For some organizations digital transformation is “buzzword whack-a-mole”: they chase hype after hype, implement digital platform after platform but never invest enough to really be successful. One of these strategies that I’ve seen up close recently is the “spray & pray API strategy”: build loads of API services and then sell them on an API marketplace. But it is not clear what exactly the product portfolio is, what market is being targeted, or even who the customers will be… If you build it, they will come - right? Developer portals can be the backbone for a digital transformation initiative. Providing an interface of interfaces that allows you to build digital platforms, plugin marketplaces, API ecosystems, service aggregators, and procurement switchboards. But to be successful, you need a strategy - your developer portal needs to be more than a dumping ground for API documentation. In this talk Kristof will share an overview of the different types of developer portals he is currently aware of, and the types of digital transformation tactics they enable. He will use a complexity & systems lens to explain what he thinks is driving the need for digital transformation. Finally, he will explore a deliberate complexity architecture inspired by biology, that organizations can use to become more resilient & adaptive while maintaining efficiency.

1. Beyond API Spray & Pray
Devportals in Digital Transformation
Kristof Van Tomme
co-Founder/CEO
PRONOVIX
1
@kvantomme
kristof@pronovix.com

2. 2
DEVELOPER
PORTALS ARE
MORE THAN
REFERENCE
DOCS
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

3. 3
DEV PORTALS
ARE A
SELF-SERVICE
HUB FOR
YOUR APIS
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

4. 4
YOUR DEV
PORTAL
ALSO PLAYS
A KEY ROLE
AS A TRUST
SIGNAL
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

5. THE PROBLEM
5@kvantomme -

6. 6
SPRAY AND
PRAY
DOESN’T
WORK
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

7. 7
A
DEVPORTAL
SHOULD BE
INTERFACE
FOR YOUR
DIGITAL
TRANSFOR-
MATION
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

8. 8
A GREAT
DEVPORTAL
SHOULD BE
LIKE A
TOOLBOX WITH
DIFFERENT
COMPART-
MENTS FOR
DIFFERENT
BUILDING
BLOCKS
Pronovix confidential and proprietary
Matthias Buescher
Deutsche Bank

9. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
9@kvantomme -

10. paperless documents
10@kvantomme -
ERPCRM
APIs AI
Industry 4.0
Agile
DevOpsOpen Source
InnerSourcing

11. Digital transformation is about
2 macro-economic shifts:
11@kvantomme -

12. 12
The only consultancy in the world dedicated to devportal development?
Pronovix confidential and proprietary

13. 13Pronovix confidential and proprietary

14. 14
OUR EXPERIENCE
@kvantomme -14@kvantomme -

15. 15
AWARD WINNING
DEVPORTAL
CONSULTANCY
Pronovix is a 45+ people
agency dedicated to
developer portals
@kvantomme -@kvantomme -15@kvantomme -

16. EVENTS
IN 2019
API The Docs
Amsterdam
10-11th October

17. 17
DEVPORTAL
AWARDS:
GALA EVENT
NOVEMBER,
AMSTERDAM

18. DISTILL,
SHARE, &
RESEARCH
DEVELOPER
PORTAL
BEST
PRACTICES
18Pronovix confidential and proprietary

19. Digital transformation is about
2 macro-economic shifts:
19@kvantomme -

20. 20
PHYSICAL PROXIMITY DIGITAL PROXIMITY
@kvantomme -20@kvantomme -@kvantomme -20@kvantomme -
1. Replacing physical proximity
Matthias Biehl
UBS, API University

21. DELIVERING
DIGITAL
PROXIMITY
21
Provide contextualized integrated customer
experiences
1) Expose services through Digital interfaces
2) Enable the experience you couldn’t build,
or didn’t know you needed through APIs
3) Developer experience: make it easy to
build additional experiences
4) Developer marketing - do developers
know you are part of their puzzle?
(discoverability, findability, SEO)
@kvantomme -

22. SEEMINGLY STATIC
UNMISTAKABLY DYNAMIC
2222@kvantomme -
2. Dealing with market complexity

23. Rising
complexity
means that
industrial age
companies
organized as
complicated
systems no
longer work
(Cynefin framework)
COMPLEX
Enabling constraints
Loosely coupled
probe-sense-respond
Emergent Practice
COMPLICATED
Governing constraints
Tightly coupled
sense-analyse-respond
Good Practice
CHAOTIC
Lacking constraint
De-coupled
act-sense-respond
Novel Practice
OBVIOUS
Tightly constrained
No degrees of freedom
sense-categorise-respond
Best Practice
DISORDER
23@kvantomme -@kvantomme -23@kvantomme -

24. Complex
Adaptive Systems
are a group of
interacting
agents, that adapt
to complexity in
the environment
with complex
adaptive
emergent
behaviour
24@kvantomme -24@kvantomme -

25. Hypothesis:
“Through your
developer
community a
devportal can
help you tune
your company
for increased
complex
adaptive
behaviour”
25@kvantomme -25@kvantomme -

26. DEVPORTAL TYPES
26@kvantomme -

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1. Ecosystem devportal

28. 28
1. Ecosystem devportal examples
Internal devportal mockups as presented at API the Docs Chicago by Darren Shelcusky from
Ford Motor Company
@kvantomme -

29. 29
1. Ecosystem devportal
29@kvantomme -
RESILIENCE, ADAPTIVITY
● Level of constraint: mixed
● Network: de-centralized
● Market focus: internal, industry
● Business model: strategic

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2. Platform devportal

31. 31
2. Platform devportal examples
Screenshot of Nexmo’s devportal
Screenshot of Stripe’s devportal
@kvantomme -

32. 2. Platform devportal
32@kvantomme -
MAKE SOMETHING HARD EASY
● Level of constraint: open
● Network: centralized
● Market focus: enablement
● Business model:
transaction/subscription

33. 33@kvantomme -
3. Apps/integration devportal

34. 34
Screenshot of Xero’s App marketplace
Screenshot of Wordpress’ Plugins marketplace
3. Apps/integration devportal
examples
@kvantomme -

35. 3. Apps/integration devportal
35@kvantomme -
WHOLE PRODUCT STRATEGY
● Level of constraint: highly
● Network: centralized
● Market focus: no-code extensions
● Business model: referral,
subscription cut

36. 36@kvantomme -
4. Digital marketplace

37. 37
Uber’s
Airbnb’s digital marketplace
4. Digital marketplace examples
@kvantomme -

38. 4. Digital marketplace
38@kvantomme -
TRANSACTION LASER FOCUS
● Level of constraint: complete
● Network: centralized
● Market focus: Narrow focus
● Business model: Monopolistic
market power

39. 39@kvantomme -
A digital marketplace
is not a devportal!

40. 40@kvantomme -
● A developer’s intent is not to “buy an API”,
but to solve a very specific problem
● Devportals are specialty boutiques in a
shopping mall, not commodity markets
● APIs are infrastructure, not transactions
Can an API marketplace work?

41. 41@kvantomme -
5. Market edge devportals

42. 5. Market edge devportals
42@kvantomme -
TRANSACTION LASER FOCUS
● Level of constraint: medium
● Network: edge
● Market focus: Narrow focus
● Business model: cut on
monetisation, Future aggregator

43. 43
PROBLEM SPACE PROXIMITY
43@kvantomme -@kvantomme -43@kvantomme -@kvantomme -
REGULATORY PROXIMITY

44. 44@kvantomme -
6. Procurement devportals

45. 6. Procurement devportals examples
45
Bahn.de procurement devportal
@kvantomme -

46. 6. Procurement devportals
46@kvantomme -
OPTIMISATION & RESILIENCE
● Level of constraint: high to
guarantee interchangeability
● Network: reverse platform
● Market focus: competing vendors
● Business model: vendor cost
management

47. 6. Procurement devportals -
autonomous APIs?
47
Superface -
https://superface.ai
/autonomous-apis
@kvantomme -

48. 48@kvantomme -
But what are we really
building?

49. 49
PLATFORM
SUPPORTED BY
AN INTERNAL ECOSYSTEM

50. 50@kvantomme -
CAS architecture
guiding principles

51. 51@kvantomme -
APIs are signal-boundary
systems
1. Separate services behind APIs to
break them free from silo
constraints.
2. Improve adaptivity through faster
information cascades in smaller
teams.

52. 52@kvantomme -
The principle of deliberate
complexity:
“Alternate layers of high and low
constraints in systems, to maximize
both adaptivity and efficiency”

53. 53@kvantomme -
Conway’s law:
“Any organization that designs a system
(defined broadly) will produce a design
whose structure is a copy of the
organization's communication structure.”
=> Reshape the structure of an
organization’s communication system to
change its structure

54. STIGMERGY
Building value
streams in a
distributed way
54@kvantomme -

55. Thank you!
55@kvantomme -

56. Developer portal mailing list
bit.ly/devportals
56Pronovix confidential and proprietary

57. 57@kvantomme -

58. 58@kvantomme -

59. 59@kvantomme -

60. 60@kvantomme -

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63. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bookshelf.jpg
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ruins_of_Governor%27s_Bungalow_2,_Jaffna.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_paw_under_the_ear_trick._classic_basset_hound_manipulation..jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Honeypot_ants_(Myrmecocystus_mimicus)_at_Oakland_Zoo.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Road_in_nepal_after_earthquake.jpeg
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0312_Animal_Cell_and_Components.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Nest_of_Wasps.jpg
https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vachellia_drepanolobium#/media/File:Acacia_drepanolobium_and_Crematogaster_nigriceps_
@_Ngorongoro_Aug2009.jpg
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Thank you!

64. Thank you!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_DNA#/media/File:Mitochondrial_DNA_lg.jpg
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten#/media/File:Inflammed_mucous_layer_of_the_intestinal_villi_depicting_Celiac_disease.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_nodule#/media/File:Medicago_italica_root_nodules_2.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(biology)#/media/File:Celltypes.svg
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65. Thank you!
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