Defining Fast: The Hardest Problem in Performance Engineering

We all want fast sites, but what is fast? What is performant? We may know it when we see; yet quantifying and communicating about web performance effectively is still a challenge. In this talk, we will discuss our ever-evolving set of standards for what comprises a fast site. With special attention to the problems that ads and analytics present for publishers, we will discuss how antiquated notions of web performance are a ripe environment for abuses by 3rd party code. Finally, we will discuss techniques for improving performance monitoring as a tool for institutional change.

Transcript

1. Defining Fast The Hardest Problem in Performance Engineering Zack Tollman | Condé Nast
2. Menu Master
7. Time to Sammich
12. The Load Event
16. Golden Age of Performance Metrics
17. Too Many Metrics
18. JS Parse/Compile Time Load Time Start Render First Contentful Paint MS First Paint Total Byte Weight Time to Interactive First CPU Idle Hero Element Load Time DOM Content Loaded First Paint Total Requests Perceptual Speed Index First Meaningful Paint Speed Index
19. Tools Are Fantastic
20. What Should You Care About?
21. Does the Page Appear to be Loading?
22. Server Timing API - Time to First Byte Start Render - First Paint First Contentful Paint
23. Can I see meaningful content?
24. First Meaningful Paint Speed Index Element Timing API
25. Can I click on or scroll the page?
26. First CPU Idle First Input Delay Rage Clicks
27. Does the page continue to be usable?
28. Time to Interactive Long Tasks User Timing API
30. Philip Walton User-centric Performance Metrics https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/user-centric-performance-metrics
31. Metrics Picked Now What?
32. Measure The Metrics
33. Synthetic And Real User Monitoring
34. Location
35. Network
36. Device
37. Browser
38. Test Frequency
39. RUM: Real User Monitoring
40. Variance is Provided
41. Instrumentation Challenges
42. Test with Synthetic
43. Verify with RUM
44. Data
45. mean median average percentiles standard deviation
46. Consider Your Audience
47. Report Raw Values
49. Competitor Comparisons
50. Percent Change
51. Business metric correlations
52. Defining Fast Defines Your Performance Culture
53. Don't Let Others Define Your Culture
54. speakerdeck.com/tollmanz