Blackthorn Vision

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of software at Berkeley Lights. We’re a biotech company in Emeryville, California. We do single-cell manipulation and analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blackthorn Vision?

Our primary business challenge was developing a new piece of software to analyze and display the results from our machines.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Blackthorn Vision has been involved from the beginning. They’ve done almost all the software development on this product. We initially came up with the design of the application, and Blackthorn Vision took it from there.

The team has built the product using C#, Windows Presentation Foundation, OpenCV, and Telerik. They’ve also done a lot of UI design using Figma, creating a complex graphical UI with some data manipulation. Additionally, the product communicates with our AWS web service.

What is the team composition?

We have 10–12 teammates, including a project manager, some software developers, and a UI designer.

How did you come to work with Blackthorn Vision?

I wasn’t involved in the particular hiring process. The people involved in the product left the company, so I inherited it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent $3 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2018, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still shipping the product, so we don’t have a large customer base right now. However, Blackthorn Vision’s work is of great quality. They’ve delivered what we’ve asked for in a timely manner. Overall, it’s been a good relationship.

How did Blackthorn Vision perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re flexible with the resources; they’ve been able to staff up or down accordingly. Moreover, Blackthorn Vision has been accommodating and communicative, and their leadership has been cooperative and understanding.

We communicate through Slack, Zoom, and email. Additionally, our project manager passes the bug reports down, and they use Azure DevOps to store the software, track bugs through the system, and make feature requests. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism distinguishes them. Blackthorn Vision’s teammates are good listeners and good workers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything in particular.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Any time you work with consultants, you must have a clear definition of the product. We wasted a lot of money because we didn’t know what we wanted. We started one way and then made several changes. Blackthorn Vision accommodated all the changes, but if you specify exactly what you need to do, you’ll save a lot of money.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our organization is a provider of integrated hardware and software solutions to the oil and gas industry with a global footprint and expertise in optimizing upstream and midstream operations. I am a Digital Architect reporting to the Chief Digital Officer of the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC, and what were your goals?

Our organization initially selected Blackthorn Vision LLC to assist with development of our web-based user interface for our real-time monitoring, surveillance, and control platform. The scope has since grown to include development work on the back-end technology stack, web UI development for one of our embedded industrial products, and UX design for our entire portfolio of software products.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The UI and UX work grew as a natural extension of the web-based UI development Blackthorn had been assisting us with for a couple of years. We required additional UI design capacity to assist our UX leader, so we brought on support from Blackthorn.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The UX and UI design work is now primarily conducted through Sketch and Figma. Detailed sessions with the Domain/Subject Matter Experts, Product Owners and Product Managers. Typically, multiple versions of the concepts are designed, and more complicated initiatives will often have navigable mock-ups that people can click-through to understand navigation and usability mechanics.

The UI designer is then able to communicate with the local Team Leads, Project Managers and front-end developers to identify any blockers, high-risk components, or disproportionally time consuming aspects of the design and, if necessary, iterate on lower-risk or lower-effort solutions that still meet the objective.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our entire engagement is approximately two dozen people but the main UI and UX work happens through the lead UI developer we have assigned. They then leverage the local team leads, project managers, and developers as elaborated above for support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Clients and potential customers frequently comment on how attractive the newly designed UI is and some of the key UX innovations in our product are important product differentiators. Significant contributions to the UI and UX were made by Blackthorn Vision LLC and our primary Blackthorn UI designer has now taken responsibility for extending and maintaining our corporate Design Language System for all software products.

The quality of the work and engagement has been so good that many of the responsibilities of the original UX leader have now been delegated to the lead UX designer at Blackthorn.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The local management team is professional, polite, and direct. I personally appreciate the candor the team has and this is, in my opinion, a key to success that is often missing with remotely located software development (the customer is NOT always right). A healthy dialog and constructive approach to building the solution/solving the problem is definitely preferable to just simply attempting to implement exactly what was asked.

The lead UI/UX developer is one of the most positive and energetic people I have worked with. She is always eager to make one more iteration, or re-think one of our assumptions if our design doesn't seem to work once we see the mockup - and this allows to to rapidly iterate until we have a solution we're happy with. She records our discussion sessions and then dissects those for the key points to make sure the designs hit not only the specifics but the intent. I really enjoy working with the Blackthorn UI/UX developer.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I travelled to Lviv,UKR to meet the CEO and team in person and I was impressed with several things.

1. The average technical qualifications and competencies of the team is quite high
2. The team skews fairly young, so there are many ambitious developers with 5-7 years experience and fresh perspective on state-of-the-art web development technologies
3. It appears the organization places a fairly high importance on working together, face to face. Generally speaking, I think this provides an advantage over totally remote teams, as some things are easier solved with a face to face discussion or with a whiteboard.
4. Generally, engagement is quite high, and there are several stand-out Blackthorn team members that have clearly made a point of investing themselves in making the project and product a success. By this I mean that they go beyond simply executing a task, story or test and are genuinely interested in understanding what the end user wants/needs. Our lead UI/UX developer is one of these people.
5. I believe Blackthorn provides excellent value for the development dollar

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Generally speaking, I am very pleased with what Blackthorn delivers and how we interact. Within the scope of the UI/UX development my experience has been only positive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Director of Technical recruitment and AMD responsible for finding teams to work for our clients

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC, and what were your goals?

We contracted Blackthorn for one of our US client that is developing AR apps for mobile

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

after long interviews and a lot of candidates, Blackthorn was the most professional team and offered the best rates on the market.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The team was working from the very beginning of the project till now on supporting it and updating it with new features.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

at the beginning we had 2 developers and 1 PM. Now we have 1 dev and a PM

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since we were working more than 3 years already on the project, we have a very successful project and a happy client.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We were working with PM that is doing a great job on communication side. Also about developers, they all have a great english level so they can communicate easily with other inhouse devs. Everything has been perfect from a communication standpoint.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

One of the most impressive fact about Blackthorn is that they are very sustainable and stable partner. Good communication, good dedication for their job and taking a lot of responsibility on their project.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not for now :)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Sr Program Manager at Selux Diagnostics. We are a Boston-based company developing precision diagnostics for infectious diseases.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC, and what were your goals?

From UX design through UI/Full Stack development and test, Blackthorn UX designers, software developers and SQA testers have become an integral extension of our in-house development and test teams. As a start up our product goals and challenges can shift rapidly. We needed a development and test partner with access to highly-skilled technical personnel and be flexible enough to grow and shift with us as project demands required.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Blackthorn's resource skill sets were at least as good, and in some cases better, than those of the other 2 competitors we were evaluating at the same time. Both Blackthorn's cost and responsiveness throughout the quoting and selection period made them the clear choice for Selux Dx.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Initially our request was for 2 developers, a front-end React developer and a full Stack developer experienced in .Net Core platform, as well as a Sr SQA engineer to assist with test while we were attempting to hire similar or additional resources (i.e, UX designer, data scientist, etc) in the US. The hiring market was very competitive at the time for the skill sets needed in the US so reqs for the same resources were opened with Blackthorn as well.

In almost every case, Blackthorn had been able to find skilled resources faster with rates more competitive than what we could tolerate as a start up when leveraging the US resource pool. In many cases resources were asked to learn new technologies, such as MicroSoft DB and Identify Server technologies, as well as learning and effectively utilizing our in-house planning and tracking tools. Blackthorn resources have also introduced tools for use by Selux Diagnostics, such as Figma for UX design.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Almost two years later we have grown to 2 UX designers, 4 developers, approx 6 SQA testers and an SQA lead, as well as a project manager/scrum master. We have worked directly with the Chief Delivery Officer and an Account Manager to continuously improve our partnership. In every case Blackthorn has been receptive and responsive to our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Leveraging Blackthorn resources has contributed to our level of productively. We now have a method for gaining UI design input prior to development, reducing rework on UI design iterations.

And during the inevitable crunch periods Blackthorn was able to rapidly increase our access to a skilled resource pool on a temporary basis to meet important milestones that could not be missed, such as our 510k submission in June 2021. After the intense crunch period of about 6-8 weeks, which included having resources work over-time in many cases, Blackthorn was able to scale resources back to pre-crunch levels.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Blackthorn resources are embedded in our team and serve as an extension to our workforce. They have delivered against tasks assigned within sprint cycles as expected, have picked up the use of our requirements and issues tracking tool (Perforce HELIX) as well as leveraging Helix and Asana for scrum and project management activities; all tools used in-house at Selux. Rabid communication is managed through MS Teams. On the Blackthorn side they introduced us to tools such as Figma for UX design and other Teams plug-ins for project management improvements.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The highly-skilled technical resources that we could not find in the United States at a rate we could not achieve in the United States, making our ability to delivery quality product in a timely and cost-effective manner which is critical to a startup environment.Their ability to adjust to our US work time-zone in order to participate in activities involving the entire team (i..e, scrums, sprint ceremonies, etc.) was more seamless than expected.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Managing the differences in approaches to holiday periods required some flexibility on the Selux side. When working in a startup "time off" is often very limited and the european approach is more generous and consistent in comparison. Rate changes have been abruptly introduced but negotiations have always turned out favorably for both. Finally, we would encourage more feedback from the hands-on team when it comes to areas of improvement, especially related to methods for improving productivity which is often the topic of retrospectives in which they participate.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I serve as VP. We provide web-based software and methods that balance inventories to prevent stock-out and overstock conditions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC, and what were your goals?

We had successful software built with Microsoft Silverlight. We asked Blackthorn to migrate to Microsoft Azure using the best new technologies. Also, we wanted them to implement improvements.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We considered vendors in the United States and abroad. Blackthorn had an especially talented team and ample experience developing systems for Microsoft Azure.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We were favorably impressed by Blackthorn's approach described on their website that includes these main phases: Initial Discussion Analysis and Consultancy Proposal Contract Signoff Execution and Delivery Support They produced a system that meets our needs and exceeds our expectations in maintainability and scalability. For example, they proposed and implemented tenant databases that allow customers to choose either a shared or a company-specific database.

They developed in Visual Studio using C# and Telerik controls. The database is SQL Azure. They used Docker to organize the project. They fully supported project continuity by frequently updating a development environment on one of our PCs. If something happened to disrupt their work, we could continue without trauma.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We interacted with the president, project manager, and main developer. They also assigned a user interface specialist and a quality control officer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The new system has a vastly improved user interface and better functionality.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had almost daily engagement with the main programmer through online meetings. Also they set up and maintained a project management system including an organized way of tracking bug fixes and requested changes. We met a couple of times a month with the project manager.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

This company clearly is dedicated to customer satisfaction. They volunteered improved approaches and modifications to requirements we never would have thought of. Their initiatives made the product much better. Their professionalism exceeded our expectations. Unlike some who rush into software development, Blackthorn employed robust system development procedures from the beginning. They assigned a team of specialists to clarify requirements and propose an appropriate system architecture. Their analysts and developers caught on quickly to the complexities and nuances of our system.

Within a few months, they began suggesting enhancements to our original concept of system requirements. During the development, they maintained rich communications with us facilitated by online project management tools that accounted for requirements changes, bug fixes, and implementation of new features. We always knew the status of the development of the system overall and the implementation of specific feature requests.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We did not identify areas where this company needs to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering of a SaaS solution company. I manage a team of about 30 employees, including three managers and 27 engineers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blackthorn Vision LLC?

We were looking for someone to develop and improve our custom software solution that can identify who has access to specific cloud environments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Blackthorn Vision serves as an extension of our software development team as they continue to build and improve upon the existing features of our software and resolve issues.

The process starts with us identifying and designing the set features we want to iterate with our architect. We’ll then hand over the mock-ups to Blackthorn Vision so they can implement the new feature, such as new APIs and UIs through the Go and React tools.

Moreover, they’re responsible for the testing, automation, delivery pipelines, sales metrics, and post-development maintenance to ensure its reliability.

What is the team composition?

We have one manager, two QA specialists, seven front- and backend developers, an engagement manager, and a delivery manager.

How did you come to work with Blackthorn Vision LLC?

Blackthorn Vision was originally building a product for a startup in California that was purchased by my company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve roughly invested about $700,000 into the partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working with Blackthorn Vision since January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since partnering with Blackthorn Vision, we’ve seen our deployment cadence go from once every two weeks to about 15 times a week — we’ve also increased our production throughput from 80 tickets every two weeks to 75 a week.

How did Blackthorn Vision LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We had to completely revamp the way we do business so it’s a little different for them, but they're ramping up quickly and are able to produce quality outputs at a good pace.

We use JIRA and GitHub to manage the project, and we typically communicate through Slack and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Blackthorn Vision’s work is comparable to other firms we’re using, but the differentiating factor is that their rates are significantly better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their recruiting to find new people takes longer than usual, but they always seem to find high-quality professionals that emphasize our culture.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would caution you to keep your engagement with Blackthorn Vision on an enterprise-level basis because based on my experience, they sometimes fail to meet some of the scaling objectives we required. I don’t feel comfortable letting them run a big project by themselves.

I would still recommend them as a development partner because they have a great work ethic, they’re committed to the product’s success, and they have incredible resources.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of a SaaS platform that helps you manage and update companies' applications using Microsoft 365.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC, and what were your goals?

We wanted to create a front-end for our API that provides many options for our customers to manage their applications through Microsoft 365.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a development firm that understood our vision and what we were trying to achieve, but also has the knowledge and expertise to set that up on our Microsoft-based platform.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had several workshops where we explained what we wanted the platform to do from a functional perspective, but also to discuss technical requirements, as we are a Microsoft company. From those workshops wireframes and mockups were created and an estimation of the workload. We've been working with that team ever since to continue to build our platform.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have a great time that consists of a PM, 3 full stack developers (different seniorities) a tester and can easily involve a designer, architects for very specific technologies etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since launching a few months ago, our platform is now serving applications and updates to 250k+ users and growing strong.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have regular status and sprint meetings, use Teams to communicatie and Azure DevOps to track the project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Every single person in their team is very motivated and engaged. It's not just about writing some code, but they really think with us, even for us on a regular basis.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Ofcourse there were some bugs, which is totally expected, but we made the mistake of not listening to them, they pointed out things that would become an issue, we didn't react in time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CTO of BrightArch. We mainly create organizational charts, allowing customers to upload data and view their organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blackthorn Vision LLC?

We needed a vendor to work with us on software development as we don’t do that in-house. We have used them exclusively for about two years now.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using the specs we provided and Agile development, they were able to develop the frontend, backend, and UX/UI services for our software. SQL Server is the database used and on the frontend, they use JavaScript and React; on the backend is .NET Core. 

The framework they’re building has features that allow the users to select what shows in different UIs and import almost any data they have regarding an organization. There are expression-based fields so users can calculate the value of the fields.

What is the team composition?

There are three full-time team members working with us: a frontend developer, a backend developer, and a project manager/QA person. I deal with different people at different times, such as someone for marketing and another person when dealing with invoices.

How did you come to work with Blackthorn Vision LLC?

I put out an RFP to 8–10 offshore development companies. Blackthorn Vision LLC asked to look at the project, the code, and to see the current status, as well as how they could further the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $240,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2018 and the project is currently ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re very satisfied with their work and it is essential for our company as they are developing a new version of our main product. We don’t have any specific metrics yet.

How did Blackthorn Vision LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re doing well. I communicate frequently with the CEO and the project manager. We work closely together and deal with any issues as they arise. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re reliable and deliver what they promise. Building an attractive work environment allows them to hire great developers. They’ve had a lot of great suggestions from the start.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing specific right now that I would address.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Not only is it important to find the right company, but also the right developers. Pinpoint exactly what you need for your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Infinite Venture Partners, a venture studio that starts and funds new companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackthorn Vision LLC?

We hired Blackthorn Vision for custom software development of an MVP / Prototype of a software platform to manage the equity and options of incorporated companies.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals for the project were to arrive at a demonstratable product that can be presented to both users and strategic partners

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

By having a short interview and asking questions and what was the most interesting project the company worked on.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Blackthorn Vision provided front end and back end development, strategy, as well as worked on core algorithms / formulas.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of a front end developer, QA and a full stack developer. The environment was setup by the CTO of Blackthorn Vision and I was in charge of product management (head of product).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I was able to show a demonstratable product to prospects in order to give a high level understanding of how it works.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was done by myself and it was semi-effective. I had much to learn on both the topic and the development and how the development works.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Blackthorn Vision was the dedication of the team to deliver on assigned milestones without clear indications. Although I possessed significant knowledge about the topic, I was mistaken about how much more there is to learn. The team and I have learned about the topic and together we were able to solve some of the issues we encountered.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I believe the way releases are made could be improved by limiting the number of features that have to be released. I think we worked on too many features without focusing on core functionality.