API Management architecture and REST APIs best practices
API Management is the set of processes intended to define the REST APIs goals, follow the defined lifecycles (for example: design, implement, test, publish, decommission), facilitate the onboarding processes for the API Consumers and keep track of the API consumption and the API Economy adoption.
API Management Reference Architecture is a facilitator to guide development, standardization and evolution of REST APIs, and it is intimately linked to API implementation and adoption.
I have worked in different API Management projects for the last years helping companies define and establish their API Strategy and crafting their API Management Reference Architecture.
Other well know facilitator for the API Economy, is the adoption of REST API design best practices. Well design APIs typically have certain advantages like:
- Easy to understand and consume
- Hard to misuse
- Clear to implement
- Fast performance
- Reliability
- Scalability
My view on best practices is that typically is a document stored on a drawer, say e-drawer if you prefer, so I typically focus on the needed processes to ensure that API Design best practices are met. This leads to facilitate the API Economy adoption and the industrialization of the entire API Implementation cycle.
If you have any doubt, or you want to share your view, you can always contact me.