How Requestly setup Typo in a few days

Key results

40% reduction in review time

22% reduction in coding time

20% improvement in Developer Experience

How Requestly used Typo to gain visibility & improved engineering productivity at every level of its engineering organization

Requestly, a US-based YC company - which helps developers with API testing, faced challenges in optimizing its engineering processes to deliver more value to the growing user base. The Engineering Productivity team recognized the necessity for a data-driven approach to enhance software development speed and quality. This case study outlines how Requestly leveraged Typo to improve engineering productivity and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Identifying the Challenges

Requestly's initial efforts to track engineering metrics revealed several key issues:

• Data Quality and Granularity: Existing dashboards struggled to provide reliable, up-to-date, and granular data on software development speed. Metrics such as DORA were challenging to maintain due to their dynamic nature.

• Limited Interaction with Data: Engineers required tools that allowed deeper interaction with data for effective root cause analysis and meaningful changes in engineering processes.

• No specific improvement goals: Although team bottlenecks were identified, no measurable improvements were seen in the teams.

• Pull Model of Data Access: The previous system necessitated engineers to actively check for updates on metrics rather than receiving timely insights, leading to inefficiencies.

Implementing Solutions

To overcome these challenges, Requestly's Engineering Productivity team undertook several strategic steps while implementing Typo:

Improving Data Hygiene

The day they signed up with Typo, the team focused on enhancing data hygiene across their systems, ensuring better consistency in metrics tracking.

Creating Unified Dashboards

Requestly introduced a a hybrid framework that consolidated critical metrics (DORA + SPACE) into a single dashboard. This approach allowed engineers easy access to essential metrics without navigating multiple platforms. The dashboard structure included:

• Layer 1 - A high-level overview dashboard displaying the DORA Metrics.

  
• Layer 2 - Supporting metrics that provided quick analysis options alongside the main metrics.

  
• Layer 3 - Links for root cause analysis directing users to specific views in Typo with pre-set filters.

  

  

• Layer 4: Gathering qualitative data & feedback from the DevEx surveys to understand problems at the team level.

This layered approach streamlined data access and encouraged deeper metrics exploration as needed.

Setting up Team Goals

Once the team analyzed the data and identified improvement areas like high PR review time and large PRs slowing down the overall delivery, Requestly defined specific improvement goals to ensure progress.

Transitioning to a Push Model

To further ensure actions and continuous improvement, Requestly transitioned to a push model for insights & team alerts delivery:

Real-Time Notifications: Teams adopted Typo’s notification system for real-time updates on their goals against set targets.̌ This approach ensured that teams remained on top of the delays & bottlenecks.

Building Trust in Data

As Requestly integrated Typo into their workflow, trust in the provided data grew significantly:

• Increased Adoption: What began as a trial with a small group of engineers quickly expanded as teams recognized the value of Typo's insights.

• Focus on Value-Added Activities: Engineering analysts shifted their focus from maintaining data pipelines for standard metrics to engaging in more meaningful activities such as data analysis and strategic decision-making.

Results and Impact

The collaboration between Requestly and Typo has led to substantial improvements in engineering productivity:

• Enhanced Decision-Making: With reliable access to high-level and granular data, teams can make informed decisions that positively impact software delivery timelines and quality.

• Cultural Shift Towards Data Utilization: Engineers have begun incorporating data insights into their daily workflows, fostering a culture of continuous improvement within the organization.

• Streamlined Operations: The Engineering Productivity team has been able to concentrate on strategic initiatives rather than being bogged down by manual data management tasks.

Key Takeaways

• Data-Driven Insights: Leverage Typo's data to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

• Continuous Improvement: Set goals, track progress, and iterate on your processes for optimal efficiency.

• Expert Support: Utilize Typo's support team for guidance and best practices.

By following these steps and leveraging Typo's powerful features, Requestly significantly improved its team's engineering productivity and achieved its development goals.