Day one: a blank folder. Day three: 3,500 people had somewhere to register.
The three-day build
A client (name withheld)
A housing client needed a registration platform for a live event, and needed it in days. We built it from scratch and it was taking registrations 72 hours after the first line of code. It went on to hold more than 3,500 people.
Results, from the case record
From first line of code to live
People registered
Day one. A brief that fitted on one screen: people need to register for an event, the event is soon, and the tools they had tried didn't fit how the event works. We chose to build rather than bend. By the end of the day the data model, the registration flow and the admin view existed on a laptop.
Day two. The platform met the real world: the fields the organisers needed, the confirmations attendees expected, and the load it had to take when the link went out all at once. We tested it the way the event would use it.
Day three. Live. Registrations were coming in before the day ended.
Then the part no one plans for: the platform held up. More than 3,500 people registered through it.
What we'd tell anyone with the same problem: three days was possible because we built exactly the thing needed and nothing around it. That's the express lane, and it exists for anyone whose deadline is closer than their options.