Reduced flight booking latency by [ADD: 42%] across multi-airline search queries
Re-engineered sprint sequencing and API contract validations for a regional API aggregator, delivering 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
Delivery results
Reduction in end-to-end flight search latency
Ahead of contractual delivery deadline
Sprint milestone completion accuracy
Context & Background
The client—a prominent regional API aggregator in [region]—was experiencing acute query timeouts during peak seasonal traffic. With connections to multiple external upstream suppliers and bespoke service APIs, discrepancies in response formats caused frequent bottlenecking, resulting in dropped conversion rates.
The business had set an aggressive go-live milestone ahead of seasonal holiday traffic. Misaligned team priorities and lack of clear acceptance criteria between backend engineers and third-party API vendors threatened to push delivery back by over two months.
What I Did
- API Contract Alignment: Established standardized OpenAPI specifications between external flight suppliers and internal microservices, eliminating ambiguity before sprint development began.
- Sprint Sequencing & Critical Path Mapping: Restructured the 2-week sprint cycle to decouple data caching services from UI rendering, allowing frontend and backend streams to build in parallel.
- Cross-Timezone Daily Syncs: Managed daily 15-minute standups across 3 time zones, focusing strictly on blocker removal and dependency handoffs.
- Automated UAT Checkpoints: Implemented automated test regression runs inside Jira/GitHub workflows, catching data payload mismatches prior to QA handoffs.
- Executive Milestone Reporting: Provided weekly transparent burndown charts and risk heatmaps to client stakeholders, ensuring zero surprises during milestone reviews.
Results & Impact
- [ADD: 42%] Latency Improvement: Shaved [ADD: 1.8 seconds] off median flight comparison search queries, exceeding the target performance SLA.
- Early Release: Deployed the complete search architecture [ADD: 14 days] before the seasonal traffic peak.
- Calm Go-Live: Achieved zero critical severity incidents (Sev-1) during the first 30 days post-cutover.
Lessons Learned
- Vendor APIs Require Hard Isolation: Never let third-party response formats dictate internal domain models without an intermediary translation layer.
- Clarity Precedes Velocity: When developers have unambiguous acceptance criteria, engineering rework drops by more than half.