Speedrun: API Governance Action Table
# | Action | Description | Clarity/Rep/Pace |
1 | Launch an API Guild | You announce a cross-team working group and hope people show up. | +1 / +1 / -1 |
2 | Write a 40-page Design Doc | Everything is covered. No one reads it. | +2 / -1 / -1 |
3 | Host an API Day Event | You throw a big event with keynote slides and swag. People leave confused but excited. | -1 / +2 / -1 |
4 | Buy a Tool | The tool looks slick in the demo. Integration? That’s a next-quarter problem. | +1 / -2 / -1 |
5 | Create a New Chat Channel | Another hashtag gets its wings. It gets active... then turns into memes and bug reports. | 0 / 0 / +1 |
6 | Launch a Developer Startup Kit | You curate working examples, a style guide, and a test harness. Teams are shocked and delighted. | +2 / +1 / +2 |
7 | Hold Listening Tours | You meet with every team to “understand their pain.” Actionability TBD. | +1 / +1 / -2 |
8 | Hire an Evangelist | You bring on someone charismatic to promote the API vision. | +1 / +2 / -1 |
9 | Shadow a Delivery Team | You embed with a team, fix a broken interface, and unblock a release. Word spreads. | +1 / +2 / +1 |
10 | Do Nothing (Strategic Silence) | You quietly defer action this cycle. Some see this as mature restraint; others, abandonment. Meanwhile, teams keep building. | 0 / -1 / 0 |
11 | Mandate API Reviews | You insert yourself into the release process. Friction is high, but so is awareness. | +2 / -1 / -2 |
12 | Revise the Maturity Model | You tweak a 5-level model with new icons and labels. Feels productive. | +1 / 0 / 0 |
13 | Set Up a Portal Landing Page | A static HTML page with a welcome message and broken link. But hey, you shipped. | 0 / 0 / +1 |
14 | Publish Success Metrics | You create a dashboard with adoption numbers. Some question the math. | +1 / -1 / +1 |
15 | Create a Capability Map | You map APIs to business domains. Nobody agrees what a domain is. | +1 / -1 / -1 |
16 | Host a Brown Bag Series | Monthly talks on “API best practices.” The same 4 people attend each one. | +1 / +1 / -1 |
17 | Offer Office Hours | An Outlook link and a brave heart. Mostly you field support tickets. | 0 / +1 / -1 |
18 | Try to Productize an API | You label an internal API a “product” and pitch it to another team. Confusion ensues. | -1 / +1 / -1 |
19 | Write a Blog Post | You pen an internal CMS post about the issue. It gets 2 likes and a follow up email challenging something tangential to your main point. | +1 / +1 / -1 |
20 | Request a Reorg | You try to realign teams under a new API-first org structure. The fallout is... significant. | +2 / -2 / -3 |