Lessons from Supporting Hundreds of Peak Traffic Events with Praveen Thakur

Smooth Scaling: System Design for High Traffic

In this episode of Smooth Scaling, Jose is joined by Praveen Thakur, Queue-it’s Head of Technical Engagement, APAC who shares what it takes to prepare for and succeed during high-traffic online events. From coordinating mission control rooms to navigating bot threats and post-event analysis, Praveen shares lessons learned from years of hands-on experience with retailers, ticketing providers, and government organizations. The discussion offers a behind-the-scenes look at the technical and organizational decisions that shape successful peak traffic events.

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Praveen Thakur is Head of Technical Engagement, APAC at Queue-it, where he works closely with teams across the region on technical integration, performance readiness, and post-event analysis. With over 13 years of experience spanning product engineering, consulting, and in-house IT roles, he brings deep expertise in cloud, DevOps, and distributed systems. He’s particularly focused on aligning technology decisions with business goals and building resilient, outcome-oriented teams.

This podcast is hosted by José Quaresma, researched by Joseph Thwaites and produced by Perseu Mandillo.

• (00:00) - Welcome to the Smooth Scaling Podcast
• (01:00) - What is technical engagement at Queue-it?
• (04:03) - How Praveen became head of technical engagement
• (07:09) - Preparing retailers for peak traffic events
• (15:11) - Scheduled events vs. 24/7 peak protection
• (18:21) - Why you might restrict traffic intentionally
• (20:48) - Inside a mission control “war room”
• (26:50) - Post-event evaluation & common mistakes
• (28:14) - Covering the full user journey
• (30:10) - How the bot landscape has changed
• (32:22) - There are no bullet proof solutions against bots
• (34:07) - Rapid-fire questions with Praveen Thakur
• (37:42) - Wrapping up the episode

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