Introducing The API Lifecycle
summary
Compares APIs to SaaS and traditional products, frames the lifecycle as analyze → build → operate → retire, and urges documentation first with mock APIs and tools like Swagger and readme.io; recommends API management for access control (OAuth/API keys) and continuous logging/metrics. Cites Overview news as an example of docs-driven design and a real encoding-bug that required preserving broken behavior until a new version. Warns that machines are not flexible, shows YouTube’s v2→v3 deprecation as a case for careful versioning and long migration windows.
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chapters (18)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:46Traditional Products
- 2:07Software as a Service
- 3:50Building Blocks
- 4:31Machines are not flexible
- 5:18API Lifecycle
- 5:57Who? How? What?
- 6:54Validate
- 7:59Development
- 8:19Access Control
- 9:04Documentation
- 10:20Manage Changes
- 11:18Operations
- 11:38Marketing
- 14:10Continuous Updates
- 14:43Retire
- 16:31Versioning
- 17:30Deprecate
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