Something we don't do often enough is say thank you to people who have contributed significant efforts to help improve the lives of others. With the upcoming Puckboard AMA & feature reveal event on November 4th, we wanted to pass on a thank you note to the developers for their continual efforts and dedication towards iteratively building a scalable, user-focused product.
In the DoD software arena, there are many teams working to build new, innovative software. It is very easy to take the “easy way out” and produce something flashy yet technically incapable of handling the job it needs to solve, or to focus all energy on a single stakeholder at the cost of an entire user base. The other way, ensuring that the actual users themselves are the ones who drive the train, balanced by stakeholder priorities and long-term vision, is extremely difficult, overlooked, and unforgiving. There is nothing sexy about making sure that the needs of your 50 lowest ranking Airmen, your Aircrew, or your everyday mission operators, are met over those of a Squadron Commander, Wing Commander, MAJCOM Commander, or Service Chief of Staff. There is even something less sexy about refactoring a codebase to shorten a loading circle. Yet, paradoxically, if the needs of those front-line members are not met, then the long-term leadership visions of success will never even begin to materialize.
When a team does follow “the right path,” it is too easy to dismiss as ordinary rather than extraordinary. For this reason, we want to take the time to recognize the Puckboard Developer Team for the incredible work done over the past six months.
For many of our currently 2,497 users, the app is likely very simple; you aren’t wrong if you think that. However, often what is not seen is the behind-the-scenes effort that made this simple app possible. For the development team, one specific statistic needs to be highlighted: loading time vs. system load.
When the app was released for operational test about six months ago to a group of 10 members, initial load time quickly spiked to be 25-35 seconds on average, with 20 second follow-on loads. Over the course of the next few months, very few new features were added...but that initial loading circle decreased to 3-5 seconds with under 1 second follow on loads.
To the untrained observer, that probably still feels slow (and relative to Google, it is…although relative to most AF systems it is a different story). However, let me give you the full picture. In that same time, the team expanded the user count from 10 to 2,497, and average number of backend API requests per day increased from 500 to 58,000.
The implication? This team decreased loading time by 85% in the same time that it it increased system load by 11,600% and user count by 24,970%. The team also went through the full accreditation process with Platform One, added live updating, ability to volunteer, conflict ID and resolution to the app in the same time.
It doesn't take someone technical to see the almost superhuman improvement here, but the vast majority of people will never know, see, or understand the passion and dedication that went into this (which is perfectly fine).
This work is, for the most part, not sexy. But it is focused on getting an application out that moves the needle & gives Aircrew hope, something that is accredited, live, collaborative…real…and has a software supply chain to carry “requirements” from the users to developers in weeks, not years.
To the team, thank you for giving up so much of your lives to see this through. I personally am humbled to have had the opportunity to work with one of the highest performing groups of people I have ever known. Can’t wait to watch this ecosystem grow from an app into a program, and from program into a mobility air forces imperative.
