The term “API product owner” wasn’t part of the standard lexicon five years ago, but now it’s a regular and integral part of many of our product teams. As a fellow product leader, I see this evolution as a reflection of a broader realization: APIs are no longer just technical artifacts — they’re strategic assets treated as full-fledged products driving business value.

Today, APIs are recognized as the foundation of thriving digital ecosystems. They are the connective tissue enabling internal systems, third-party integrations, and entirely new business models. However, with this recognition comes a challenge: as API ecosystems grow in scale and complexity, effectively managing them has become one of the most critical opportunities for product leadership.

I believe the role of an API product owner is pivotal to handling that effective management, but there’s not a lot out there on actual tips or life hacks for young product managers coming up through the track. So, I wanted to share one of my favorite tips that is critical to effective API product management: the humble service catalog.

Why the Service Catalog Is a Superpower

Service catalogs are critical to an API product owner’s strategy because they provide a comprehensive, centralized view of all the APIs and services available within an organization. For API product owners, this visibility is essential to ensure that teams are not reinventing the wheel by duplicating existing functionality.

And, what does this mean for you? Service catalogs can help save time, reduce costs, and better align your team’s development efforts with bigger business goals (which means a job well done as an API product owner). By knowing what APIs are already available, you can better guide your team in integrating, reusing, or extending your API services.

Fast Track to Good Governance

We all know how important API governance is, and a service catalog also plays a vital role in bettering that, which will be music to your CTO’s ears. The service catalog is governance 101, helping product owners maintain control over the lifecycle of their APIs, from design and development to deployment and deprecation.

With a well-organized catalog, product owners can track critical metadata (versioning, dependencies, ownership, and usage metrics). This kind of data enables you to then ensure that the team APIs meet organizational standards for quality, security, and performance. Moreover, having this level of governance simplifies regulatory compliance, which is great for industries like finance and healthcare, where adherence to standards is non-negotiable.

Cross Collabing Queens

Another key advantage of service catalogs is their ability to improve collaboration between cross-functional teams. They serve as a shared source of truth for developers, product managers, and other stakeholders, streamlining communication and enabling faster decision-making. For instance, your developers can quickly identify the APIs they need to use. In turn, you can provide insights into strategic priorities and ensure everyone is aligned on how APIs contribute to the broader product roadmap.

We Can’t Not Mention DX

Finally, service catalogs empower API product owners to enhance the developer experience (DX) (I know it’s a buzzword, but it’s still relevant for a reason). By offering clear documentation, discoverability, and usage guidelines for APIs, they enable internal and external developers to integrate APIs quickly and effectively. Truly, this improves your developer productivity and makes your developers happy. This not only drives adoption but also positions APIs as strategic assets that deliver measurable value to the business.

Potential Cons of the Service Catalog

While service catalogs offer significant benefits, I wouldn’t be doing you a service (see what I did there, pun intended), if I didn’t mention the small but potential downsides of the service catalog. It’s worth noting that it can be resource-intensive, requiring ongoing updates to ensure accuracy, which can put a strain on smaller teams or if you’re functioning in a startup role.

Now, there are a few lightweight or homemade alternatives to a service catalog that you could explore. However, you would then sacrifice the centralized governance and standardization that a dedicated service catalog offers. Plus, you still risk fragmentation and inefficiency down the line as your team grows quickly.

The Service Catalog Is the Best Product Owner Life Hack

In the end, a robust service catalog isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a foundational tool for API product owners to manage their portfolios with confidence and success. As a product leader, it’s one of the top things I recommend to API product owners to ensure success in their jobs. The best thing we can do is give a leg up to the next generation of product owners, and this is one of my favorite tips to fast-track success!