Key Workshop Objectives

We will work with your team to secure your peak-season stability and lay the groundwork for long-term performance.

Establish a performance baseline of your current platforms.

Identify critical risks and single points of failure (SPOFs).

Define tactical short-term fixes for immediate stability before Black Friday.

Outline a strategic long-term plan for sustainable performance.

What We Analyse - A Full-Stack Approach

We look beyond the front end to diagnose bottlenecks across your entire customer journey, from homepage to checkout.

Phase
Focus Area
Key Activities
Phase 1: Discovery
Understanding Your Landscape

Map customer-facing platforms (Website, Mobile Apps, Core APIs). Quantify “Normal” traffic versus “Black Friday” Peak Load expectations (e.g., Expected Traffic Multiplier). 

Phase 2: Live Analysis
Front-End & Back-End Diagnostics

Benchmark Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID/INP, CLS) using Google Lighthouse. Review API response times (e.g., using Postman). Analyse APM data (Datadog, New Relic) for slow Database Queries and High Error Rates. 

Phase 3: Risk Identification
Collaborative Risk Brainstorming

Pinpoint critical failures: Slow database queries, Third-party API timeouts, Un-cached components and inefficient auto-scaling. 

The Output: Your Actionable Roadmap

The primary output is a clear, prioritised list of recommendations categorised by immediate impact and long-term health.

Short-Term Fixes (Tactical "Quick Wins")

Immediate stabilisation to be completed in the next 1-2 weeks for Black Friday.

  • Optimise Homepage Images: Compress all JPG/PNGs; convert to modern formats like WebP. 
  • Implement Caching: Cache popular product API responses in Redis for 5 minutes to reduce database load. 
  • Add Timeouts to Payment API: Implement a 5-second timeout and a “retry” mechanism for the payment gateway. 
  • Tune DB Connection Pool: Increase the max connection limit (e.g., from 100 to 250) to handle concurrent users. 

Long-Term Recommendations (Strategic Plan)

Building a foundation for sustainable health and scalability.

  • Implement Comprehensive Load Testing: Use a tool (e.g., k6, Gatling) to simulate Black Friday traffic before it happens.
  • Adopt Full-Stack Observability: Implement an APM (Application Performance Monitoring) tool.
  • Architectural Refactoring: Decouple your “Order Creation” from your “Order Fulfilment” using a message queue (like SQS) for background processing.
  • Database Optimisation: Introduce read replicas for your primary database to separate high-volume “read” traffic from “write” traffic.

Ready to guarantee your peak-season success?

Contact us today to schedule your Black Friday Readiness Workshop.

Suite 21 Beaufort Court, Admirals Way
London, England, E14 9XL.

+44 20 8555 5577