API Thinking Collective

Focus on an external community: the API thinking collective

This week, I am focusing?on the API Thinking collective. Before explaining to you the reasons for creating this community, I will show you why being part of such a community is important for a company which undertakes a process of appraising its information system or which has already implemented an API approach?

An external collective: for what types of company?

Many companies who?have knocked on the door of the collective began the exchange by apologizing for not having a great api maturity within their organization and thought, wrongly, that it was counterproductive to come to an external collective because their API approach was at the very beginning. My opinion on this subject is?decided on this: It's a?No !! A company that wants to build an API approach has every interest in benefiting from sharing and feedback from other companies that had the same approach a few years ago. This company will then be able to avoid making the same mistakes, saving time, saving resources and therefore saving money!

With that said, let's move on to another type of company, those that have already started an API process. Why join an external community?

?Once the foundations have been laid, whether in terms of governance, design, architecture, or the quantity of APIs present in a catalog, why join an external community since this company has already launched its API approach?

Simply because tomorrow is preparing for today.

To imagine future?services, not to miss potential innovations, to network and expand its network, to capitalize on the initiatives of other companies, there are as many reasons as for a company that has not launched API process.?The reasons are different but are many.

The API Thinking collective, which is an exclusively French-speaking collective, today brings together 85 companies with different levels of maturity (I will not mention names of those who are just starting out and those who are more experienced because it is this richness of companies that are the strength of the collective).

Why did you open the collective to all sectors of activity?

Initiated in May 2020 with the largest French banks, a few aggregators (Tink, Luxhub ..) and fintechs (Smartpush, Skaleet (Tagpay at the time), Particeep ..), an insurer an Insurance company (MAIF) the collective has lived the past year,?2020, focused on the financial services sector. We were happy, but we didn't get married and we didn't have children :)

At the end of 2020, in a plenary session, I submitted to the members a vote on the opening of the collective to all sectors of activity. Absolute unanimity! Members adhered to this opening. Why ? Like me, they found it important to capitalize with other companies, other sectors, which had not waited for European regulations to open their system. Groups?like AirFrance, Total Direct Energy, etc. must also acculturate their employees to the potential of APIs, must also set up API governance, must also communicate internally and externally (if necessary) around their issues, actions, etc.

Gradually, from an idea, we moved to a French-speaking ecosystem with small and large structures, with mature companies or not using API procedures.

?

Year 1

At the dawn of?2021, we started to structure the community (a little). Creation of an internal site (V0), creation of a company page on Linkedin, creation of a Slack for discussion within the collective. Our 1st anniversary was both a pivotal moment and a source of pride.

In the plenary session, the members put forward?their?ideas for a working group, voted for the working group that interested them the most, and registered on these groups.

In collaboration with Onepoint, we launched a survey?on the API maturity of French players.?This was a great idea to measure where each company stands and?the trends of tomorrow.

The website quickly switched to V1 thanks to Léa Davis and the collective continued to shine. We have organized or participated in meet ups with always varied objectives. Highlighting the collective through these events cannot be an isolated objective. Rather, it is necessary to put forward its members without whom this collective would not exist. Freeing up time to attend site meetings, plenary sessions in addition to one's activity. Yes that requires desire, time,?an?hierarchical approval, but above all it is a?technological watch brought to a set.

In the summer, the collective's first partner arrives: Accetal. It will allow us to have an apprentice, fully?dedicated to the collective.

?We have just?celebrated our 1000th Linkedin subscriber in November, we have formed an association. Above all, a new idea sprouted. Created with Accetal, organized in close collaboration with Axway and Enjoy Sharing, France API was unveiled. France API, in April 2022 will be the French event around issues related to APIs in order to reconcile business and IT teams.

We will end the year with 85?companies.??85!

?Next Year

You have understood, the collective evolves day after day. It is structured, expands in quality, sometimes revolves and will deliver value through projects (good practice guides, white papers, etc.). It will allow its members?to shine through meet-up and France API.

The story is not over, there will be surprises, I hope more good than bad, but it isn't me who will write this story?, it is all the members who will write it, together. This is also the strength of a collective. Act together for the benefit of all. For that, thank you to the first members who always believed in the project, thank you to those who were hesitant and who came anyway, thank you to the latest arrivals. Thank you to the working group leaders and finally?thank you to the members of the association bureau.

?

?