Introduction
Topcoder, part of Wipro since its 2016 acquisition of Appirio, is a crowdsourcing marketplace where a global community of developers, designers and data scientists compete in challenges posted by enterprises. Clients, including Wipro's own delivery teams, post development challenges (for example, "build this API" or "fix these bugs"), members submit solutions, and winners are paid prizes. A key health metric is valid submissions per development challenge, because clients need several good submissions to pick a strong winner. Over one quarter, this metric fell 20%. The question asks me to find the root cause. I'll follow a structured RCA framework.
Marketplaces have two sides. A drop in submissions could come from supply (fewer or less motivated members), demand (different or less attractive challenges) or the matching layer between them. Check all three before forming hypotheses.
Step 1
Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)
Why it matters: A stricter validation rule could reduce valid submissions without any real change. Expected answer: A submission passing automated checks (builds, passes base tests). A new AI-generated code detection check was added mid-quarter. Impact on approach: Investigate the validation change.
Why it matters: Narrows the search. Expected answer: Largest drop in development challenges; design and data science stable. Impact on approach: Focus on development.
Why it matters: Distinguishes demand-side and supply-side causes. Expected answer: Challenges up 15%; registrants per challenge down 8%; submissions per registrant down 13%. Impact on approach: Both participation and conversion fell.
Why it matters: Incentives drive marketplace behaviour. Expected answer: Average prize per challenge fell slightly; a payment provider change happened for some countries. Impact on approach: Check incentives and payment issues.
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