APIs: The unseen bridge in digital products for non-tech people

Imagine you’re in a bustling restaurant. You, the customer, are seated at a table with a menu full of delicious options to order. The kitchen is where all the dishes are prepared. But there’s a challenge: you cannot walk into the kitchen to get your food. So, how do you ensure your chosen dish reaches your table? Enter the waiter, who takes your order and brings the dish from the kitchen to you. In the digital world, this waiter is analogous to what we call an API.

API: Breaking down the acronym

API stands for Application Programming Interface. That’s quite a mouthful, and if you’re not from a technical background, it might sound intimidating. But let’s break it down with our restaurant analogy:

• Application (The Restaurant): This is any software application you might use, from your favorite shopping app to the weather app on your phone.
• Programming (Ordering a Dish): This refers to the act of one software application “ordering” some data or functionality.
• Interface (The Waiter): This is the method or the protocol by which the “order” is communicated and delivered.

APIs through the lens of daily life

1. The Restaurant Scenario:
   • Scenario: Imagine you’re at a restaurant. You, seated with a menu, want a dish from the kitchen.
   • API Analogy: The waiter, taking your order to the kitchen and bringing back your dish, acts as the API, bridging your request with the kitchen’s response.
2. The Library Scenario:
   • Scenario: Picture visiting a library. You want a specific book, but you don’t know where it is.
   • API Analogy: The librarian, who checks the system and directs you to the book’s location, functions as the API. They connect your request to the library’s vast collection.
3. The Mail Scenario:
   • Scenario: Think about sending a letter via the post office. You drop your letter into the mailbox.
   • API Analogy: The postal service, which sorts, routes, and ensures your letter reaches its destination, acts like an API. It’s a system connecting senders and receivers.
4. The Vending Machine:
   • Scenario: You’re at a vending machine, wanting a snack. You select a code corresponding to your desired item.
   • API Analogy: The internal mechanism, which reads the code and dispenses the correct snack, operates like an API. It interprets your request and delivers the result.
5. The Radio Scenario:
   • Scenario: You’re tuning your radio to a specific frequency to listen to a station.
   • API Analogy: The radio’s internal circuitry, which catches the frequency and plays the station, acts like an API. It connects your tuning action to the broadcasted station.

Why do product teams need APIs?

Imagine wanting to integrate a weather forecast feature in a travel app. Instead of building a whole new weather system, the travel app can simply “ask” (or call) a weather app for this information. This is done using the weather app’s API, which provides the necessary data in a readable format.

Real-life Example: Ever noticed how you can sign into a myriad of apps and websites using your Google or Facebook account? That’s made possible thanks to APIs. The app you’re trying to sign into “asks” Google or Facebook to verify your credentials and, once verified, lets you in.

APIs: The universal language of applications

Think of APIs as translators. If two software applications are from different “countries” and speak different “languages”, the API acts as a bilingual translator ensuring both understand each other.

Real-life Example: Travel websites like Expedia or Kayak allow you to compare flight prices from various airlines. These platforms don’t manually check each airline’s website. Instead, they use APIs to fetch real-time data from all these different airline systems, each with its unique “language”, and present it to you in a consistent format.

Benefits for product teams

1. Efficiency and Speed: Instead of building functionalities from scratch, product teams can leverage APIs to integrate features quickly.
2. Scalability: As user demands grow, APIs can help expand functionalities without the need for major changes in the app.
3. Innovation: By utilizing external APIs, product teams can offer users new features and integrations that they might not have the resources to build themselves.

In Conclusion: Embracing the power of APIs

Understanding APIs doesn’t require one to dive deep into the technicalities. It’s about grasping the concept of this digital intermediary. For product teams, APIs are like a magical bridge, connecting the functionalities and data of one realm to another, opening up endless possibilities for enhanced user experience and innovation.

In our restaurant of the digital world, while the kitchen, the dishes, and the menu are all pivotal, it’s the waiter – our unsung hero (the API) – that ensures everything runs smoothly and efficiently.