INNOQ Technology Lunch: Why “API-first” might not be a good idea

Many enterprise IT departments have become big fans of an “API-first“ strategy. I think that in general, this is a bad idea. When you start with APIs, you really have to have a very good grasp of what that API’s users will need. You typically don’t. Instead, you try to come up with things that will “obviously” be re-usable, and end up with things that are not even useful. Most often, APIs are shaped, and almost always restricted, by the capabilities of underlying systems they encapsulate. That’s great if these are great. They typically aren’t. An API-first strategy assumes that great applications can be built by “just” “orchestrating” the capabilities exposed through APIs. That’s true for some applications, but not for many, and typically not for great ones.

In this talk, I‘ll talk about why you should prefer a strategy for modular application delivery, not only including, but starting from, end-user needs. APIs are a meaningful means to an end for that. Starting with them is going to end badly, independently from your choice of protocol or data format.