Brick by Brick What Lego Taught Me About Great APIs
summary
Assembles a Star Wars AT-ST from a Lego kit to argue that five concrete practices make better APIs: clear, step-by-step documentation (paper manual plus a mobile app and inline editor docs like TypeScript/VS autocomplete), intentional composability (reusing bullwhips, lances, paint-roller pieces in unexpected ways), strict consistency and naming, long-term compatibility (modern brick design dates to 1958, enabling ~62 years of reuse), all grounded in empathy for the customer — applies to components, design systems, and web APIs alike.
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chapters (14)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:48Backstory
- 1:28Lego
- 3:52About Me
- 5:35About SalesLoft
- 7:21APIs
- 9:32API as a Product
- 10:10Documentation
- 10:53Documentation Clarity
- 19:27composability
- 24:07consistency
- 28:31compatibility
- 31:14empathy
- 33:09conclusion
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