Case Study: Delivering the Shopify 2.0 Upgrade for Spectrum Therapeutics

“The Mountain” adj. (The inevitable challenge in a developer’s career where they get too overwhelmed by a project to continue and need immediate intervention or assistance).

Overview

The Mountain is exactly what we faced when I joined the team and the project halfway through development. We experienced significant challenges, including unclear scope, lack of task clarity, unrealistic expectations, and team burnout. To top it off, the lead developer was fed up and ready to walk away.

Challenge

The team was under pressure from an unclear scope, unrealistic deadlines, and complex project requirements. The extended working hours were affecting team enthusiasm and productivity.

Our Lead Developer was experiencing putting their continued involvement, the project completion, and the team’s overall capabilities at risk.

Complex technical challenges due to the nature of the industry meant add-to-cart and checkout experience required complex logic. A further challenge involving compatibility with extensive data-analytic integrations added layers of complexity.

Solution

Addressing team burnout was my priority. Our problem was we “Couldn’t See the Forest for the Trees” meaning we were too focused on the details and didn’t properly understand the project in its larger context.

We needed to regroup so I made an action plan and took the first step, immediately stopping all project development. Although we were already facing a tight deadline, what we were facing was getting the project done or having the project fail and I’d pick done; every time.

Now that we had a second to think, the next step was to define the project scope. I combed through the client documentation and SOW searching through old JIRA tickets and email records to create our internal project plan. As I did this, I asked our lead developer to create a code map. The client had folders of snippets, templates, and sections containing hundreds of files and without an understanding of the logic and relationship between each, we couldn’t build.

Once we had both the project scope and the code map I worked with the lead developer to define the required project tasks, the definitions of done for each task, the assignee, the due date, and the estimated development hours required.

Using my newly created Notion project management board, I set up a project landing page with key contacts, and a decision log, and assigned everyone their tasks. After a week of strategy, we were back—ready to see this to the end.

Result

20% Increase in Team Productivity

Team efficiency improved due to enhanced engagement and optimized workflows.

$10,000 Saved in Project Costs

By enhancing our efficiency and streamlining processes, we significantly improved output.

Zero Turnover During Project

All team members including the Lead Developer, are still on the team.

Final Thoughts

We completed the upgrade before the deadline, allowing for the required QA testing. The Lead Developer remained with the team, contributing significantly to the project's success. The client was happy, praising our professionalism and the seamless upgrade.