What caused the sudden 30% increase in failed transactions for Gojek Tech's GoFood delivery service during peak lunch hours yesterday?

Introduction

The sudden 30% increase in failed transactions for Gojek Tech's GoFood delivery service during peak lunch hours yesterday is a critical issue that demands immediate attention. This analysis will systematically identify, validate, and address the root cause while considering both short-term fixes and long-term strategic implications.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Looking at the timing, I'm thinking this could be a capacity issue. Can you confirm if there were any unusual spikes in order volume during the affected period?

Why it matters: Helps determine if the system was overwhelmed by unexpected demand. Expected answer: Yes, there was a 40% increase in order volume. Impact on approach: If confirmed, we'd focus on scaling infrastructure and load balancing.

• Given the specificity of "failed transactions," I'm wondering about our error logging. Have we seen any particular error codes or patterns in the failure data?

Why it matters: Pinpoints specific technical issues causing the failures. Expected answer: There's been a spike in timeout errors. Impact on approach: If true, we'd investigate network issues or database performance.

• Considering it's a lunch hour problem, I'm curious about restaurant partner performance. Have we noticed any changes in restaurant response times or cancellation rates?

Why it matters: Identifies potential issues on the supply side. Expected answer: No significant changes observed in restaurant metrics. Impact on approach: If confirmed, we'd shift focus to our internal systems rather than partner issues.

• With recent product updates in mind, were any new features or changes deployed to the GoFood service in the past week?

Why it matters: Helps isolate if a recent change is causing the issue. Expected answer: A new payment gateway was integrated two days ago. Impact on approach: If true, we'd prioritize investigating the new integration and its impact on transaction processing.