Rest and Definitions
REST means different things to different audiences. It means one thing to the developer completing their assignments in Jira, another to the engineering leader attempting to herd cats through a transformation, and yet another to the marketplace selling solutions. The term’s conflation isn’t an indictment of people’s laxness but an example of its success.
We see this pattern repeatedly throughout the tech landscape. Agile methodologies, cloud computing, and even DevOps all started with specific principles but branched out, sometimes to their originator’s chagrin, as diverse groups adopted them. Attempts to rigidly enforce a single definition often prove futile. The power of a well-communicated promise lies in its ability to inspire many interpretations and fuel innovation.