APIs for Product Managers

An integration depends on the operations and data another system makes available. A calendar connection may need permission to read events; a CRM synchronization may encounter missing fields or usage limits. APIs for Product Managers explains how to examine those dependencies before they become delivery constraints.

The explanations start with requests, responses and endpoints. A fictional SaaS product provides the thread as it connects to external services, placing each concept alongside a product problem. The book assumes no previous technical background and uses the perspective of the person defining and evaluating the integration.

From an endpoint to an integration requirement

The content covers the information exchanged, the actions an API supports and the conditions under which they can be used. The topics include:

• Requests, responses and endpoints; HTTP methods, parameters, headers and JSON.
• Status codes, API documentation and trying simple requests with Postman.
• Authentication, API keys, tokens and OAuth.
• Pagination, rate limits, polling, webhooks and synchronization between platforms.
• Internal and public APIs, versioning and breaking changes.
• The distinctions between REST, GraphQL and SOAP relevant to product work.

Working with APIs as a Product Manager

The book is written for Product Managers and Product Owners who need to discuss an API with Engineering, review its documentation and assess its fit for a feature. It explains how to identify the required information, the permissions involved and the behaviour expected when something fails. Application programming is outside its scope.