Cutter & Squidge offers a "nominated delivery date" feature, allowing customers to schedule treats for birthdays, anniversaries, and special moments. However, the existing date picker system had become increasingly unreliable.

The tool was plagued by technical glitches and inaccuracies that caused friction at the most sensitive point of the customer journey. These failures often disrupted backend order processing and, most critically, began to erode the hard-earned trust of their customers. With no documentation or handover from the previous development agency, the system was a "black box" that needed urgent intervention.

Taking over a complex system without a map requires deep analysis and strategic planning. My approach was divided into three crucial phases:

• Technical Analysis: Without a comprehensive developer guide, I performed a deep-dive audit of the existing code and microservices architecture. By mapping how these services communicated within the AWS cloud environment, the Shopify and MongoDB cluster, I gained a holistic understanding of the data flow and identified the architectural bottlenecks.
• Collaborative Diagnostics: I worked closely with the Cutter & Squidge team to discuss technical symptoms and business impact. This collaborative phase allowed us to isolate critical bugs and identify where the outdated architectural design was failing the current scale of the business.
• Strategic Refactoring: Rather than applying a temporary patch, I executed a "smart upgrade" strategy. This involved modernising outdated dependencies and platform requirements that were holding the system back, ensuring the fix was integrated into a more stable, future-proof environment.

The transformation turned a point of failure into a pillar of strength for the eCommerce platform. Key outcomes included:

• Architectural Integrity: By upgrading the underlying infrastructure and rectifying long-standing bugs, we eliminated the inaccuracies that previously hindered the user experience.
• High-Pressure Performance: The system was stress-tested to ensure it could handle significant traffic spikes during peak seasons (like Christmas and Mother’s Day) without compromising accuracy.
• Operational Peace of Mind: These enhancements safeguarded the integrity of the entire order management process, ensuring that when a customer picks a date for their celebration, Cutter & Squidge can deliver on that promise with absolute confidence.