The launch of healthcare.gov has brought a tidal wave of criticism. Some say the code was buggy, others blame the servers, and still others blame the user experience. While we may not be able to pinpoint exactly what went wrong, one thing is certain: What should have been a great day for many Americans became the worst day for the technology providers behind healthcare.gov.
But healthcare.gov isn’t the only site to experience a bad launch day; it just happens to be the latest example of how a site that goes live before it’s ready can cause more harm than good. When we only look at technology projects in terms of code and hardware, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Technology projects should support the people, the projects, and the objectives of the mission they are being built to support.
With that in mind, Jessica Richmond, senior director of Government Professional Services at Acquia, has put together some tips for site developers to ensure that when a site gets the green light to go live, it’s ready for peak performance, regardless of the amount of traffic it may experience.