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Summary of the "Requirements & API" webinars for IIBA Belarus

Overview

Following a theoretical Part 1, I was glad to talk about more practical API-related things and ways they can be designed.

While preparing for the webinar, I expanded my knowledge of the FastAPI Python framework to design mocks. Some of them were not only displaying docs in Swagger UI but also worked kind of. My overall purpose was not only to talk about APIs from the Business Analysis perspective but to show them.

Doing a retrospective of the original workshop, it needed some real API for people to interact with. Even a webinar where I talk for about an hour could be a more interactive format; it is a considerable step in that direction. If I do the API workshop again, I could give participants near-to-real API examples to integrate using FastAPI.

I like to talk about tooling like every blacksmith likes to talk about their hammer. We have covered Swagger Editor, JSight, and Stoplight to represent different perspectives of API design.

I decided not to dive into OpenAPI specification review as enough materials could do it better than me. I just shared an example and a few resources to learn.

Also, I updated the API requirements (v3 currently) template using some feedback I received since Part 1. A few things needed to be corrected and more consistent there. Plus, I made it clear in terms of data structure description.

At the end of Part 2, while reviewing a practical case, I revealed a custom format I use for textual API specification. It isn't for everyone, and the previous example seems more conventional. At least, that is how I approach API requirements and design based on some Client's input.

Overall, doing two webinars at a two-week interval took a month of preparation. I thought it would be easier considering the amount of materials I produced before. However, I took a complex way to give my best with new information resources, examples, approaches, etc.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I still like giving offline speeches where I can interact with an audience and track their mood. But I need to get experience in making the webinars too.

It was surprising for me that doing Zoom calls as work presentations and an open webinar are opposite things. The latter is more complex.

Thanks to IIBA® Belarus Chapter for the opportunity to reach a wider audience.

Part 1

[RUS] Webinar recording on Youtube:

[ENG] Slides

Part 2

[RUS] Webinar recording on Youtube:

[ENG] Slides:

Additional materials:

P.S. Useful links and suggested reading about API I will publish as a separate post.