Buffer · Execution · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

What Should Buffer Do About Its Public API?

Buffer is a social media management platform that helps people and businesses plan, publish, and analyze posts across social networks. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

platform strategy
prioritization
developer empathy
stakeholder communication
experimentation

The situation

Your director asks you to prepare a recommendation on Buffer's public API. Buffer has long served people and teams who manage social media workflows, and the API has become part of how some customers and outside developers connect Buffer to their own tools. But it is not clear whether the current API still matches where Buffer wants the product to go, which developer needs matter most, or how much investment the company should make in platform work versus customer facing roadmap items. Leadership wants a clear plan because decisions made now could shape integration quality, developer trust, and Buffer's ability to support broader product goals over the next year. At the same time, Buffer values transparency and often shares work publicly, which creates both an opportunity for early feedback and a risk of overcommitting before the team has enough signal. You need to recommend what Buffer should do next with the public API, who it should serve first, and how to validate that choice.

What to produce

A 2 page product strategy memo.

Your answer must

Identify 2 to 3 plausible API user segments, choose a primary audience, and name at least one explicit non target for the first phase.
Define the core problem or opportunity and explain why it matters now for Buffer's broader product direction.
Compare at least 2 viable paths, for example maintenance only, targeted improvements, or a larger platform investment, and recommend one.
Outline a 6 to 12 month execution plan with major milestones, key dependencies, and how Buffer should gather developer input, including what to share publicly.
Define success metrics, decision checkpoints, and the top risks with mitigation steps.

Constraints

Use only the summary provided and clearly labeled assumptions, do not invent Buffer specific metrics or technical details as facts.
Keep scope to the public API and adjacent developer experience, no new standalone products, acquisitions, or company wide reorganization.
Your recommendation must balance platform investment against ongoing core product work and Buffer's public, transparent brand.

Format

Use clear headings and concise bullets. A small options table is welcome if it helps show trade-offs.

How Buffer actually played it

A Buffer staff product manager gives the big picture on rebuilding the public API, who it is for and where it is going. The post follows the company's practice of building in public. Useful for PMs thinking about platform and developer strategy.

Be clear about who a platform is for before building it
Build in public to gather developer input
Link the rebuild to broader company direction

Built from We're Rebuilding Buffer's API: Here's Why, and How it Will Work by Amanda Marochko.