API Collaboration - Building APIs Together: a Multi-Player Strategy | ODFP958

0:00ALEX BARNETT: Hi.

0:00My name is Alex Barnett.

0:01I'm Head of Developer Relations at Postman.

0:04And today, I want to share

0:05with you why we believe a collaborative approach

0:08to API development is not just a nice to have but a necessity

0:12for modern software and API development.

0:16Over the last few years, we've seen a shift

0:19from code first to API first.

0:22Meaning where API development was an afterthought to now

0:26where APIs are the foundation of modern software development.

0:31Building APIs before writing of the code has major benefits.

0:35It enables developers that are reliant on those APIs

0:39to be far more productive from the get-go,

0:42as they get to know exactly what the APIs do

0:45and how they work far earlier in the process.

0:48However, as many of you probably know,

0:51API development can be complex and multifaceted.

0:55The task of prototyping, coding, testing, securing,

0:59and documenting, releasing those APIs, are often fragmented

1:04across different tools and teams that can lead to inefficiencies,

1:08miscommunication, and delays.

1:12In traditional software development environments,

1:14silos create barriers to collaboration.

1:18Disconnected tools and processes leads to time consume

1:21and debugging and a lack of coordination between teams.

1:25This results in a lot of manual work,

1:27slowing down developer onboarding, out of date APIs,

1:32and increases the potential

1:33for introducing security vulnerabilities.

1:37And when developers work in isolation,

1:40they miss out on the benefits of collaborative problem-solving

1:43and shared knowledge,

1:45all of which can significantly delay progress

1:48and cause significant quality issues with those APIs.

1:54While a lot of companies today are using products like Postman

1:58to support their daily workflows,

2:00many teams are still using those in a limited way,

2:03where we see individual developers run tests,

2:05save requests, generate API artifacts,

2:09but do so in their own siloed personal accounts.

2:13This is API development in "Single Player" mode.

2:18They're not actually able to share that work easily

2:21with other teammates or partners, and in instead,

2:24they're sharing via importing and exporting source code

2:27and find other archaic ways

2:29to share their APIs and collaborate.

2:33And when see developers build and test APIs in silos,

2:37we often see teams duplicate work,

2:40experience versioning issues, just spend too much time trying

2:44to get up to speed on API assets.

2:46And all of this leads to inefficient API development.

2:49But it doesn't have to be this way.

2:53We need a collaborative approach to API development

2:56because it is the best approach to be able

2:58to overcome those sorts of challenges.

3:00Remember, when it comes down to APIs, you're either producing

3:03or consuming an API, and often both.

3:06And either way, you need to collaborate

3:08with other stakeholders --

3:09front-end and back-end engineers, QA engineers,

3:13product managers, and many other stakeholders.

3:15They should all be able

3:17to easily access the APIs while they're in development

3:21to understand them, provide feedback,

3:23and contribute effectively.

3:25By using a collaborative API development platform,

3:29you're able to design, mock, build, test,

3:32and organize your APIs, documenting as you go along

3:36with your tests and other related API artifacts and do so,

3:41all of that, in one platform.

3:43So here's a datapoint to share that I think speaks to the need

3:47of a collaborative approach to API development.

3:50In Postman's 2024 State of the API Report,

3:54we had over 40,000 developers

3:57and API professionals respond to our survey.

4:00And one of the questions we asked was, "What percent

4:02of the APIs were public, private, or partner APIs?

4:08And the answer we got back was 56% of the APIs

4:12that they're developing are for internal use only.

4:16Up more than 50% in each of the prior two years.

4:19So the first time in three years now,

4:22we're seeing organizations adding private APIs

4:25at a faster rate than public and partner APIs.

4:29So the emphasis on private APIs underscores the need for tools

4:34that help teams catalog, document, and collaborate

4:37on the development of internal APIs for other teams

4:40within their organization and not just the APIs

4:43that they're externalizing for partners

4:46or with the public internet.

4:49So we discussed some of the challenges teams face

4:51and the need for collaborative approach for API development,

4:55and by using a single platform to enable that collaboration,

4:58your teams can experience four significant benefits.

5:02One: Massive acceleration

5:04of API development process throughout the lifecycle

5:08and release cycles.

5:11Improved end-to-end quality of APIs themselves.

5:16The enablement of real-time collaboration

5:18across all the teams involved

5:21and throughout the development lifecycle.

5:23And fourth: Enabling security at scale

5:26with robust governance and compliance.

5:29Let's go into each of these four areas in a little more detail.

5:35So whether you're designing, prototyping, building, testing,

5:38or documenting APIs, your team should be able to do that all

5:41in one place, eliminating the need to juggle multiple tools.

5:46With Postman, you can have a single platform to collect

5:49and organize and share your API requests, making it easy

5:52for teams to discover, share, build, and run tests together,

5:57and ensure that consistency occurs throughout the

6:00development lifecycle.

6:02And this is crucial for avoiding the kinds of errors

6:04that can occur when information is scattered

6:07across different products and platforms,

6:09so that teams can quickly create, execute,

6:12and iterate on those APIs and then reduce the time it takes

6:16to reach that satisfying 200 OK response.

6:22Quality assurance is enabled by the Postman API platform

6:25by continuous testing and early feedback groups.

6:28That means the bugs and vulnerabilities occur early,

6:31well before they hit production, saving time

6:34and reducing the risk of those issues hitting

6:37live environments.

6:39Back-end developers, product managers, they need to be able

6:42to build and share API mocks quickly,

6:47enabling front-end teams to start design in their UI

6:49in parallel and right away.

6:52And it's this parallel workflow that accelerates the development

6:55and improves the overall quality of the final product.

6:59Postman also facilitates smooth editing and communication

7:02of changes to any API, ensuring that everyone is aware

7:06of those updates, preventing rework,

7:08slow progress, and increased costs.

7:13Real-time collaboration

7:15across all the teams involved is crucial.

7:18Workspaces that contain the collections of APIs

7:21and artifacts are able to be shared easily, in a managed way

7:24across your teams and your partners,

7:26whether internal or external.

7:28And Workspaces provide a centralized location

7:32where all your stakeholders can contribute

7:34and access the single source of truth for related APIs,

7:38collections, environments, mocked monitors,

7:41and other linked elements.

7:43And by collaborating this way through a Workspace,

7:47your edits sync with your teams in real time,

7:50ensuring that everyone is aligned

7:51and no critical information is missed or lost.

7:55Workspaces also have a version history and a change log,

7:59enabling you to revert changes to an API collection

8:02and restore it to an earlier point in time.

8:05Team members with different specialized roles therefore can

8:08all collaborate and contribute in real time.

8:13And you want to do all of this while scaling in a secure way.

8:20As your API projects and your teams grow, maintaining security

8:25and compliance becomes increasingly important.

8:28Postman enables secure organization-wide distribution

8:31of APIs.

8:33Sensitive data and credentials are protected,

8:35ensuring that access is tightly controlled

8:38and that your APIs remain secure.

8:41Local data residency options also help you meet regulatory

8:45requirements by keeping your data

8:47within designated geographic regions.

8:50And these governance features are really designed

8:53to protect your APIs while enabling your teams

8:56to work efficiently and at scale as needed.

9:02So those are all the benefits

9:04that Postman customers experience using a collaborative

9:08approach to API development.

9:10Let's have a look at some of the key features that you'll want

9:13to have a look for if you're not already there

9:15that really truly enables Multiplayer Mode and do

9:20so across the development lifecycle.

9:23To set the scene, let's walk

9:24through a typical API development process

9:27where all the players need

9:28to work together throughout the journey,

9:30all the way from definition, design, prototyping, developing,

9:36testing, secure, deploy, observe, distribute.

9:39And the players involved in our process are multiple --

9:43product managers who define the API specs.

9:46The back-end engineers who generate the code for the API

9:51and keep the code in sync with the latest API specs.

9:55The front-end engineers, building the UX

9:58and the user flows over those APIs.

10:00The QA engineers who write and trigger API contractors,

10:05generating report results and who maintain those status.

10:07And the technical writers who create the docs and want

10:11to keep those in sync with their content publishing platforms.

10:14Of course the DevOps teams who automate

10:16and streamline the CICD processes.

10:19Each of these teams must be able to collaborate

10:22across the lifecycle and not just

10:24within their own organizations but often across teams as well

10:29as teams outside of their organizations as well.

10:32And that's a lot of complexity to manage and deal with.

10:36So let's have a look at some of the features

10:39that enable this efficient Multiplayer Mode.

10:45Let's start by introducing API Collections.

10:48So Collections are foundational concepts within Postman.

10:51They're the building blocks of API development.

10:54They allow you to organize a set of requests sent

10:57to API endpoints and include save response

11:01from those requests, along with endpoint authorization times,

11:05parameters, headers, and other details.

11:08Collections enable you

11:09to organize your requests using folders and subfolders according

11:12to your requirements of your API project.

11:15And Collections also include an environment --

11:17a set of variables that you can reuse in your requests

11:20and share with your team.

11:22All of that within a structured, accessible format,

11:25making it easy to share and collaborate with others.

11:28They include version control and change management that are built

11:31into Collections that allows you to be able to track changes

11:34over time, revert to previous versions if necessary.

11:37And that's crucial for maintaining the integrity

11:40of your APIs and ensuring

11:42that changes are implemented systematically.

11:47Those are Collections, so what are Workspaces?

11:49Well, they're the vehicle for collaboration.

11:52You create a workspace and you add your API Collections

11:55in those Workspaces.

11:57And then you invite collaborators

11:59into that workspace, where they can access and interact

12:03with collections immediately.

12:05This reduces the need for back-and-forth communication

12:07and ensures that everybody has access

12:09to the latest information.

12:11By grouping API Collections into Workspaces,

12:14you can then manage access, track changes,

12:17and ensure everyone is working

12:18with the latest current version of the API.

12:22And it's this combination of Workspaces and Collections

12:26that fundamentally changes API development

12:29from a single-player activity

12:32into a multi-player team-based enterprise.

12:35Workspaces are the shared canvas for multi-player teamwork.

12:43So let's talk about different types of Workspaces.

12:45They come in three different types: Public, Private,

12:48and Partner Workspaces.

12:49And each are tailored

12:51to different collaboration scenarios.

12:53Public Workspaces enable publishing of APIs

12:57to the public API network, making those assets

13:00in those Workspaces in the API Collection discoverable

13:04by millions of developers across the internet.

13:08Private Workspaces enable you to share API Collections

13:11within your own private API network for internal teams only,

13:16offering a central directory and making them easily discoverable

13:21as Workspaces and API Collections.

13:24And then we have Partner Workspaces that allow you

13:27to secure collaboration with external partners, enabling them

13:31to be able to consume your APIs, collaborate on API projects.

13:37And each of these workspace types support role-based access

13:41controls so you can ensure

13:43that each collaborator has the appropriate permissions,

13:46maintaining security and order within your projects.

13:49You can manage access, track changes,

13:51and ensure that everyone is working with the latest

13:54and current version of the APIs.

13:57So those are the different kinds of Workspaces,

14:00enabling different collaboration scenarios.

14:03Earlier this year, we introduced Spec Hub,

14:06which transforms how teams are able to work

14:08with API specifications.

14:10So instead of juggling multiple different tools

14:13and manually updating collections, documentation,

14:16and mocks, you can now design, test,

14:18and document those APIs all inside

14:21of one place, inside of Postman.

14:23Spec Hub today supports Open API 3.0 and AsyncAPI 2.0,

14:31relenting validation and live previews to catch issues early.

14:38It keeps your specs organized and version across projects

14:42so that everyone's always working

14:43from the right source of truth.

14:45No more versioning or confusion, and no more overhead.

14:50Just a smoother way to build.

14:55We also introduced Types in Collections, bringing structure

14:59and consistency to your API workflows.

15:02You can define data models for request bodies, parameters,

15:05and headers, and reuse them across your collection

15:07as you design and test.

15:10Types help you catch schema mismatches early,

15:13reduce duplication, and keep your documentation accurate

15:19as your API evolves.

15:21With built-in validation also complete

15:23and faster feedback loops, it's easier to stay aligned

15:28and ship with confidence.

15:38When you're troubleshooting and building APIs, it can be tough

15:42to share the relevant context with your team and also stay

15:45in the loop about changes as they happen.

15:48With Postman's app for Microsoft Teams, teams can now keep on top

15:53of those changes in Postman.

15:55With channel notifications, they get helpful context,

15:58such as details and what's changed

16:00and a link to the change log.

16:03You can take quick Postman actions

16:05without leaving your chat tool, such as adding a comment

16:09or watching a solution.

16:11And you get a 200 OK response faster with support

16:15from your team by sharing response links in Teams,

16:19which immediately shows if the response was successful,

16:23and if not, what kind of error has occurred.

16:27The Postman app delivers more context

16:29about when Postman links are shared and makes it possible

16:33to add Postman resources to post without leaving Teams.

16:37It's easier to reference specific Postman Requests,

16:42Collections, and Workspaces in Team exchanges

16:45when you don't have to leave the conversation

16:47to track down the link.

16:49Users who have added Postman app can search

16:52and share Postman resources as part of their post

16:55in Teams chats and channels via the message extension feature

17:01that is unique to the Microsoft Teams application.

17:06Developers often struggle to collaborate while altering tests

17:10and manage changes between code and Postman.

17:13And by integrating GitHub in Postman,

17:15we can seamlessly manage code changes

17:18within Postman Collections by syncing with GitHub

17:22in real time, plus the ability to explicitly put in changes.

17:27And you can also improve collaboration

17:29and review processes with the ability to review PR changes

17:32in Postman using visual diffs for improved visibility.

17:36And those two features are now new.

17:40They're in beta and you can try them out for yourself.

17:44You can also trigger Postman Collections as GitHub actions

17:49within those pipelines

17:50and manually backup collections to GitHub.

17:54We'd love to hear your feedback if you try it

17:56out on the integration.

17:57And we're going to continue to add more features to solve

18:02for additional use cases soon.

18:05Now, gaps between API specs

18:07and then actual behavior are not only frustrating for developers

18:11and users but also can be very costly.

18:14Closing that gap between your API's build

18:17and runtime will soon be much smoother

18:19with the upcoming integration

18:21with Azure API Management, which is coming soon.

18:25With this app, developers and testers will be able

18:27to import a collection and environment variables

18:30from their old API gateway to streamline testing

18:34and debugging processes for deployed APIs.

18:37And this is just the beginning.

18:38We're continuing to invest in extensibility

18:40to make additional use cases available soon.

18:43So let's recap on the four benefits

18:45of using a collaborative approach to API development.

18:48One: It accelerates development and deployment

18:51through easy discoverability, sharing, mocking,

18:54and building together, managing multiple projects,

18:57and integrating with other tools and services.

19:00Two: It improves API quality and reduces errors

19:03by enabling continuous testing, mocking, and debugging,

19:07all together as teams.

19:10Three: It harnesses real-time collaboration

19:13by organizing API Collections within Workspaces,

19:17contributing together,

19:18facilitating clear communication among team members

19:22and stakeholders and external partners.

19:25And four: It scales for growing teams and organizations,

19:29enabling robust governance and compliance

19:32and safeguarding security and privacy

19:35with local data residency.

19:37So with that, I thank you very much

19:39for watching this presentation.

19:41And if you've got any feedback,

19:43please share it in the link below.

19:45Thank you.