I understand why Quickbase would want to get rid of the webhook feature, but it is definitely a step in the wrong direction for several reasons.
1. Lack of Collaboration and Visibility: Pipelines lack the cross-team collaboration and visibility inherent in webhooks. To replace webhooks, pipelines need shared access among admins and a comprehensive view of related pipelines for efficient maintenance.
2. Synchronous Execution: Webhooks offer synchronous execution, ensuring instant response to events, unlike pipelines which might introduce delays.
3. Efficient Bulk Updates: Webhooks excel in handling bulk updates efficiently, minimizing overhead by repeating actions in a single api call.
4. Slow Pipeline Building: Pipeline construction can be sluggish compared to webhooks, potentially hindering productivity in complex workflows. The number of seconds waiting for a dropdown to load or a field to populate really hinders the builders' flow.
4. Cost Considerations: Webhook calls to outside servers incur fewer costs compared to pipelines, where every HTTP call uses an account step.
5. API Integrations: Webhooks have a limited, but useful API control via the legacy XML API. There is no such API control for pipelines.
In essence, while Quickbase's decision to phase out webhooks may seem logical from a business perspective, it overlooks crucial functionalities vital for efficient workflow management. Enhancing pipeline capabilities to match the efficiency and performance of webhooks should be prioritized before ending webhook support.
