6bridges

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a software and technology company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 6bridges, and what were your goals?

The project was to take our existing React Native app for iOS and Android and to build a React Web version of the app using as much shared code as possible, while moving the codebase over to TypeScript and refactoring to improve stability and performance.

SOLUTION

How did you select 6bridges and what were the deciding factors?

They were selected by a former employee who then recommended them to the team, and we approved after an interview process. I do not recall what deciding factors were used to make his choice.

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

The work wasn't scoped out in any great amount of detail, but this wasn't strictly necessary because we already had the iOS and Android apps to reference, along with our old web app (written in Ionic).

Main tasks were entered into JIRA during the kick-off meeting, and we followed Kanban over the lifecycle of the project. Main deliverables were implementing each functional area of the app, and a list was maintained by 6bridges in Notion allowing us to track progress.

Once functionally complete, work shifted to QA and optimisation.

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

Krzysztof worked as project liaison and project manager of the React web part of the project, and brought on perhaps 7 other developers during the lifetime of the project, according to need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We released the project to production in November 2020, and it is now used daily by 28 organisations, with a total of around 25k users. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

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

Kanban in JIRA, "git flow" process in GitHub, weekly team video conferences with each developer demonstrating their work that week, weekly project management meetings with stakeholders.

Communication outside of that mostly in text chat, pull request comments and JIRA comments.

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

Pushing for quality in terms of both the code, performance and automated test coverage. They make sure they properly understand our requirements. Working independently with little supervision.

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

We didn't hit our stride in terms of a solid process until midway through the project. It would have been better if this had been done from the beginning. Especially the regular video conference to demo work completed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

IT consultancy, areas of expertise are mainly in the data platform space. I’m the managing director

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 6bridges?

To aid with the React Native app development of IGTV messenger.

What were your goals for this project?

A functional app deployed on both Android & Apple app stores.

SOLUTION

How did you select 6bridges?

Word of mouth. A former colleague of mine had worked with the owner of 6bridges at a large investment bank in London

Describe the project in detail.

I had the basic idea and it working on a laptop in JavaScript. We worked through the idea, expanding out the detail when required. 6bridges then spent time working on the back end development of the app and another 6bridges consultant worked on the GUI for the app. I had planned to do some of the development myself, but time constraints meant I couldn’t.

What was the team composition?

Two 6bridges developers and myself.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Very happy with the outcome. The app delivered and works as expected. 6bridges identified areas that I hadn’t thought of & we were able to work through these.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They have a very effective workflow. Regular catch-ups as needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of work and the thought that they clearly put into the app identifying areas that I hadn’t thought about in enough detail.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not from this project. I’m very happy with the outcome & would use them again without question.