There were stories told and work done on API Evangelist this week—I needed the distraction. However, this newsletter is about summarizing where my head is at each week, and this was a week dominated by the presidential election in the United States. Clearly Americans feel they need a strong-man in this digital moment we find ourselves drowning in. So, as I write this newsletter I find myself asking, what does API governance mean in an authoritarian world powered by Internet technology?
When it comes to API governance, nothing changes for me, and everything changes in the same dizzying motion. The work is the same, but I know that I need to be mindful about the overall messaging and tone of my storytelling. With this in mind I want to work through what API governance means for the next four years in this edition and shape what my post election guidance will be. When I see people en masse vote economically with their gut, I am motivated to approach my storytelling from the heart and mind, while also still being honest with where most people will be coming from in this anxiety filled moment in time.
How Will People See API Governance?
There are already a lot of misconceptions when it comes to how people see API governance. People conflate it with security, compliance, regulation, standards, risk, and many other areas—they are not entirely wrong. While this confusion will get worse in some areas, API governance is already a minefield. The biggest shift I think we will see is that people will increasingly think governance is just just about telling people what to do and not about optimizing the overall enterprise engine, or equipping and educating people with what the need along the way.
My approach to API governance already takes a lot of this confusion into consideration. The way I approach crafting API governance policies and rules, as well as supporting guidance can be tailored to how you run your business and operations. If you want to be more heavy-handed and authoritarian about it—I can make that happen. If you want to educate teams and give them a voice in the process—I can make that happen. In the end, it is your business, and I just have the strategies, policies, rules, and guidance that you can implement—you are responsible for the tone as well as the outcomes.
Where Will People See API Governance?
API governance exists in a mix of locations that will impact businesses and shape how they respond to the market being defined by the current administration. Similar to how people see API governance, they will picture that it occurs in some very different places—which will expand or limit the impact API governance has on their operations. Most people will associate API governance with external forces like industry, standards, and regulation. While others will believe API governance is just about enterprise command and control. In reality it is D) All the Above. Where people see API governance will color what they believe will expand or go away in the current climate.
I will lighten my storytelling on the industry and regulatory areas of API governance, while maintaining similar levels to yesterday in how I talk about Internet standardization, and I will go all in on enterprise API governance—localizing the desire for command and control. This doesn’t mean I won’t still be a champion for industry or regulatory areas of API governance, it just means I am more subversive, and coded in how I approach these discussions, as they won’t be popular themes. I suspect that financial and healthcare regulation that we’ve seen gain traction in the last four years will struggle and slow, but not be entirely abandoned—only to be reborn in the next administration.
How Will People Talk About API Governance?
I think governance will continue to become a bad word for most. It already is. Does this mean that we should stop using the word? No. As I’ve explained before, I see governance as equal parts about governing people and the machine. If you see API governance as about regulation and industry compliance, you won’t want to use the word. If you see governance as about performance, efficiency, velocity, and other market-driven aspects of operations—you will use the word. Sadly, if people see API governance as about telling people what to do and automating people out of work, then they will probably also continue using the word.
I will keep using the word governance, capital Governance as well as lower case governance. I see it as about governing (guiding) people as well as the speed of business and markets. I will champion the usage of governance in this way, even though I will understand how and why people shy away from it in this authoritarian moment. I believe in Internet, government, industry, and enterprise API governance all in the same balanced forward motion. I believe API governance is outside-in as well as inside-out. I will continue to speak about API governance as about governing the velocity of the enterprise engine, but with an emphasis on the people who power the engine.
Which People Will Care About API Governance?
Most people didn’t care about API governance before the election and most people will not care after the election. I suspect fewer business leaders will care about API governance in any holistic, strategic, or meaningful way. There will be some middle managers who are trying to do the right thing, but they will continue to get chewed up and spit out by the enterprise engine without the proper support. People on the ground floor won’t care about governance, but they will care about having the guidance and support they need to not be ground up and able to keep their jobs—this is where I will be focusing my energies.
I don’t think I will be telling too many stories that speak to business leadership about API governance strategies. I will be continuing to translate the tactical aspects of API governance into the experiences that business leadership will care about, and drop a story here or there to try and reach people who still want to do the hard work centrally to govern the enterprise. However, most of my stories about API governance will be in the form of guidance and enablement for the average enterprise worker who is just trying to keep their job, is interested in doing the work, but won’t always be tuned into the big picture.
Why Am I Continuing to Evangelize API Governance?
Nothing changes for me and why I evangelize API governance. A) I need to make a living, and I am good at this. B) I believe strongly that the only way we will survive in a digital world, whether it is authoritarian or not, requires that we are in control over the technology that surrounds us and work to ensure it is as visible and as transparent as possible. Understanding the machine, algorithms, and models that power the machine, and forcing companies to operate outside of the shadow of enterprise operations whenever possible is how we keep the focus on the human beings amidst the economic engine everyone seems so captivated by. I don’t think we are going to win, but we can survive if we keep the inner workings of the machine visible and do our best to prevent the human beings from being chewed up and spit out by technology.
My work on API governance will primarily from the bottom-up. I will still plant seeds, tell stories, and work to blow smoke up the back door about API governance from the top-down, but I believe bottom-up is where I can have the greatest impact and not lose my soul. I envision a literate and equipped army of people who see APIs, are able to effective build them, reverse engineer them, and leverage them in a variety of applications (not just AI). The reason I want this won’t always align with enterprise leadership, but sometimes it will. Ultimately, time will tell how and where I make my money doing this, but I will lead with my heart and mind on this, and I believe the economics of it will come along the way.
I am not as troubled about this administration as I was in 2016. I actually think the damage will be greater this round, but personally and professionally I think I am in a better place to evangelize and resist what is happening. While I think there is a lot of uncertainty in the air because of the path we’ve taken with Internet technology, education, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and politics, but I am ready to be part of the resistance. I worry about the world my queer daughter has to adult in, my heart aches for my friends of color, and I am so very, very, very sad for how we see women in this world. With that said, I am hopeful that we will find our way through this moment, and we will find renewed energy for the things that matter to our physical selves, which will help translate into healthier versions of our digital self along the way.
If you ever need someone to talk to in this moment, I am here, and you don’t have to do this alone. Reach out!
