Incremental development is an approach that can be used for the development of systems. Incremental development utilizes the incremental build model. The incremental build model is a method of developing software in which a product is designed, implemented, and tested incrementally. We will be developing the  messenger API incrementally. We will in no way attempt to specify everything needed by the messenger API before we start coding. We will determine a set of specifications to get us going with the development and then create some functionality, after which we will repeat the process.

To comfortably utilize the incremental development methodology, we must utilize software that does not penalize us for making changes over the development process, such as a case where we need to change the type of data catered for by the system. Spring Boot is a perfect candidate for developing systems incrementally as it enables quick and easy changes to systems.

Up to this point, we have referred to Spring Boot a couple of times but have neither discussed what it is nor what it is used for. Let's use this opportunity to quickly do that.