# A Product Manager’s Guide to APIs  ## Metadata - Author: [[Akshayaa Govindan]] - Full Title: A Product Manager’s Guide to APIs - Category: #articles - Summary: What are they and why are they important - URL: https://medium.com/swlh/a-product-managers-guide-to-apis-c5fffff0e5e0 ## Highlights - An Application Programming Interface, or API, is in its simplest sense a technology that connects two systems. Here’s an analogy explaining it: You go to a large library and are looking for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. But the library is huge and you have no clue where to find this book. Luckily for you, you see the librarian at their desk and a catalog with the types of books you can borrow. You request for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ from their fiction list. The librarian walks through the labyrinth of shelves to find the book and brings it to you. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw639q70pc7db4tstvhgydg8)) - In this analogy • the library is the **database** — one of the systems involved • the books are the **data** • you are the **requestor** — the application/system looking for information • the librarian is the **API** — they take the request back to the database and return information back to the requesting application • the request for the book is the **call** made to the API • the catalog represents the **specific format the request has to follow** so the API understands it • the book you received from the librarian is the **response**  ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw638x2rx07w47zax6vyht4z)) - If you leverage other APIs, you can focus on building features that address the core need for your product, while maintaining a simple and complete flow for the user ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw63epn4ebkkhqs5kvdje4qh)) - You create a dependency on another system — if the other system changes their API call, you have to make changes on your end to ensure your user experience isn’t interrupted ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw63eypdd3e805bsnf1h526p)) - What value is this driving for our business? Are we expecting an increase in revenue? or a higher conversion rate? It’s also important to ensure that we are targeting metrics in line with our product strategy and our organizational goals ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw63fz9bbcna3y9727dps2hz)) - Can we even do this? Is our business ready to support the cost of building it out and also the cost of maintaining the infrastructure to provide this service for our users? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hw63fr43w8k146r5an0022da))