API Standards Are Data Standards

Aside from those who have ignored technology trends for the last twenty years, everyone else is aware of — and likely working with — service-based architectures, whether micro, domain-driven, modulith, integration, data, or something else. From service-based, we’ve evolved to API-First, where APIs are first-class deliverables around which all solutions are built: front-end, back-end, mobile, external integrations, whatever. The APIs are intended to be implemented before other development work starts, even if the initial implementation is stubbed out, dummy code that allows other work to begin. API-First revolves around the contract.