You're leading a software project. How do you convey the value of scalability to non-technical stakeholders?

Imagine the project succeeds, the money is flowing in. customers are happy. all the numbers are positive. more and more customers are flowing in. the project became a trendy product. and suddenly the whole website goes down. you are losing money so you reach out to your engineers and ask them to bring the website back up. they say that we can bring it up but cannot guarantee the uptime because we were not ready for so many customers and we didn't take into account how to support more people. for that we need 1 more months to redesign the system. that means a successful project will fail because you didn't consider the scalability.

You can think of software scalability as a busy road. As the number of cars (the users) increases, the road (i.e the software system) becomes congested, leading to traffic jams (system slowdown). Scalability is like having the ability to add more lanes to the road dynamically as traffic increases, or using technical improvements (metering lights, fixing potholes, removing choke points) to have a faster flow of vehicles. Designing a software to be scalable ensures that no matter how much traffic it faces - whether from an influx of new users or more data - the system can handle it smoothly. A scalable software (a road without traffic) ensure happy users (happy drivers).

You go to you favorite coffee shop to grab a cup of hot coffee. You would like to sweeten your coffee which was provided to you without sugar, however the coffee shop provides every customer 1 sugar crystal and if you need more you go again to the back of the line until your coffee reaches its desired taste. (which would be sweet but no more hot after a long while). However if he gave you a packet or packets of sugar your job is done and you could grab a nice corner couch and sip your hot coffee while reading a nice book. Scalability is like the sugar packet which gives you multiple crystals of sugar so that you can reach the sweetness to your liking without waiting in an ever increasing queue.

To allow business continue to grow, we would need to think the possibility of features that could be in the software project in the future. Not to tightly coupled the code, so that it would be easier to add on feature later on. It not only make things easier but also to the whole team or later team, who take on the responsibility for the new feature.

Ceci est vrai, une entreprise qui évolue mais se voit bloqué par sa technologie n'est nullement une chose appréciable pour celle-ci

Em um projeto com uma empresa de SaaS, utilizamos microservi?os e uma arquitetura distribuída para permitir a adi??o de novos servi?os sem comprometer a performance existente. Destaquei que essa abordagem, apesar de mais complexa, evitou a necessidade de reformula??es completas, economizando tempo e dinheiro. Isso ajudou as partes interessadas a entender que um design escalável suporta o crescimento do negócio de forma eficiente e contínua, permitindo que a empresa se adapte rapidamente às novas oportunidades de mercado e demandas dos clientes.

Scalable software design is crucial for sustainable business growth. By educating stakeholders about its importance, implementing scalable practices, and continuously preparing for future growth, you ensure that your software is ready to support the business’s evolving needs. Scalability means that when the business is ready to take on more customers or launch new features, the software can handle it seamlessly saving time, reducing costs, and providing a solid foundation for continued success.

Business growth is a company's increase in revenue, size, profitability, and market share over time. Internal expansion and increased output that doesn't rely on external factors like mergers and acquisitions. Intentional growth that's the result of a strategic initiative, such as developing a new product or market strategy

Très d'accord avec ce qui est dit, le UX est la partie de communication entre les utilisateurs et le système, il informe à (aux) utilisateurs ce qui se passe lorsqu'une action est déclenchée, lorsqu'il y a un problème qui survient, etc... Investir du temps dans la conception des interfaces graphiques(UX) qu'il faut est une garantie d'un bon logiciel durable

As the product expands to meet customer and market needs, the UX design should scale seamlessly without putting a dent into the user experience. "You should make it simpler yet better but not complex and worse" is my motto. UX designs should be comprehensive and include a central set of components , style guides, icons, patterns, code samples, assets etc which could be referenced and modified for scale. This should be clubbed with regular usability testing, market research and agile development. In fact the systems which support this design should also factor in statelessness, loose coupling, modularity etc as core build principles.

Scalability is essential for enhancing user experience by ensuring systems remain responsive and reliable under increased load. As user demands grow, scalable architectures provide the flexibility and efficiency needed to maintain high performance and availability. Implementing strategies like horizontal scaling, microservices, and auto-scaling ensures we can meet current and future demands effectively. Prioritizing scalability is key to delivering robust and resilient solutions.

Just like a well-organized store is essential for attracting and retaining customers, scalable software is crucial for delivering a positive user experience. Scalability impacts user engagement, builds trust and is essential for the future of the product. By prioritizing scalability, you're essentially investing in the foundation of a great user experience. This translates to a loyal customer base, increased brand reputation, and ultimately, the success of your software in the digital world.

Para ilustrar a importancia da escalabilidade na experiência do usuário, usei o exemplo de um parque temático de renome mundial. Expliquei que, assim como o parque precisa gerenciar grandes multid?es em dias de alta demanda sem comprometer a experiência dos visitantes, nosso software deve oferecer um desempenho consistente mesmo sob alta carga. Relatei como, em um projeto de streaming, implementamos uma CDN distribuída e balanceamento de carga, reduzindo tempos de carregamento e melhorando a UX. Mostrei feedbacks positivos dos usuários e métricas de desempenho aprimoradas, explicando como a escalabilidade mantém a satisfa??o do cliente e evita frustra??es durante períodos de uso intenso.

One thing I would find useful is to design an architecture that allows the software to expand in the future, that makes it scalable as soon as priorities, budget and time constraints allow. It does not mean building the entire expansion in the first version, but the architecture being prepared when the business requires it. The big question is, how do we know the vision and OKRs of the business so we can design the appropriate architecture? This is when the business must be clear about its medium-long term growth expectations. The software design requires more than a list of requirements: it needs business understanding.

Cost effectiveness on scaling is like tap controlling the water flow based on the water need to avoid water wastage. Software should be able to scale UP or DOWN based on the demand, So that resources are not over committed and ensures effective use the resources.

This question presumes that a focus on scalability is always a good thing… whereas that may not be the case. Understand the requirements, then solve for those, given very real business constraints including budgets and timelines. If scalability makes sense, sure - explain what it would take to get there. But if you’re expecting a hundred users, don’t bother designing for a million. As they say, premature optimization is the root of all evil.

Usei a analogia de uma frota de avi?es modernos para ilustrar a eficiência de custos. Expliquei que, assim como uma companhia aérea investe em aeronaves mais eficientes para economizar a longo prazo, investir em uma infraestrutura escalável reduz custos futuros. Em uma startup, utilizamos uma combina??o de recursos de computa??o flexíveis e otimizados para escalar economicamente. Mostrei gráficos de custos antes e depois, destacando como a escalabilidade inicial resultou em economias significativas e melhor planejamento financeiro. Isso ajudou as partes interessadas a entender que o investimento em escalabilidade é uma medida proativa que gera retornos substanciais ao longo do tempo.

According to current Market and Trends to get Clear and Strong Requirements from Clients and Initially, to find reasonable cost-based solutions for making Best UI with Open-Source Development Tools to grow their Business (or) free cloud solutions with robust, secured applications either web or mobile for Non-Business Users Experiences to scale their needs future

Scalable systems are generally more resilient. They can handle failure of individual components and spikes in traffic without going down. This reliability is crucial as our software becomes a critical part of our business operations.

Comparei a escalabilidade do software com planos de emergência de uma grande metrópole. Expliquei que, assim como uma cidade deve estar preparada para eventos inesperados como desastres naturais, nosso software precisa suportar picos repentinos de usuários. Relatei a experiência de um aplicativo de mídia social durante uma campanha viral, onde práticas de DevOps e auto-scaling evitaram quedas de sistema. Destaquei que essa prepara??o protegeu a receita e a reputa??o da empresa, ajudando as partes interessadas a entender a importancia de estar preparado para aumentos de demanda inesperados e mitigando riscos potenciais.

Scalability is also a risk management strategy. In a dynamic business environment, it is important to be prepared for unexpected increases in demand, such as those caused by a successful marketing campaign or a viral trend. Scalable software acts as insurance, protecting against the risk of operational failures and ensuring that the system can handle peak loads without sacrificing performance. This helps maintain business continuity and protect your company's reputation.

Il est important de penser en amont à tous les problèmes futur qui pourraient arriver et prévoir ce que sera le comportement du logiciel lorsqu'il fera face à ces problèmes

Companies need to be in constant growth and evolution. To achieve this, they must be agile in implementing new requirements and functionalities to maintain a competitive edge in the market. With this in mind, investing time in developing a scalable software solution reduces the time needed to implement these features. It avoids having multiple modules to modify, isolates sections, and allows for the atomicity of functionalities. This translates to fewer team members needed to develop, test, manage, and coordinate changes.

When a software product becomes successful, one challenge is its ability to scale and handle more user traffic gracefully. Designing with scalability in mind is key to ensure the product remains successful over time, despite rising traffic levels. Modern cloud infrastructures have helped applications to tap more computing power, but a poorly scalable product will ultimately have a high Total Cost Of Ownership and will need refactoring / rearchitecting to keep a leading position. "Think big" from the start is a great way to future-proof a product and eventually retain happy users.

One of the best way to convince non-technical stakeholders by showing them the ROI, return on investment i.e. investment can be time or money. Scalability is mostly considered while designing the Software Architecture and while Deployment. Check out all the use-cases those the software is addressing. Apply some variations to them, you will get the customization points. Thus you are providing options to sales. Calculate the time saved if considered at time of Design, i.e. good ROI plus a quick customer turnaround and a happy customer. Similarly calculate gaps between average load and targeted/desired load. Thus implementation automatic extending of load capacity at deployment needed i.e. good ROI & great user experience.