How I removed the middleman, one phone call at a time

Short summary

A platform engineer proposed eliminating an unnecessary vendor middleman after a performance complaint, leading to a two-year architectural refactoring that benefited both parties. The story teaches that operational complaints often hide root architectural questions, and that real change requires aligned interests between parties. Latecomers can reshape platform architecture when vendor dependencies no longer serve both sides.

• •Started when vendor complained about high push frequency; author proposed removing per-storefront file duplication instead
• •Two-year incremental refactoring removed middleman entirely by making file fetches direct with URL parameters
• •Key lesson: symptom requests hide architectural questions; meaningful change requires vendor alignment, not just conviction

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