Even before we launched this platform, interested parties would nod sagely and ask me what operating system or components we used to get this show on the road (PartfinderMarine.com).

I’m not in the least bit ashamed to say I found it hard to answer the question. Mostly because I had no clue. I was not a developer as such, but a software meddler and marketing product specialist with delusions of grandeur.

The true answer would have been – which one?

We use a number of industry-standard software components and thread them together with a minimum of thought, effort and the biggest dose of black magic we can get away with. No-one would have been the least bit wiser. But at least I did know the difference between the .NET of the mighty Microsoft and the dark side of the equation: PHP, free and unchained.

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Fast forward nearly twenty years.

Nobody cares which PHP version runs PartfinderMarine. Nobody cares which PHP framework sits behind the parts search (Symfony, if you are really interested. Ed.). Nobody knows or even cares what silken threads weave the components into a living, breathing and rapidly responding trading platform. Full of seals, bearings, piston rings, solenoid valves, pumps and injectors.

In the same way, nobody aboard a vessel particularly cares about the obscure seal, relay, sensor or bearing quietly doing its job.

Until they do.

Then suddenly that anonymous little component can hold up a vessel, a repair, a cargo, or an entire operation. Then look out. Nerves are stretched, pressure builds and rushed decisions can lead to catastrophic errors of judgement.

Technology is no different. Remember what happened to TNT when they were hacked? Their worldwide operations were crippled and the effects lingered for months. FedEx, who had bought TNT the previous year, eventually put the financial impact at around $400 million.

It’s no different here. We spend hours making sure PF users don’t notice what is happening behind the scenes.

That wasn’t failure to get recognition.

That was the whole objective.

Successful maintenance is often invisible.

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This week’s upgrade provided the perfect real example.

We upgraded PF’s underlying technology. Ideally, thousands of users should neither know nor care. They don’t visit PartfinderMarine to admire PHP, databases, server configuration or WordPress plumbing.

They come because they need the platform to work.

And that translates beautifully into business generally. Customers don’t reward you every morning because the website loaded, the email arrived, the payment system worked or the database returned the right answer. Those things are simply expected.

Ships are much the same. Most of the machinery aboard attracts very little attention while doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Perhaps the best compliment you can pay the people who keep essential systems running is that most of the time, nobody notices what they do.

Thank you, PartfinderMarine Dev. Team!