A presentation given by Budhaditya Bhattacharya, Developer Advocate at Tyk, at our 2024 Austin API Summit, March 12-13. Session Description: APIs and microservices are powering domain-driven design architectures and have become the fabric of modern cloud-native applications. However, focusing on technology isn't enough - there is a need for a synergy between people, processes, and tools. Based on the CNCF platform maturity model, we will look to bridge the gap between an org's current and desired platform maturity level when creating cloud-native API platforms. We'll discuss: 1. The platform team model - team topologies and key roles for developing internal API platforms 2. Processes like platform discovery, jobs-to-be-done analysis, and continuous feedback loops to understand and meet developer needs 3. Applying a "platform as a product" mindset to measure and communicate platform success 4. Architecting for discoverability, security, observability and integration capabilities 5. The role of technologies like service meshes, API gateway, identity management, internal developer portals and OpenAPI specifications

1. Crafting a cloud
native API platform
to accelerate your
platform maturity

2. Budhaditya Bhattacharya
Developer Advocate, Tyk
Your friendly guide
India, Singapore, USA (Durham)
● Product education, community engagement,
and open-source ecosystem expansion
● Programme instructor - API platform
engineering fundamentals programme
● Host - All About APIs podcast
● Host - API hangout, GraphQL Hangout
● Curator - API Platform engineering
newsletter
● Horror movies & musicals

3. DevOps x Platform engineering
The story so
far…

4. Philosophy of DevOps
EVOLUTION OF DEVOPS
“You build it, you run it!”
(2006)
Move fast, break things, do more with less.

5. The DevOps expectation
PHILOSOPHY OF DEVOPS
● Increased velocity
● Reduced friction
● Shortened feedback loops
● Optimised flow to deliver end-to-end business value
● Continuously experimenting, learning and improving
Source: The Three Ways: The Principles Underpinning DevOps

6. Reality of DevOps
EVOLUTION OF DEVOPS

7. 80%
Incomplete DevOps journey
15+ years into the DevOps revolution,
80% of organizations feel they are only
about halfway through their DevOps
journey
Source - 2023 Puppet State of Platform Engineering report

8. Developer fatigue
REALITY OF DEVOPS
Increased cognitive load = lower
productivity
● Bogged down by infra work
● Shifting left on everything
● Too many tooling choices
● No focus on docs, self service, DevEx

9. Note: Not actual scenes from our customers or Tyk

10. Enter: platform engineering

11. 68%
Development velocity
Increased development velocity
due to platform teams
Source - 2023 Puppet State of Platform
Engineering report
80%
Gartner forecast
By 2026, 80% of software
engineering organizations
will have created a platform
team
Source: Gartner’s platform engineering
forecast

12. But wait…
THE BIG PICTURE
Will history repeat itself?
DevOps —> Platform engineering —> ???
Are we asking the right questions this time? Are we still too
solution focused?

13. The API Platform-as-
a-product Maturity
Model v1.0

14. 1. Assess your team and organisation’s
current maturity level
2. Define where you want to be in the
future
3. Bridge the gap by investing
resources optimally
4. Unite all teams towards a shared
outcome
Why this is important
THE API PLATFORM MATURITY MODEL

15. THE CNCF PLATFORM MATURITY MODEL

16. CNCF Platform engineering maturity model
Platform managers and
decision makers
Platform implementers and
developers
API Platform-as-a-product maturity model

19. Things to keep in mind
THE API PLATFORM MATURITY MODEL
Consider each dimension/pillar independently
No level is inherently good or bad, only contextual to the team’s goals

20. There is one-size-fits-all solution!
- Someone smart (probably)

23. 1. Number of APIs
2. API calls
3. Size of team
4. Number of teams
5. GTM vs incurring tech debt
6. Internal v/s external APIs and API consumers
A few considerations
THE API PLATFORM MATURITY MODEL

24. Evolving your
API platform
maturity =>
The toolkit

25. There are no silver bullets to solve all
your issues!
- Someone smart (but probably not a vampire hunter)

26. The Mindset
EVOLVING API PLATFORM MATURITY

27. Platform as a product
mindset
THE MINDSET
01 Platform as a
product
02 Importance of
DevEx
Shift in organisational culture - combining principles of product
management with platform engineering
Product => IDP
Customer => Developers
Not just an off the shelf, one and done platform - constantly
evolving, growing, streamlining based on user needs

28. Importance of Developer
Experience
DevEx refers to the systems, technology, process, and culture
that influence the effectiveness of software development
Important to listen to developer feedback, build empathy and
identify bottlenecks
Building tools, supported by docs, test constantly
01
02
THE MINDSET
Platform as a
product
Importance of
DevEx

29. The people
EVOLVING API PLATFORM MATURITY

30. Team composition (roles)
A Product Owner
Engineers/ developers
Solution architect
Advocate/evangelist
UX/ DX researcher

31. How teams connect
THE BIGGER PICTURE
API Platform teams API Product developers API Product consumers
Feedback Feedback
Don’t look at your platform team in isolation

32. The processes
EVOLVING API PLATFORM MATURITY

33. Jobs to be done
JTBD
A theory, framework
and perspective on
why consumers
buy/adopt a
product
Source: What is Jobs to be Done (JTBD)?

34. Why you should care
JTBD
● Reveal your customers’ true needs and
desires.
● Develop products that meet needs of
customers better
● Helps forecast how your product will
fare on the market.
● Inform product marketing messaging,
and guide business decisions better

35. Identifying
Jobs to be
Done
JTBD
01. Pains
Identify unmet customer needs.
What pain points do my customers have in
common? What do they currently lack?
02. Gains
Determine customers’ desired outcomes
What is it we are helping customers do or
helping them avoid
03. State, test, refine
Articulate the pains and gains into clear
statements. Use them to build products, test
them with customers and refine based on
reaction/emotion/feedback.

36. Platform teams
Job titles Platform manager, Head of
platforms /platform
engineering, platform
engineer, staff engineer,
DevOps, SRE
Architect and build
a performant,
secure API platform
Scale the API platform
across the org
Govern & optimise
the platform
JTBD

37. ● Communicate goals and objectives
clearly, within and across teams -
create an internal product/platform
roadmap
● Measure effectiveness of platform -
communicate success stories
● Provide clear route for feedback and
communicate how they will be factored
into the platform - eg. discussion forum
Communication & feedback
PROCESS

38. The tools
EVOLVING API PLATFORM MATURITY

39. ● Aim to reduce friction, cognitive load or
both
● May not be a platform at all -
documentation, searchable knowledge
base
● Emphasis on self-service
● Keeps things streamlined
Thinnest Viable Platform
AGILE DELIVERY

40. API platform capabilities
THE PLATFORM TEAM’S TOOLKIT
Discoverability Security Observability Enabling
Integrations

41. API Product capabilities
THE PLATFORM TEAM’S TOOLKIT
Discoverability
Developer
portal
Security
OAuth, IDP,
OPA
Observability
Open
Telemetry
Enabling
Integrations
APIs

42. Bringing it all together
THE PLATFORM TEAM’S TOOLKIT
API
Management

43. 02
03
04
05
01
Mindset - Platform as a product,
importance of developer experience
People - Product management, team
composition and topologies
Process - JTBD, feedback, collaboration
Tools - Discoverability, security,
observability, integrations
Evolving your
API platform
maturity
KEY TAKEAWAYS
05
No one-size-fits-all, no silver bullets

44. Progress, not perfection!
- Denzel Washington (Equalizer)

45. Thank you :)

46. 1. The API Platform Maturity Model: https://tyk.io/blog/the-tyk-api-platform-maturity-
model/
2. The CNCF Platform Engineering Maturity Model: https://tag-app-
delivery.cncf.io/whitepapers/platform-eng-maturity-model/
3. The API Platform Engineering Fundamentals Programme: https://tyk.io/api-
platform-engineering-fundamentals-programme/
4. Try the Tyk API Management Platform: https://tyk.io/sign-up/
Useful resources
THE API PLATFORM MATURITY MODEL

47. API platform
engineering
fundamentals
programme
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