Better APIs faster with APIOps Cycles and Lean principles

Marjukka Niinioja via LinkedIn 24th of Oct 2022:

The open, Lean and business-oriented?APIOps?Cycles method was completely rewritten - we got it finalized this week. 5 years of experience using the method by multiple organizations and practitioners has been used well

Why?#API?development needs its own method? What does it have to do with?#Lean? Glad that you asked.

Take the load off, get your favourite cup and instead of diving into your favourite news or social channel, look at the links in the comments. Oh, and more to come extremely soon....

The Oct 2022 release, the most significant overhaul of the APIOps Cycles method in its history, prompted me to write this blog to explain why APIs need their own (Lean) method.

The goal of?Lean management?is to improve so-called cycle time and quality. With Lean API Development and?APIOps Cycles, the open and business-oriented API development method, you can make good APIs in a short time.

Don’t get me wrong; this is not just about good quality, i.e. flawless implementation. It’s about what is better for your business, your customers, your partners and your development teams.

When I started creating APIOps Cycles, I fell in love with Lean management principles.?DevOps, as a technical and cultural practice, has roots in Lean.?APIOps, as a term, has been used mainly for referring to automated API development by using DevOps and API management together.

Those talking about APIOps often aim to create better APIs or at least publish them faster. To achieve proper APIOps focusing on tech doesn’t cut it. You need the right culture, people, processes and design, too.

Lean is a management philosophy and practice that tries to remove “wastes” from the production process.

So why removing the Lean “wastes” is essential for your APIs?

Because waste doesn’t bring any value to the customer. Waste takes away valuable time and resources from the organization. You can produce more value and revenue with the same resources when there is minimal waste.

The eight wastes of Lean and how they affect API development can be found from the full blog at osaango.com

You don’t need to be a Lean enthusiast to use?APIOps Cycles. I just wanted to see how important it is to consider which methods you use to develop APIs.

Feel free to browse the method and follow APIOps or me on Medium, LinkedIn or Twitter (Twitter handle is?apiopscycles). I and my colleagues are available for APIOps Cycles training and workshops or to help your team to make it your own. We also welcome partner organizations to help us support the method and to organize meetups and events.

APIOps and APIOps Cycles are trademarks of Osaango and are allowed to be used in connection with using the APIOps Cycles method distributed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.

Original blog By Marjukka Niinioja, first published by Medium.com