Every tech leader has seen a project go off the rails at one time or another. But how do you keep a small misstep from turning into a big disaster? Constant monitoring and rapid response is the key to keeping problems contained, according to Osher Frimerman, CTO of Behalf, which provides small business purchase financing and works with vendors to increase sales by offering financing options to their small business customer base. In an interview, Frimerman explains how this strategy helped stop a small problem from turning into a big one.
The Enterprisers Project (TEP): Tell us about your project that was heading down the wrong path, and how you stopped it.
Frimerman: We introduced a new API that enabled our vendors to check the credit lines their customers are entitled to with Behalf. This API allows the vendors to proactively approach the customers that can be financed by Behalf and offer them attractive terms, thus increasing their sales.
TEP: What was your first indication that it was in trouble?
Frimerman: We embed built-in monitoring and alerting capabilities within any newly introduced feature. In this case, a few days after the API launched, we got an alert about an abnormal pattern of usage coming from a specific vendor. We reacted as soon as the information came to light. We spoke to the vendor and guided him to the correct method of using the feature and explained that he must comply with normal usage. We then proceeded to make changes and instilled strict limits within the API to ensure that this couldn't happen again.
I've found that, when a problem arises, it's effective to talk to people in a manner that isn't accusatory, but will change their pattern of behavior nonetheless. If you treat others like intelligent people and simply give them guidelines, you will not only get the desired end result, but you will wind up empowering and satisfying them.
TEP: What would have happened if you hadn't caught this problem?
Frimerman: The main consequence is that it would have inflated our metrics of the API's success. It would have given us an untrue understanding of user behavior and we would've thought customer adoption was much higher than the reality. We then might have made strategic decisions based off of untrue facts and ... well, you see where this cycle is going.
TEP: Tell us a little about your monitoring methods.
Frimerman: We have built-in monitoring and alerting utilities for each newly-introduced feature to make us aware of irregularities. Whenever we monitor a new project we do so manually for the first few days. After we verify that everything is behaving normally, we rely on the alert.
In this case we had passed the manual alert stage since other vendors were already using the API successfully. When we introduced the API to this vendor, the alert went off a few days later and we reacted immediately.
TEP: How quickly were you able to correct the situation?
Frimerman: The day we got the alert we spoke with the vendor and made changes to the API on our end.
TEP: What was the end result? How successful has it been?
Frimerman: Overall the project was successfully completed, with minor amendments. This one-time incident showed us the measures we must put in place and the greater sensitivity we need to have to avoid any hiccups. We still offer this specific API, and it has been running smoothly with all our vendors ever since.
At the end of the day, this problem actually turned out to be a pretty great experience for us as a team. We worked very quickly to solve it, and we pushed ourselves to find new ways to ensure that our vendors and customers use our services as intended.
TEP: Any advice you would pass on to our readers about how to rectify the situation when a project is headed in the wrong direction?
Frimerman: Whenever you identify something is going wrong you must act as soon as possible. It's important to keep a clear head and deal with matters efficiently when they arise.
Additionally, while this case did not affect our customers, the need to act rapidly is especially acute if it concerns your customers or your core business values. Time must stop in order to serve them.
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Osher Frimerman is the Chief Technology Officer of Behalf. Committed to the power of building relationships between small businesses and vendors, Behalf provides small business purchase financing and works with vendors to increase sales by offering financing options to their small business customer base.
