Make the quote benchmark fail when the generator cannot keep up
A promising result came from a generator sharing the API CPU quota. It slowed its own arrivals and reported a workload the service never received.
- Focused work estimate
- 2h + prerequisites
- Priority in the scenario
- Medium
- Engineering practice
- Benchmark validity · Load generation
Estimated field mix
- Performance engineering70%
- Quality engineering30%
Field percentages are editorial estimates of the ticket's engineering focus. They total 100%; they are not measured time, proficiency scores, or ownership evidence.
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Project context
A fictional freight broker sees slow quote responses at dispatch handover. The service looks healthy in average-latency charts, yet a few long requests occupy every worker. Build a small synthetic quote service and controlled dependency stub before taking implementation tickets.
Setup prerequisites
- Create a local quote endpoint and a deterministic carrier-price stub; no repository or dataset is supplied.
- Use synthetic routes and a fixed workload manifest. Record runtime, machine resources and instrumentation settings.
Preceding work
Complete these dependencies, or supply their agreed outputs before taking this ticket.
Acceptance criteria
- Record scheduled versus actual send time and count requests the generator could not issue.
- Invalidate comparisons when dispatch lag exceeds the manifest threshold or achieved load falls below the declared tolerance.
- Keep server and generator resource measurements distinguishable even when both run on one development machine.
Implementation constraints
- Document the local topology and quota allocation; do not require a paid load-testing service.
Verification to include
- Throttle the generator deliberately and verify the run is rejected as incomparable.
- Run a valid low-load fixture and reconcile planned, sent, completed and failed request totals.
Deliverables
- Generator health gate and an intentionally invalid benchmark sample
Rollout and recovery
Add the gate to the local benchmark command before accepting further performance comparisons.
Value of the work
For the engineer: Learn to distinguish queueing, dependency delay, CPU work and measurement mistakes using reproducible observations.
For the team: Produce a reviewable diagnosis and guarded changes that could guide a team investigating customer-visible latency.
Evidence boundaries
Outcome Evidence: Tests, patches, and runbooks are requested deliverables. They become Outcome Evidence only through a qualified Mission and immutable Evidence IDs.
Ownership Evidence: Independent adaptation must be observed under a declared verification policy and cite immutable Evidence IDs. Completing a planning ticket establishes no Ownership Evidence.