter, Github handle or LinkedIn URL and the name you’d like including.
💌 And finally… This newsletter is created by Tyk – API management that accelerates your product development. By signing up to this newsletter you’ll be consenting to receiving the next one (and the one after that), but we will never put you on another list without your *explicit* consent. Read the previous edition here.
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