CPU Saturation vs CPU Spike: Why IT Systems Slow Down and How to See It
CPU spikes and sustained CPU saturation affect IT performance differently. Learn how to tell them apart and respond with the right tools and actions.
A school day, written plainly
Delay Desk explains why IT systems slow down and how to see the evidence before users complain. We turn metrics, traces, and real incidents into clear lessons for teams at every level.
One subject, one sitting
Each essay picks one part of school and shows how to work on it in a single sitting.
Watch one lesson
Latest essays
Flame Graphs: Turning Raw Samples Into a Map of Where Time Is Spent
Learn to read flame graphs, find slow code paths, and turn sampling data into clear performance decisions.
When Memory Reclamation Pauses Work: Why Garbage Collection Stalls at the Worst Moments
Why garbage collection pauses cause latency spikes, how to spot them in metrics and traces, and how to reduce their impact on response times
IT Performance: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Measuring, and Improving Systems
Learn why IT systems slow down and how to measure performance using key metrics, bottlenecks, and monitoring basics for reliable operations.
Why IT systems slow down: how N+1 query patterns slow down web applications
Learn how N+1 query patterns slow down web applications by creating repeated small queries and avoidable round trips, and how to detect them early.
IT Performance and the Hidden Tax: Why Small Network Delays Multiply Across Every Request
Small network delays multiply across dependencies, quietly degrading IT performance. Learn how to see, measure, and reduce hidden latency costs.