Six Feet Up, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Partner and Lead Developer of webcloud7

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We offer you an easy-to-use and flexible content management system for complex websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Set up a Kubernetes environment integrated with Plone and various services such as Elasticsearch.
• Create a system with backup and monitoring capabilities to avoid hiring a system engineer.
• Ensure the system was scalable and could host at least one paying client live.
• Deliver a cost-effective solution by investing upfront to minimize long-term operational costs

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Strong reputation in the Python, Plone and Django communities with deep knowledge of Kubernetes

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work involved setting up a Kubernetes environment integrated with Plone CMS, along with support services such as Elasticsearch. The team at Six Feet Up was responsible for building a system with proper backup and monitoring capabilities, enabling scalability and reliability. The key deliverable was a fully functional cluster ready to host productive websites, which included managing users and maintaining the overall system infrastructure. The system also needed to ensure data reliability and user management to support live clients with minimal manual intervention. In addition, we planned for it to eliminate the need to hire a dedicated system engineer by automating many of the tasks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Six Feet Up successfully set up the cluster and met the technical goals I outlined. Additionally, the project was completed on time and with the expected high quality. The work enabled my business to avoid hiring a system engineer and meet my target for cost-efficiency. One client is now online. 200 authors. 350K API hits per day. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management was excellent, and they delivered items on time. What stood out was that even when I lagged behind, Six Feet Up kept pushing the project forward by reminding me about available hours and staying on top of things. It was refreshing to have a team that could keep track of everything and ensure no resources were wasted. They used calls during the project phase and then Slack and GitHub for ongoing communication in the maintenance phase, which worked very well for us.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I found their technical knowledge and project management skills very impressive. They had the right people in place to handle the specific requirements I had, such as the Kubernetes integration with Plone. Even as a small customer, they made sure I was getting the most value from the time we had left on the contract. They consistently followed up with me and ensured my needs were met, which made me feel valued. I also appreciated their positive attitude — it’s something that really stood out and made the working relationship enjoyable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

Honestly, it’s tough to say. I’m very happy with the experience. If there’s any lag or delay, it’s typically been on my end. I can't really think of anything specific they could have done differently—it’s been a super positive experience overall.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Director of Enterprise Applications of Central New Mexico Community College

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Higher Ed

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Execute a major Plone upgrade and Python migration to enhance website security and increase the self-service capabilities of our site. The migration included transferring data to the cloud and implementing a new theme.
• Implement a resilient and scalable distance learning platform via Plone and move the platform’s infrastructure to the cloud.
• Build a “Return to Campus” COVID check app using Django and React that offers speed and flexibility for both front-end users and administrators.

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We have worked with Six Feet Up on a number of projects including upgrading a Plone site, implementing of a distance learning platform and building a COVID-19 check app, but our most significant project was a major in-place migration. Key deliverables for the migration included: 

• upgrading Plone in-place from 5.1 to 5.2;
• migrating from Python 2 to Python 3;
• making existing add-ons Python 3 compatible;
• transferring the college’s on-premises datacenter to Amazon Web Services; and
• implementing a new theme.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our experience with Six Feet Up has been highly positive, and we plan to continue our relationship with them. Specifically, the Six Feet Up team:

• Completed a Successful Website Migration: The upgraded website met our needs. It improved both security and usability, including giving our content creators the ability to update specific web pages independently. 
• Launched a Resilient and Scalable Online Learning Platform: Six Feet Up built an improved backend on AWS-native services. The platform has performed reliably and has had continuous uptime since its launch.
• Built an Effective “Return to Campus” COVID-19 Application: While the app is not in production, Six Feet Up built a custom app that can handle data from multiple sources, send individualized user alerts, and produce administrator reports with sort and filter functionality. The current app has a greater degree of usability for end users, system administrators, and developers. We hope to reevaluate the app in the future. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Six Feet Up’s project management style is aligned with how we work. They are extremely flexible and responsive. Additionally, they use an iterative approach by providing deliverables in small, manageable pieces. This approach is supported by excellent, open communication so that I’m always aware of where the project stands. 

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I’ve been impressed with Six Feet Up, Inc.’s problem-solving capabilities. They are great about listening to my concerns and providing their expert opinions, recommendations, and documentation of their recommendations. It's also great to have Six Feet Up as a mentor to help our internal developers navigate new tools and expand our Python knowledge. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

We've had no issues whatsoever. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO & Founder of Prep Dance

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Tech Education app giving providing in app lessons one to one.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Develop and launch a fully functional mobile application tailored for the Ballroom and Latin dance community. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) needed to be globally accessible, user-friendly, and ready for deployment in app stores.
• Ensure the app facilitates high-quality, real-time video dance lessons accessible globally.
• Implement a payment system that can handle the complexities of international transactions, accommodating various currencies and regulations.

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Prep Dance was conceptualized to fill a gap in the market for Ballroom and Latin dancers worldwide, providing an opportunity for students to take lessons with any teacher globally. Specifically, Six Feet Up utilized Django for stable backend functionality, Jitsi for crisp video streaming, and Ionic with React for cross-platform frontend consistency.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Six Feet Up delivered a cost-effective and high-quality mobile solution that was market-ready. The app has global reach, enabling students worldwide to engage with top-tier international teachers. It also integrates a seamless experience featuring hassle-free payments, online booking, and live HD video lessons.

While it was still early for comprehensive ROI analysis, initial outcomes indicate progress. Approximately 30 teachers and 150 students have been onboarded to the platform. Additionally, we’ve had interest from major several dance institutions, which will lead to more users.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Six Feet Up provided a clear project management style, especially for someone like me who is not in the world of tech development. The project elements were delivered on time, and the team was very flexible. Six Feet Up was very transparent in their development process.

Their use of a 'complexity scorecard' was like a ‘shopping list’ of all the project components. It was very helpful and a great idea. We had regular communication — including weekly pulse meetings — which ensured I always had a clear understanding of the project status and budget.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Six Feet Up's ability to navigate complex challenges, their transparent communication style, and their strategic technological choices that future-proofed our app set the team apart. I was impressed with the team’s expertise and how quickly they delivered the app. Six Feet Up is a very professional outfit. They are highly experienced, friendly, focused, and on point.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

I had a great experience working with the team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Secretary of DEFNA

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Django Events Foundation North America (DEFNA) is a non-profit for promoting Django events in North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Support and host hybrid DjangoCon US event

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Six Feet Up hosted the online portion of DjangoCon US. They hosted the hybrid event using the LoudSwarm platform. This involved a number of setup and configuration steps and actions. During the event, they managed the live stream and any technical issues that attendees may have.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Attendees were able to attend the virtual conference, watch videos, ask questions and engage with other people.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Six Feet Up used a notion document that had all of the various steps and milestones for both us and them. It covered all our preparation steps leading up to the event, the steps during the event and a retrospective after. They were always available via email and integrated into our teams own communication platforms (Slack).

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The folks at Six Feet Up, Inc. were in perfect alignment with our culture and mission. They honestly wanted to put on the best event possible and it was clearly evident. Their support didn't stop at simply making sure LoudSwarm was up and running. It extended to making sure attendees had a great time.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

We had some difficulties loading some data into the LoudSwarm platform. There were some alternatives available, but both parties collectively overlooked them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Director, Software Engineering of a chemicals & biotechnology company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Biotechnology company enabling the acceleration of life science research and development in the pursuit of improved human health.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Improve efficiency by migrating workflows to Apache Airflow
• Make a business unit more profitable by reducing software touch time and operator time

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Online Search

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Other: Six Feet Up’s expertise in Airflow played a significant role in our decision.

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were using a custom solution that was developed in-house using Python and SQLAlchemy to manage workflows in our labs. We had a few developers leave the company, and when it came time to fill those positions, the technical debt in our software design made it difficult for new developers to come on board, learn, and be productive. Airflow provided the capabilities we were looking for. 

Six Feet Up helped us simplify and optimize our existing system by migrating it to Airflow. Once we decided that Airflow was the way forward, Six Feet Up helped us create an actionable roadmap for the conversion of future workflows. It was imperative that we could continue to convert other areas of the application on our own or with a little assistance. Six Feet Up created a local test environment so that the existing application could be analyzed. 

They linked Airflow to our Django-based backend services; modified the integration tests to trigger DAGs in Airflow; and when the workflow migrations to Airflow were completed, modifications were made to those tests to confirm the data was accurate on completion of the DAG runs. The goal was for the new app to match the old one. Six Feet Up went above and beyond to condense the workflows and make them run more quickly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

While it's difficult to pin down an exact ROI, the work contributed to a direct improvement in our efficiency. It also brought emotional value, especially as we wanted to improve the performance of a specific software.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Six Feet Up met our needs effectively. Carol is a pleasure to work with. Her straightforward approach, especially when it comes to tricky situations regarding finances, is commendable. She’s upfront and direct, which is something I truly value compared to other vendors I've engaged with. The initial purchase order was quite a hurdle on our side, but with Carol's support, we navigated through it. 

They had frequent standups (pulse calls) and integrated well with our team. Despite my initial skepticism about the pulse calls, they proved beneficial. The most significant testament to our experience is that we would undoubtedly collaborate with Six Feet Up again.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

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

Six Feet Up is a collaborative, responsive, talented, and right-sized agency. Six Feet Up’s overall competence and credibility stood out. Calvin has a notable online presence, and his speaking engagements on topics such as Airflow appealed to us. It's crucial for vendors to be straightforward about their skills and not overstate their capabilities. 

Six Feet Up was genuine, and that was evident. Six Feet Up’s human-friendly approach also stood out. The team seamlessly integrated with our culture, effectively communicated, and understood our needs. It's not just their technical skills, but their compassion and understanding of client culture that impressed me.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

There were challenges with timelines, mostly stemming from our side, due to competing priorities and projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Antimicrobial Therapy Inc. (aka Sanford Guide)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sanford Guide develops guidelines and technologies to aid in the appropriate use of anti-infective agents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Conduct a comprehensive review of Sanford Guide’s Plone-based application — a complex application which showcases how Plone can be utilized for both content editing/workflow and as a content feed for other systems and applications.
• Complete system performance enhancements to simply workflows, improve the website, and support increased traffic volume.
• Train new members of the Sanford Guide team on the platform’s features, functionality and maintenance plan.

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Niche expertise

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our engagement with Six Feet Up began when our in-house developer — who built a highly customized Plone implementation — decided to pursue another career opportunity with very little notice. We needed a specialized team who could pick up where the former developer left off to keep Sanford Guide’s Plone-based application running, update and optimize the application, squash any bugs, and train our new team. 

Six Feet Up was able to just jump in and assume responsibility for our site with very little handholding. Specifically, the Six Feet Up team simplified workflows by implementing version control and deploying a more efficient release process for new updates and bug fixes. 

They added performance and error monitoring systems via Sentry and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure site errors are addressed quickly and efficiently. They also trained in-house developers to address performance issues and maintain the application going forward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The Six Feet Up team dove into and understood our application, which features complex customizations. The team kept our application operational during the optimization, and they were able to squash bugs that had been there for years. Six Feet Up also used their network to help us search for, hire, and train a new Plone developer who can now address issues in-house.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We were impressed with the project management team at Six Feet Up. We also appreciated the flexibility and willingness of the Six Feet Up team to work around our needs, instead of the preconceived model of how a business arrangement works. We had to make a lot of changes to the project scope, and the team was very flexible in adapting to those needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

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

Six Feet Up has a lot of smart people who are also positive, energetic, enthusiastic, and just fun to work with. Six Feet Up has great leadership with values that align with ours, an excellent reputation, extensive Python and Plone experience, and they were flexible around the scope and requirements for our collaboration, which was a huge help.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

One of their more junior developers made a few minor missteps with our platform which we had to patch after the fact, but the mid-level to senior team was fantastic. The only (and I mean -only-) critique I would have for the company is to continue to monitor projects handled by more junior members of the team. 

Despite these few missteps, we would definitely recommend Six Feet Up for Python and Plone development work. They had our back every step of the way and were a pleasure to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the SVP Engineering of JOOR, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Joor is a B2B wholesale platform that connects brands and retailers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Scale and optimize proprietary software for retailer clients that is growing exponentially.
• Build and launch a new payment application.
• Improve the UI and design of existing features.

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our proprietary software for retailer clients — built on Python and Django — is growing extremely fast. We needed to make sure the software would scale with the growth. Six Feet Up engineers dove into our complex tech stack and took time to fully understand the endpoints and integrations. They identified areas of the platform that were underperforming, dug deeper to determine what was causing performance problems, and helped create solutions.

Six Feet Up helped us simplify the development process, optimize our code to effectively scale our applications and meet demand, create a payment application, and improve the UI and design of existing features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Our biggest ROI has been productivity. Our new payment app is a great story because it started from nothing, and now we have a new product that's gaining traction. It's really great to see that we can deliver something to production, do it relatively quickly and see the benefits.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Carol, our account manager, and I have monthly check-ins where we discuss my needs. She's perceptive in understanding how the company got to where it is now, and she understands what it needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

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

Six Feet Up engineers are extremely skilled, very smart, helpful, and personable. I've worked with a lot of consulting companies, and I think Six Feet Up is one of the best. The level of seniority of the engineers that we work with from Six Feet Up gives us that ability to look critically at our own tech stack and better understand how to optimize it. Software development is a constant challenge, but I think the Six Feet Up team has helped us mature in that area. 

Plus, with developers around the world, Six Feet Up is globally available. Roché is in South Africa, so he's able to work hours not only on East coast of the United States, but he can also collaborate with our team in Spain. This gives us better coverage of our software and allows us to address software issues more quickly. 

In my experience, I find that we're most successful and more productive when contractors want to be part of the team — everything from socialization to pairing on issues and sharing expertise.  Six Feet Up, Inc. embraced the team mentality.

Are there any areas for improvement or something  Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

None.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for an international news & media company as a senior python developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Six Feet Up, Inc., and what were your goals?

We needed a quick turnaround for a flexible solution to integrate our Plone CMS into other image databases, image api's or custom Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions, allowing CMS users to pull images from many locations in addition to uploading them from their own desktop. We needed to connect Plone to our existing DAM, the Associated Press API, and position ourselves to integrate additional points in the future.

SOLUTION

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

we had previous experience working with developers at Six Feet Up, and seeing their presentations at Plone and Python conferences gave us confidence in their skills and knowledge.

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

Six feet up, under out direction, created the Plone Add-on "collective.resourcemanager" https://github.com/collective/collective.resourcemanager which is the base package providing configuration, search, and injest of images into Plone. Additionally, the packages resourcemanager.resourcespace and resourcemanager.ap were created to connect plone instances to ResourceSpace DAM and Assoicated Press, respectively.

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

Three. Project Manager, and two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The add-ons are still used today, and the base addon is being used for additional connections to additional image libraries.

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

Agile / Scrum

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

The balance between deliverable and quality of software. While there were many ways to develop this. The team focused on the deliverables and provided a working project with minimal technical debt.

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

No criticism

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of FLASH Scientific Technologies. At FLASH, we develop cutting edge algorithms and technology to pair with emerging datasets and elastic computing to solve complex problems and give weather insights never thought possible, including accurate lightning strike predictions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Six Feet Up, Inc., and what were your goals?

When we came to Six Feet Up, we had a proprietary algorithm and an idea that would allow us to predict lightning strikes. We needed an application that could pull, read and process the data — from sources including weather radars and location-specific information like altitude, moisture, wind direction and temperature — both quickly and accurately.

In just a few months, Six Feet Up was able to take our idea from a Jupyter Notebook to production ready and cloud native. They helped us optimize the Python code structure, build an API with Django, and deploy the serverless and scalable application using AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate.

SOLUTION

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

One of Six Feet Up’s former clients recommended I reach out to them. After talking with them a bit, I was very impressed by their approach. It was much more personal than business-to-business. Calvin and Gabrielle knew what they had to offer — and they knew which developers would be best to solve our problem. With Six Feet Up, we were able to hit the ground running compared to the other software firms we were looking at at the time.

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

Working with our lead engineer, Will Howard, Six Feet Up developers optimized the existing Python code for the application. They then created an API that could communicate data from the algorithm to a Django application deployed using AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate. Two keys to the success of this project were validating and measuring the accuracy of the lightning strike predictions, and keeping the algorithm separate so that it could still be optimized by meteorologists without disrupting data collection. Six Feet Up managed all of this beautifully.

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

We worked closely with Calvin and Gabrielle, Six Feet Up’s founders, and Carol helped manage the project. Two of their developers, Peter and Glenn, were also very involved in making this project a success.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Six Feet Up’s expertise in intelligently accessing data in different ways (AWS Lamba vs. AWS Fargate) led to a reduction in cost for the project. It’s not just about creating programs; it’s about creating new efficient programs that cut your long-term costs. And on top of that, we have a working product that generates accurate lightning strike predictions with 99.6% accuracy.

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

Six Feet Up has a very good management style, and I really like that it’s all inclusive. They ask you what you want, and they are very clear about deliverables. They tell you what they can do, how many people they have to do it, and what they can provide. We are very appreciative of is the upfront pricing. There are no surprises, and we very much welcome that style of management.

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

The vast knowledge base that each employee has is very impressive. Everyone has different specialties, but when you work with Six Feet Up, you know you’re going to get what you need — and they’re going to bring ideas and solutions you hadn’t thought of. They’re going to challenge you a bit, but in good ways that will help improve the product.

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

Like everyone, we always want more. If there was anything to improve, it would be having constant access to their software engineers.