Software Product Managers drive merchandise to offer enterprise worth. Relating solely to the enterprise and purposeful requirements- and neglecting to grasp the know-how behind the product- will cripple the Product Supervisor as an alternative of empowering her. In case your software program product makes use of APIs (it’s uncommon to not), then it’s probably that your builders use Postman API. (If you happen to’re not fairly positive what an API is — strive this rationalization, or many different good ones).
There are concrete advantages for Product Managers to make use of POSTMAN too. First, let’s problem that- shouldn’t that stuff be the duty of builders, and never of us on the enterprise facet? Isn’t it too detailed for Product Managers? A waste of treasured time?
I argue — No, no, no and no. You do want to make use of it.
After overcoming preliminary hesitation, I’ve discovered it helpful so as to add to my arsenal of instruments. The obstacles of entry are decrease than I anticipated, and there are a number of advantages — communication with builders, engagement in demos and enhanced understanding of your product.
Word: I’ve no affiliation or vested curiosity with the Postman API firm or product.
It’s a product & service, self described as ‘an API Platform for constructing and utilizing APIs’.
Mainly, it’s a device to have the ability to ‘play with’ your APIs. Say you will have a software program product that’s an internet site that shops pictures. The top-user selects a picture from her pc and provides a reputation, then uploads to the web site. You almost certainly have a microservice that allows just a few strategies: POST (to create), GET (to view the record of pictures+names), and DELETE (to delete every entry).
Since you’re an avid agile ninja, you break down your necessities to ship worth as early as attainable. First, you ask for creation and viewing, and supply deletion solely at a later stage. Even later, you possibly can supply to edit the title or picture.
When your builders create a microservice (or mockup), they may give you entry to it through a postman assortment. You will want entry to a goal surroundings + credentials. Then, you should utilize the POSTMAN API interface to see what strategies can be found within the assortment. Within the first part of improvement, you will note ‘POST’ and ‘GET’ strategies. You need to use this to create entries (pictures+title), and see that it really works. After creating a minimum of one entry (picture+title), you should utilize the ‘GET’ technique to record every of the entries that you just created. All this, is earlier than there’s any front-end improvement; earlier than there’s a display screen or buttons which were developed.
Perceive your product
In a product that includes front-end and back-end, delving into postman gave me a extra holistic understanding. I may higher recognize the mapping from API to UI. This helps me grow to be a greater product supervisor when it comes to breaking down the product into phases, writing clearer necessities, planning the scope of releases, and extra. It helps me perceive higher design the front-end, additionally.
Guarantee what you anticipated is being constructed
This can be a technique to detect miscommunications earlier moderately than later. For instance, you’ll have needed to help the creation of pictures with out names. Perhaps you even wrote clear necessities for that. Nevertheless, this was ignored in improvement. While you ‘play with’ POSTMAN, you possibly can attempt to create a picture and not using a title. The postman product makes this sort of factor simple — so as to add change or take away parameters within the request. And if you accomplish that, you may even see that the creation failed. You’ll be able to ask your developer why, and clear this up earlier moderately than later. The developer will let you know that, certainly, she launched validation for title as a required subject, as a result of that was not clear sufficient out of your written requirement.
Understanding edge instances
Utilizing postman helped me higher perceive when the product was really inbuilt a manner that will help my enterprise necessities, and once we might run into some points; what use instances could be supported, and edge instances that will not be supported. Understanding this made be higher capable of talk this to related stakeholders — builders, technical documentation writers, and extra.
Write clearer necessities subsequent time, together with acceptance standards
By really taking part in with APIs of my product, I may later write extra detailed and correct necessities for extra superior options of the product. This consists of higher writing detailed acceptance checks, and use instances that I have to be demonstrated in subsequent options.
Contribution to demos
For merchandise/options which are absolutely Again-end with no front-end, it is vitally exhausting to ‘demo’ the completion of the function. It’s customary follow, then, to make use of POSTMAN to offer a reside demo that the required performance has been developed. Earlier than I started utilizing POSTMAN, I admittedly had a tough time following these demos. Since I started to make use of POSTMAN myself, I used to be capable of observe significantly better, and even contribute to the demos. As soon as, as an illustration, I seen {that a} specific parameter was flawed. There have been some tough use instances, and developer presenting, together with tech lead and others, had been a bit caught. Since I outlined the function and knew it properly, and since I knew use POSTMAN, I used to be capable of level out what parameter wanted to be modified as a way to receive the specified final result within the demo, and reveal that the use case was certainly supported.
Thanks for studying!
I’m a UX Designer turned Product Supervisor, with expertise in startups, freelance, and agile B2B2C firms. Writing helps me mirror & constantly be taught. Join with me on Twitter.
