A Standardized, Specification-Driven API Lifecycle

API specifications like OpenAPI are often seen as just documentation, or possibly used for code generation--when in reality they have become much, much more. OpenAPI and AsyncAPI have emerged as the way API producers and consumers are engaging across the entire API lifecycle, beginning with documentation and code generation, but also mocking, testing, security, and other essential parts of our API operations.  API specifications like OpenAPI and AsyncAPI provide a machine-readable artifact that can help automate and streamline the API lifecycle, but it also normalizes who we human beings talk about APIs, how they are applied programmatically, but also iterated upon over time. Ensuring that all of us humans are on the same page through a more standardized, specification-driven API lifecycle.