Case Studies

A collection of technical challenges I’ve tackled, showcasing problem-solving, leadership, and architectural thinking across various domains.

Note: In some cases I implemented the solution myself. In others, I have discovered problems and architected the cure. Still others, I coordinated with team members and we came up with a solution together.

📊 Ed-Fi Real-Time Dashboard

Situation: ETL processing with limited visibility during high-stress reporting periods, with 268M-536M records stored in SQL tables increasing lookup and join complexity
Task: Build enhanced real-time troubleshooting dashboard with significantly improved visibility and transparency
Action:
UI Implementation: Implemented comprehensive dashboard based on Subject Matter Expert requirements, advocated for UX improvements that were adopted during development
Real-Time Architecture: Implemented Server-Sent Events with parsimonious data layer design, live updating UI only on relevant changes
Performance Optimization: Addressed efficiency issues during development by analyzing SQL wait time statistics, optimizing queries with appropriate includes, simplified data layer by removing unnecessary soft delete checks
Database Complexity Management: Led the handling of increased complexity from massive record volumes in SQL tables affecting lookup and join performance
Result: ✅ Dramatically enhanced process transparency and troubleshooting capabilities • Significant customer satisfaction increase • Enhanced quality through better algorithm transparency • Delivered comprehensive real-time monitoring for critical reporting periods

🚀 UI Modernization Project

Situation: Flagship SIS application serving thousands of schools needed modernization across 450+ pages with significant technical debt
Task: Lead 18-person engineering team (including offshore contractors) through two-phase UI overhaul to next major version
Action:
Technical Leadership: Overcame massive technical debt by repairing Bootstrap framework, creating modular JavaScript components for jQuery + ASPX environment
Quality Assurance: Implemented universal component testing across all 450 pages, accounting for unscoped page-level changes
Team Leadership: Daily blocker resolution, pair programming mentorship, multi-timezone standups, extensive contractor communication
Culture Building: Fostered psychological safety and collaborative environment for team success
Crisis Management: When Phase 2 failed due to race condition in concurrent scenarios, represented team in root cause analysis and helped lead execution of remedies for successful re-release
Result: ✅ Phase 1: Successful launch of next major product version • Improved accessibility with better contrast ratios • Enhanced user experience with reduced visual saturation • Increased customer confidence through demonstrated commitment • Measured success via user interaction analytics and satisfaction surveys • Converted Phase 2 failure into learning opportunity and successful re-launch

🧪 Automated Testing Initiative

Situation: Legacy system with 0% test coverage, senior technical leadership convinced unit testing was "impossible" to implement
Task: Introduce automated testing to improve reliability and development confidence in previously untested codebase
Action:
Technical Innovation: Overcame "impossible" constraints using Dependency Inversion principles (Factories, Delegates, NSubstitute mocking)
Proof of Concept: Built working examples to demonstrate feasibility and gain buy-in from skeptical senior/lead developers
Knowledge Transfer: Trained direct team through pair programming sessions, advocated for and mentored developers during TDD adoption across teams
Cultural Change: Shifted team mindset from "testing is impossible" to "testing is standard practice"
Result: ✅ Transformed 0% coverage legacy system into testable architecture • Achieved steady growth in line coverage percentages • Increased team confidence in legacy code modifications • Paved the way for unit testing as standard team practice across multiple teams

🏗️ Microservice Architecture Design

Situation: Greenfield project requiring scalable microservice architecture with no existing company standards or templates
Task: Design company's first microservice and create reusable template for future development teams
Action:
Domain Extraction: Identified and extracted Security domain along with configuration entities from monolithic patterns
Architectural Design: Ported and templatized Hexagonal architecture with CQRS pattern and RESTful API design
Template Creation: Built flexible template allowing domain customization (Student, etc.) based on microservice needs
Standard Establishment: Developed approach that became mandatory standard for all subsequent microservice development
Result: ✅ Created company's first microservice architecture standard • Ported Hexagonal + CQRS + REST pattern as organizational template • Enabled rapid microservice initiation for future teams • Template adopted as mandatory standard after project completion • Laid foundation for scalable distributed system architecture

🤖 AI-Powered Purchase Categorization

Situation: Monthly financial categorization nightmare - matching Amazon purchases to bank charges with cryptic transaction descriptions
Task: Automate transaction matching and generate human-readable purchase descriptions for budget categorization
Action:
Data Integration: Built logic connecting Amazon order history with YNAB API across multiple bank accounts
Matching Algorithm: Implemented charge amount matching system with 70-80% accuracy (sufficient for use case)
AI Enhancement: Integrated GPT-4 API to transform cryptic Amazon descriptions into 3-4 word human-readable memos
Experimentation: Tested o1-mini for reasoning portions, optimized prompts for consistent categorization output
Result: ✅ Automated 50+ monthly transactions with 70-80% matching accuracy • Reduced monthly categorization time from manual effort to automated processing • Saved 1 hour monthly through AI-powered transaction description • Demonstrated practical AI integration for personal finance automation

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