An article recently published by PETER REINHARDT made some very valid claims that APIs are starting to replace Middle Management. Easy examples would be companies like Uber and AirBnB that rely upon an app and its APIs to coordinate, direct, and manage the employees under it.
“There’s a trend in Silicon Valley startups to create a software layer in industries that were traditionally pure human services.The software layer between the company and their armies of contractors eliminates a huge amount of middle management, and creates a worrisome disconnect between jobs that will be automated, and jobs of increasing leverage and value.”*
Now while this is only a few companies currently, expect this to become a trend in the corporate world. APIs are always available, won’t ever push back, and can handle some very complex tasks. The question is, how do we know if they are performing as well or better than their human counterparts?
Anyone who has worked in Middle Management knows the joys of meeting quotas, boosting KPIs, and the dreaded Performance Reviews. Are these Middle Management APIs subject to the same standards? While it is not possible for a human to constantly monitor the performance of someone in middle management, or an API doing the same work. It is possible to employ software for this task.
This is where API Performance Monitoring comes in. With a tool like APImetrics, reoccurring calls to the APIs can then log all sent/returned data, the latency in which it took to send and receive the data, and any error messages should they arise. With these reoccurring tests, all the information is stored in logs with statistical analysis provided. This allows for extremely accurate Performance Reviews for the APIs. KPIs like Availability, Latency and Error Rates would hold these APIs as accountable as we hold Middle Management, and as we all know accountability is paramount in this highly competitive tech landscape.
*Link to full article from Peter Reinhardt here: Replacing Middle Management with APIs
