Why Is Communication Crucial in Uncovering Performance Issues?

Lessons from a Real-Life Story

In the world of software development, performance issues are often not the result of faulty code or misconfiguration, but rather stem from a lack of communication or misunderstandings. One of the most critical—yet frequently underestimated—aspects of performance engineering is effective communication between different teams and stakeholders. A real-life story illustrates the consequences of poor communication and the powerful outcomes that can be achieved when bridges are successfully built.

The Problem That Remained Unclaimed

In the final phase of a complex project, during integration testing, a critical API consistently timed out, causing major frontend functionalities to fail. The same vendor team had developed both the frontend and the related APIs, and they insisted everything was functioning correctly—their tests had passed, and the API worked flawlessly in their environment. The backend operations team also denied responsibility, stating that no changes had been made on their side, and therefore, there could be no issue originating from their systems.

Project management found itself in a deadlock. Deadlines were looming, yet no one was willing to take ownership of investigating the root cause.

Mediating Between the Lines

Entering such a situation as an external party is never easy. In these cases, one of the most effective approaches is to initiate dialogue instead of jumping straight into technical troubleshooting. This step proved to be the key in uncovering the performance issue. Listening to the development teams and understanding the situation from their perspective quickly helped to ease the initial mistrust.

A similar open-minded approach was taken when engaging with the backend operations team. The goal was not to assign blame, but to work together toward a shared solution.

The Issue That Wasn’t Really a Development Error

During the investigation, it quickly became clear that the frontend was requesting an excessive and unnecessary amount of data from the backend—orders of magnitude more than what was actually needed. The system wasn’t designed to handle such a load, which led to increased response times and, ultimately, request timeouts. The development team hadn’t made a mistake; they had implemented the API according to the specifications.

How Can Something Be Well-Developed Yet Still Not Work?

The investigation revealed that performance requirements had not been addressed at all during the project planning phase. As a result, the API functioned correctly in the development environment, where only minimal data volumes were present. However, under real-world conditions and with production-scale data, performance issues began to surface.

Although resolving the issue ultimately required code changes, the root cause lay in a design oversight.

Collaboration Over Blame

The frontend developers understandably felt uncomfortable, as they were asked to fix something they didn’t perceive as their fault. In such situations, it’s valuable for an external party to step in as a mediator—facilitating communication between the development teams, leadership, and the client. What also proved essential was fostering transparent, joint communication between the development and operations teams, which helped avoid finger-pointing.

As a result of this collaboration, the issue was resolved, and the teams developed a more constructive and open working relationship.

The Real Lesson

This story is not just about uncovering a performance issue. It’s a reminder that performance engineering is not solely about tools, metrics, and optimization—it’s also about people, dialogue, and understanding. Clearly defined performance requirements, early alignment, and the presence of mediating roles not only save time and money but also reduce stress and build trust among teams.

When investigating performance issues, it’s worth remembering that honest and open communication is just as important as any diagnostic tool.