API Maturity Model: A Step-by-step Approach

As explained in the introduction organizations often ask us to increase their API maturity. This is not such an easy assignment because you need to change the daily behaviour and thinking of your organization. We believe you need to increase the maturity by using a step-by-step approach. Each step has its role in increasing the maturity in your organization. For example, you can not start to roll out your API framework in the complete organization before you have convinced your management or leads. This approach is translated in six stages.

We identify six phases, each with their own objective:

• Organic: limited set of developers start developing REST API’s in their solution to realise ad-hoc project needs (e.g. API’s for a mobile application). There is no central steering or governance, it grows organically based on the realised projects.
• Initiating: in this phase the organization wants to validate the architecture and technology viability with a single confined case according to established success criteria. Very often a specific team consisting of different profiles (from business to infrastructure people) is composed to execute the POC. The purpose is to convince the future leads of the API initiative.
• Exploratory: in this stage we are testing the first version of our API framework in a number of pilot projects. The results of these projects will be used to convince the future sponsors (business and IT) of the API initiative.
• Emerging: after updating the API framework with the experience of the pilot projects, the API initiative will grow further by selecting believer projects or parts of the organization.
• Systematic: the lessons as learned in the emerging phase will lead to the first complete version of the API management framework. This framework will now be rolled out in the complete organization.
• Optimized: the API initiative and framework needs to be improved continuously. This stage embeds the continuous improving and learning cycle.

For each of the stages, we have described the different parts of our API management framework as well the scope and objective.

In order to move from one stage to another stage some conditions must be met. In this way we prevent organizations to move too early to the following stage:

• Gate 1 | (organic initiating):
  • Someone in the architecture or integration team must take the lead in initiating the API initiative and POC.

• Gate 2 | (initiating exploratory):
  • The POC must be ended successfully
  • API management platform should be selected
  • Future leads of API initiative must be convinced
  • Basic ideas of API strategy must be present (what do we want to achieve with the initiative)

• Gate 3 | (exploratory emerging):
  • Pilot projects (or part of them) should be ended successfully
  • API management platform capabilities should be production ready and supported API strategy must be established & validated
  • API framework must be ready for first roll out

• Gate 4 | (emerging systematic/standardized):
  • API framework and platform should be confirmed (or adapted) for complete roll out
  • Believer projects (or part of them) should be ended successfully

• Gate 5 | (systematic/standardized optimized):
  • Roll out in organization should be finished almost completely
  • Organization and processes for optimization should be put in place

In the final stage of the maturity model, the focus is on improvement. Implementing further optimisations of the established framework in the standardized stage. When an organization wants to introduce a big improvement or change, this will not be enough. You need to retake some of the stages again. For example if your strategy changes from internal to public, your framework and platform should be revised. In this case you better start your maturity journey again from initiating stage.