The slow upstream API
A dependency cannot respond within the interactive time budget. · PM Drills · 08 · 30 sec–2 min
The slow upstream API · 30 sec–2 min
Situation
“The upstream API is too slow synchronously.”
Engineering says a supplier service sometimes takes 30 seconds. The proposed interface expects an immediate result.
Think before scrolling
What do you need to understand before suggesting a fix?
Ask about the user task, latency distribution, freshness, failure behavior, and whether the work must finish while the user waits.
How a strong PM thinks
Clarify the promise before the architecture.
If users need immediate confirmation, delayed processing may not meet the need. If a report can arrive later, a background job with durable status may fit. Cached results could help only if their freshness is acceptable.
Ask about retries and timeouts too. A slow response and a failed operation are different states. Let engineering compare options once the product constraints are clear.
Takeaway
A technical limit can require a different interaction.
Define acceptable waiting and freshness before choosing queues, caching, or another dependency.