Welcome to the API The Docs Podcast

Laura Vass, co-founder of the API The Docs conference series, hosts documentarians and other practitioners from all across the API world to discuss the latest topics, new learnings and best practices around API documentation and developer portals.

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A good design is not about how something looks, it's about how something works - Interview with Liam Gallagher and Jake Eastham from Barclays

29 April, 2021

Today our guests are Liam Gallagher (UX Designer/API Platforms) and Jake Eastham (Front-end Developer and Accessibility Champion) from Barclays:

“It's very easy to get caught up in aesthetics, you want to design something that is really cool and you think it is amazing.. You actually want to show it to everyone, but you completely messed up the accessibility part. As I matured, I realised that good design is not about something that looks good, but how something works. A good design is naturally inclusive. “

“An accessibility champion is someone who fosters within their environment, within their own team, while being aware of the different accessibility challenges you have and why we are designing and developing our products, what is the importance of it. “

Join us for an inspiring conversation with the two times winner of DevPortal Awards in the Best Accessible Portal category.

The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of Developer Portals Newsletter, Co-Founder of Pronovix) and Anett Pozsár (Senior Technical Writer, Pronovix).

Creating a fully self-service API program - Interview with Alvaro Navarro and Anthony Roux

07 April, 2021

Meet the Developer Relations & API product management team on Amadeus for Developers - Open API Product for the travel industry. Our guests are Alvaro Navarro and Anthony Roux.

“Building trusted relationships is actually what matters in our job.. and empathy is what makes the big difference. Put yourself into the shoes of the other person, that's how you're going to learn how they use your product. And that's how you're going to be successful.“

How has Amadeus innovated a framework and a new set of self-service APIs, where developers can connect in a matter of only three minutes?

How have they scaled up and automated all the processes to make the onboarding as smooth as possible?

Why is testing and user centric feedback, API Governance and product management support important when creating solutions that provide the best developer experience for your API consumers? Tune in to hear more.

The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of Developer Portals Newsletter, Co-Founder of Pronovix) and Anett Pozsár (Senior Technical Writer, Pronovix).

Tech writing for software engineers - Interview with Barry Rosenberg

24 March, 2021

Our guest is Barry Rosenberg, technical writer at Google and co-author of courses Technical Writing One and Technical Writing Two. At the beginning of his professional journey, Barry was starting out as a teacher for a smaller group of undergraduate students at MIT. How did he become a teacher of a highly scalable class for thousands of engineers at Google? How has writing fiction helped him to write better technical courses? Join us to learn more about his inspiring career and the courses he created:

  • How and why have these courses been developed?
  • Why is it valuable to teach tech writing to engineers?
  • What are the prerequisites and skills required to become an efficient technical writer?
  • What new tech writing courses are currently being created at Google?
  • The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of Developer Portals Newsletter, Co-Founder of Pronovix) and Anett Pozsár (Senior Technical Writer, Pronovix).

Sources:

Barry Rosenbeeg - Spring Into Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists
Overview of technical writing courses at Google 

Inclusion and Accessibility - some suggestions from fellow documentarians - Interview with Ilona Koren-Deutsch

12 March, 2021

We ask Ilona Koren-Deutsch about the Women in APIs initiative, and her advice on how to diversify a team. We talk about considerations to ensure accessibility for your content, and what can propel the company-wide use of a conscious inclusive style guide. Where should you be channel agnostic as a techwriter? Does feedback need feedback?

Tune in to find out, where to get mentoring and support, how to take an active role in empowering other women in the industry, and how to create equal opportunities, regardless of gender, language barriers or other impairment issues.

The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of the Developer Portals Newsletter, Co-Founder of Pronovix) and Ádám Balogh (Technical Writer at Pronovix).

Sources:

Women in APIs 

Where Product Marketing Meets the Docs – Interview with Liz Couto

04 December, 2020

We are talking with Liz Couto, Product Marketing Manager at Shopify, about the role of marketing and an amplifier, where the CTA is often pointing to the developer documentation. How did Shopify empathize and empower in 2020 with the exponentially growing community? Can there be too many communication channels, should you let go of some if ever? How do the many teams involved work in concert on Shopify's products and what feedback loops have they built into their docs?

The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of Developer Portals Newsletter, Co-Founder of Pronovix) and Anett Pozsár (Senior Technical Writer, Pronovix).

Music: Virgill - Its over now (CC)

Feedback Management & Documentation Workflows - Interview with Uwana Ikaiddi

04 November, 2020

“It’s a misconception to think that documentation is a solitary endeavor” says Uwana Ikaiddi (Documentation Manager, BigCommerce). Getting involved in cross-team discussions as early as possible while preparing for a project is a key element of a documentation workflow. But how do you avoid death by collaboration?

The interview also explores how you can empower your audience to communicate with you in the most efficient way possible, and in what ways you can triage and address internal and external feedback.

The hosts are Laura Vass (Editor of Developer Portal Newsletter, Co-Founder, Pronovix) and Anett Pozsár (Senior Technical Writer, Pronovix).

Music: Virgill - Its over now (CC)