What methodology is often used to ensure alignment between business needs and API development?

The API-First Approach is widely recognized as an effective methodology for aligning business needs with API development. This approach prioritizes designing the API before any coding begins, ensuring that the API specifications are driven by the actual business requirements. By starting with the API's design, stakeholders can identify essential features, facilitate discussions around user needs, and make informed decisions on how the API will function.

This methodology emphasizes collaboration between different teams, including business analysts, developers, and other stakeholders, fostering better communication and understanding of requirements. As a result, the end product is more likely to fully meet the users' needs and support the business goals effectively.

The other approaches, while valuable in their own contexts, do not specifically target the alignment of business needs with API development in the same way. The Waterfall Model, for instance, follows a linear and sequential process that can sometimes lead to a disconnect between evolving business requirements and the development stages. Agile Development is more adaptable and iterative, promoting flexibility, but it doesn't focus on the API aspect in the same systematic manner as the API-First Approach. Object-Oriented Programming is a programming paradigm that deals with module reusability and design but is not directly related to aligning business needs with API development.