I have been wanting to sit down with Dave for a while now, but I needed to spend more time with Vaccuum to understand where it would fit into my world of API governance. I did that, and then finally got to sit down with Dave Shanley of Princess Beef Heavy Industries, and creator of Vacuum, OpenAPI Doctor, and other important OpenAPI tooling. I finally got the full background of why he felt Spectral was falling short when it came to linting our API specifications, and it was much more than just about speed. I left our conversation with a head full of ideas and a bunch of notes on what is next for API governance and rules, and need to have Dave back talk about OpenAPI Doctor, libopenapi, and his other great work.

My friend Emanual had tagged me in one of Reza's posts on LinkedIn about API integrations being dead, so I invitied Reza to come over and explain more about what he meant. I knew the title was bait, but I was interested in hearing Reza's argument and after the conversation it is clear that he's done a lot of thinking at this intersection and wasn't just adding to the AI hype. It was interesting to hear the reasoning for signalling a shift in how we see and abstract away the work APIs are doing, and it was validating to hear that governance will play an important role in KILLING API integrations. ;-)

Ben Hutton of the Guild came by to talk about his recent LinkedIn thread about APIs vs SDKs. The topic is an evergreen one that brings out all of the opinions and I enjoy talking with Ben about it to get his pragmatic view of things. Ben has a lot of experience as a software engineer and working on the JSON Schema specification, which I think gives him unique perspective on what is needed when it comes to integrating with APIs. Ben was on my team at Postman, but we are now collaborating on helping people understand the importance of getting their enterprise schema house in order. Thanks for coming by Ben, and I am looking forward to further unpacking what enterprises are needing from schema to SDKs in future conversations.

Lorna Mitchell, OpenAPI Specification Maintainer with the OpenAPI Initiative, and overall API experience expert came by again, this time to talk about the intersection of OpenAPI extensions and experience. I would say our conversation also intersects with the last conversation I had with her about OpenAPI overlays, but focuses on the need to extend the spec to meet the needs around specific experiences, which may or may not be better addressed with overlays. It is all a very fascinating and ever evolving aspect of the OpenAPI spec world, and I am thankful to have someone so close to the spec to talk through and learn from at the intersection of OpenAPI extensions, overlays, and API experience.

Claire Barrett, Digital strategist at APIsFirst came by to talk with me about the realities on the ground with APIs in large enterprises and the increasing chatter regarding the return on investment APIs. Claire's view of things is what API service providers should be tuning into when it comes to aligning product with engineering, treating APIs as a product, and making sense of the real world things business leadership are looking for. I'm thankful for Claire's perspective, but also all the work she does around APIDays, and Women in APIs, but also just being outspoken about the business value of being API-first.

Lorna Mitchell, OpenAPI Specification Maintainer with the OpenAPI Initiative, and overall API experience expert came by to educate me (us) on OpenAPI Overlays, helping contrast with the core OpenAPI spec, as well as with Arazzo Workflows, sharing how it will help bring more stakeholders into the API lifecycle and contribute to better API experiences. Lorna is a well spring of knowledge when it comes to OpenAPI, but also other specifications, as well as Spectral and other approaches to governing APIs, and she'll be coming back shortly to help educate us all about the intersection of overlays with extensions and how it all will change API experience.

Henry Calvert, Global Head of Future Networks at GSMA came by to talk about the GSMA Open Gateway, a suite of APIs the GSMA Open Gateway global initiative aims to drive the exposure and monetization of telecommunication networks through APIs and federation. The GSMA launched the Open Gateway APIs under the Linux Foundation in a project called CAMARA, and you can find all the OpenAPI specifications for the APIs on GitHub. The GSMA looks to have taken a pretty savvy balance between what developers are looking for, telco business leadership, but also government regulators, making for another interesting attempt to modernize telco networks using a standardized API-first approach.

Asanka Abeysinghe, CTO at WSO2 came by for a conversation about the realities on the ground within enterprises when it comes to the platformication of all things, from Internet Developer Portals (IDP) to API platforms. Asanka has been at this a while, and he and I have been discussing the realities of API management for years, and we share a lot of the same views when it comes to the expansion and evolution of our space, but more specifically how do we keep providing what is needed on the ground for teams, no matter what vendor sales cycle or trend we might find ourselves in.

Greg Dennis who was on my team at Postman, and part of my master plan to spend as much VC money as I could on open source API technology, came by to share his expert view on the diff between HTTP APIs and programming language library APIs. Greg is one of the caring souls who are tending to the JSON Schema specification, and has extensive experience developing and maintaining his .NET JSON Schema library--json-everything. Greg is learning more about HTTP API design these days, but I find his view of the art of programming language library API maintenance important, and something that helps expand, color, and shape my views as an HTTP API craftsperson.

My friend from Postman days Ian Mai came by to talk about addiction and impulse control with me. This isn't your average API conversation, but neither is my podcast, and I am all about sharing my own struggles, while also giving friends a platform to help others with their battles. I appreciate Ian's honesty in his own struggles with addiction and trying to find balance, and wanted to learn more about why he left Postman, and why he said he was leaving tech. I don't see Ian as leaving tech, I think he'll continue to help us all find our way, and be there for anyone who hits the wall or drives into the ditch, as most everyone will experience at one time or another. I always cherished Ian's energy, and think this is the perfect role for him and his boundless enthusiasm.