Petbarn

This project was given to Overdose. with functionality and a foundation already implemented, We initially had to review and understand how the project had been set up. With still many unknowns and incomplete work within the site.

We jumped right into it, determined what was left and started developing with still many requirements to be figured out and confirmed. This meant that Petbarn, Greencross, Overdose. and their integration partners had to work together, shift and pivot based on different priorities that appeared.

Due to the nature of the historical challenges and delays that had occurred prior to Overdose. partnering with Greencross, timelines were tight. In fact, providing concrete timelines was incredibly difficult due to the lack of visibility on the site's current state of play with development. It made for some honest and transparent conversations which, to the credit of Petbarn and Greencross, were understood with the goal being to work together to get the site over the line.

Overdose, Petbarn and Greencross worked tirelessly to hit the timelines set by engaging the most senior resources in the business. This meant that it became a global effort in working with resources from different offices at Overdose. to have round-the-clock development. Some all-nighters were had as the common goal was shared across everyone involved.

Petbarn and Greencross are both substantial businesses that require a lot of detail and approval internally to manage the changes, as well as needing to write new requirements on the go (mid-build). It really was a considerable effort and collaboration between Overdose., Petbarn and all other participating vendors.

With multiple local project managers and senior stakeholders heavily involved from both client-side and vendors, steering the ship through to go live became somewhat of an easier journey.

A company the size of Petbarn meant that there is a rich database required to be migrated to the new platform. The size and magnitude of the task was largely underestimated which meant that Petbarn, Greencross and their partners needed to work together to tirelessly get it in a position where there would be no mistakes once it went live.

Petbarn, Greencross and their partners had multiple "dry-runs" where a very detailed and structured go-live plan was simulated in an all-hands-on-deck approach that involved senior resources across the board which meant late nights for everyone involved. This mitigated quite possibly the biggest risk to the project's success as it became a do-or-die situation.