Hope: He’s in the system.
Luis: I’m in the system?
Dave: You’re in the system!
Luis: The system?
Hank: We’re doomed.
– Ant Man, 2015
“System” is one of the most overused and overloaded terms in technology. Data is stored in “the system”. Applications run on “the system”. Operators manage a distributed “system”. It has become so ingrained in the IT vernacular that we don’t even think about its meaning.
In order to continuously deliver software that is shaped by user feedback, it is better to think of the resulting solution as a long-living product than a time- and budget-bounded project.
As the API economy matures, not only are more and more companies publishing their digital services through APIs; an increasing number of organizations are working together to deliver API-based products that are mutually beneficial for themselves, and valuable for their collective customers.
O’Reilly Media published its first book on API management in December of last year. I sat down with the book’s authors to explore some of the core concepts of the book.
One of the debates that’s been smoldering since the microservices movement began is how microservices should communicate with one another.
Software architects can often conflate the different types of API call coordination. To help address this pitfall, see the classification system I use.
IT is moving away from an exclusively operations-focused role into more of a central business role, setting the stage for success in the digital age.
