Recently we began optimizing code in one of our projetcs because certain queries where taking 30 mins to run and the server was getting seriously nailed (there was a pile of data to search).

Andy Duncan, an ex-Thoughtworker and good friend has been consulting to White Wall Web for the past three months and helping our team to improve approaches and practices. One of the mantras that Andy D has brought to White Wall Web is “Make it work. Make it work fast.” This means first getting the application to do what is needs to do (meet acceptance criteria, pass automated tests) and then make it work fast (code and database optimisation).

This article by Russ Olsen is a great summary of some of the code considerations.

I plan to do a podcast with Andy in the near future describing how we attacked our particular speed issue on this project, so watch this space.