agileful

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product owner of a digital marketing company. We focus on email marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

We needed help in developing a custom software solution for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

agileful has been doing custom software development for our machine-learning product for our email marketing tasks. Regarding technologies, they host everything in the AWS infrastructure and also work on Node.js, Python, PyTorch, SPARC, TensorFlow, PostgreSQL, and API gateway. We also work collaboratively on the platform’s frontend using Figma.

In addition to that, they also do updates and maintenance to our software.

What is the team composition?

We work with four people from their team, including Sajad (CEO), Hamed (Engineering Manager), and two other engineers who take care of implementing everything on the backend and developing the machine-learning functionalities.

How did you come to work with agileful?

They answered our RFP and were responsive through the initial process. We decided to hire them because it was very difficult to find internal resources on the market with the right skill set, so we considered getting an external partner to scale up ourselves as a startup company.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent €25,000 (approximately $26,300 USD) with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re delighted with their work; thanks to them, the quality of our services increased by 50% upwards, which is very important from a machine-learning perspective. Overall, we’re progressing and adding new stuff to our product, which helps us enhance the quality of our deliveries — we’re 100% satisfied with their services, and they’ve exceeded our expectations.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good; we work in a scrum environment, and we’ve had no issues with their staff. Regarding tools, we use Jira to manage the processes and Office 365 for communication and meetings — communication is perfectly fine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their contribution to our project is outstanding — even though they’re an external team, they feel like a part of our company. In addition, they add new knowledge and values to our company, which we appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I’m very happy with them, so I wouldn’t change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them because they give the right advice to help their clients make the right decision.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Codressing, a clothes and accessories rental company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

We needed someone to develop our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

agileful helped build and develop our website from scratch. They implemented a new code to our existing website, revised the content and visuals, and applied some new functionalities to optimize the site’s performance. Some of the features they added are better payment and delivery options and a shopping cart integration.

We actually provided them with the design of the website through Figma, while they completely focused on the development aspect. We’re still working with them for maintenance and updates.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two project managers and one developer.

How did you come to work with agileful?

We were urgently looking for a development team and they were referred to me by a mutual contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly €60,000 (approximately $67,700 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to develop and deliver a functioning website. The customers are able to use this platform to order and rent our clothes, so the feedback from them has been very positive. If I were to give a grade on their performance impact, it would be above 75%.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great from a project management standpoint. They always deliver on time, stick to the budget, and they’re very receptive whenever we have any concerns. We initially had some struggles with the project manager because they were very busy, but they were able to fix the situation after taking the time to communicate.

We would have Zoom meetings at the beginning of the partnership, but that has lessened over time. We only meet when we’re really unhappy with some aspects of the project or when we need something urgently, but that rarely happens now.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their process and how they’re able to consistently meet our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more clear with the budget estimations, because they would always provide me with rough estimates. We want to make sure we have the exact information, so we can better plan our projects in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise them to explain their business, expectations, and budget clearly before going into a partnership with agileful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of HeyLama, an EdTech startup operating in Berlin, Germany. We’re building a global language learning platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

As a young startup, we needed to outsource our development work to a team that was flexible in understanding our needs. To elaborate, we were developing an MVP, and there was a bit of uncertainty around its underpinning technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The agileful resources initially joined our team to serve as reinforcements for our CTO, who was working on the MVP’s development. In the beginning, we mainly needed their help with frontend work, so they used JavaScript and React, along with a bunch of other frontend languages. Eventually, we also needed their backend services, so we used Node.js and AWS. Our team also onboarded another person from their team to focus on the backend workload. 

At present, agileful resources work as part of our internal team. As such, they attend our standups. We’re also expanding our team, so they help us tackle all the technical planning aspects of our work. We’ve also onboarded a designer from their team to do our design work. 

Our company expects to raise funds in the next six months. As a result, our team will be a combination of full-time employees and outsourced resources from agileful. In other words, we’ll still be working with them in the foreseeable future. 

What is the team composition?

We work with two developers and a designer from their team. There’s no project manager; I do all the management aspects of our engagement. 

How did you come to work with agileful?

We found agileful through word of mouth. Our team knew a company that worked with them in the past, and it turned out that we had plenty of mutual connections. We did vet multiple other companies, but we still chose agileful in the end. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around €20,000 (approximately $23,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched two products in the last two months, and agileful resources have been pivotal in enabling us to move as rapidly as we do. Mahmood (Frontend Developer) has quickly figured out what we’re doing, and he contributes to discussions and product design processes, helping us improve the product. 

Overall, the performance of agileful resources has been phenomenal. For us, velocity is super important, so they work hard. We’ve successfully launched our products, thanks to them being a part of our team. 

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

To manage the engagement, we use tools like Slack, Asana, Jira, and Figma. We use Notion for documentation and Loom for video recording. Simply put, we’re a fully distributed team, so we take advantage of these collaboration tools to ensure everybody’s in the know and up to date.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility has been amazing, and the agileful team is consumer-centric. For instance, we sometimes have to pivot, which means we have to pause our engagement with their developers for a couple of weeks until we figure out what to do. Other agencies won’t allow us to do this, but agileful does; they simply reassign the developers to other projects temporarily while we figure out our new direction. 

For larger organizations, saving two weeks of money is nothing; but for us, that means the world. Overall, agileful’s understanding of what we’re doing and of our need for long-term cooperation is amazing. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t. Everything is as it should be. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront and clearly understand what you need in terms of the skills you need and the quality you expect. That way, agileful will do a great job of sourcing the developers you need.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Odin 4.0, a company that provides software for turbine monitoring.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

I needed help with the development of an MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped me develop the MVP and provided me with the front- and backend development work. To an extent, they even involved themselves in some of the business logic. We were hoping to process large volumes of data quickly, so they assisted with finding a server system to accommodate our needs.

The final product needed to be user-friendly and intuitive for people on the shop floor. This can be a technical industry, but we wanted to keep everything very simple and engaging. Rather than laundry lists of metrics and graphs, we wanted the UX to provide a few streamlined charts to convey key information. They aligned themselves with our visual requirements and executed accordingly.

What is the team composition?

One of the founders made me aware of what they do. He put me in contact with the lead tech person, who managed the project as the project manager.

For the frontend work, we had a separate developer working on the frame. There was another person on the backend working with the APIs. There was another person dedicated to machine learning tasks.

How did you come to work with agileful?

I found them through a co-working space in Berlin. I wrote in the space's community Slack channel, saying I needed someone to build my MVP. A representative from their team replied and guaranteed they could do it at a good price. The price was what initially hooked me. The flexibility they offered was also great.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between €15,000–€20,000 (approximately $18,200–$24,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with the MVP and my experience working with them to this point.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager had a deep understanding of front- and backend development. Sometimes, outsourced companies separate the project manager from key details, so it was refreshing to find that wasn't the case here. We use Slack and Clubhouse to communicate progress. In addition, we have daily standups through Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They care about my metrics and success. I've never seen an outsourced company so understanding and concerned about my cost. They were looking for ways to save us money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a bit more structured and organized. Sometimes, things fall through the cracks due to alignment issues. This isn't a huge deal, but it would be easier for me if they were more structured.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage them and trust their expertise. They have good ideas on how to implement certain business logic, so let them get involved on the business strategy side of the project as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Jahan.info, a startup in Paris. It’s a media analytics SaaS company. We monitor and analyze press releases. Our goal is to monitor the trends to anticipate and predict strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

We had a data scientist that provided us the algorithm but we needed some improvement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The agileful team helped us to complete and sometimes rewrite our algorithm. They helped us with improvement in our machine learning and prediction algorithm. It was for our internal use. They also helped us to develop our user dashboard. Our product is a SaaS platform. Our clients have a dashboard to use the product.

What is the team composition?

My main contact was with Sajad (CEO) who is a really cool and efficient person. He has a sense of business. There was also a frontend developer, a backend developer, and another person.

How did you come to work with agileful?

I had some previous experience with some of their team when they worked for another service provider. They contacted me to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was €50,000 (approximately $61,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019-October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product works well — agileful did a good job. The feedback about their work has been okay. It wasn’t extraordinary but we never had any problems with them. They were reasonably available. It was okay.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

There were no issues with communication. I work with a lot of developers and there are always delays. They do have a delay but it wasn’t enormous. Compared to other service providers, it was okay.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their availability was impressive. They try to provide a product with a good user experience and good user ease.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did find the best solution for us but in the beginning, they could have spent more time to really understand the product.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about the product and your needs. You can ask them for advice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at CollectClub. We’re a financial technology software for sports clubs. We facilitate the collection of membership fees for any organization, primarily sports but we’re now moving into other areas. We handle full communication and integrations of payments and payout.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

We hired them to increase capacity. We wanted to enable some of our developers to concentrate in other areas so agileful could take over. Also, we needed them to be involved with the building of an MVP for a new product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a couple of developers dedicated to the backend. There were also two developers who worked on the frontend — one focusing more on the HTML and CSS side and the other on JavaScript and singe page application. The solution was building connections to accounting software that was an add-on to our main product.

What is the team composition?

At any one time, we worked with four individuals. There was one changeover because the project didn’t really fit.

How did you come to work with agileful?

We operate a remote development team based throughout Europe. One of our developers is based in Berlin. He went to a local Ruby meetup, met Sajad (CEO & Founder), and they got to talking. At that same time, we had been looking for people through our normal channels and thought we’d give agileful a try. This was the first time we attempted to outsource and take people on board that we weren’t interviewing directly.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about €250,000 (approximately $300,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement ran from October 2018–January 2020. The fact that we are no longer working with them is not a result of their great work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The speed to market was excellent. We got the MVP up and running at a speed we couldn’t have done ourselves at that time. It’s hard to put a number on that. It took them three months to build something fully functional, and it probably would’ve taken us 5–6 months ourselves. They provided people who were at the same level or above of our internal team members at a much-reduced cost.

One of the developers had a tremendously high caliber in terms of quality in Elixir; they were probably equal with our best developer. Another developer was a jack of all trades. They had the right technical skills balanced with a great amount of product awareness; those skills together are quite rare.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was good. Whenever the rubber hit the road, they pulled out all of the stops. They did a great job of following up on their estimations and keeping me in the loop in terms of communication and going above and beyond to meet expectations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The attitude of their team members is streets ahead of the attitude toward work here in Europe and in the states — where I’ve worked as well. We were able to spell out tasks clearly so agileful could get on with many issues. When they finished work ahead of schedule, they wouldn’t sit around and do nothing. They’d get in touch and ask for more work — that was really refreshing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any areas that need improvement. In the beginning, the office was too noisy, but that was resolved. agileful follows orders very well, but the orders have to come. They worked with us to make sure things were right and to ensure all my concerns were dealt with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try them out. They’re a partner who goes above and beyond. Be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & CEO at Fleetspark, a software development company that builds AI technologies for the automotive and logistics sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with agileful?

I was looking for a company to help me with an MVP that I could bring to investors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at agileful built an MVP for me, and then after six months, I got some traction and decided to collaborate with them again for about six months this time. Over one year, I worked with them for over seven months.

There were a few things that were important to us.

We wanted both iOS and Android development, and at the same time, we wanted the cost to be very low. They helped me find out what the proper solution was for something like this. Then we came to the conclusion that building React Native on top of iOS and Android was probably the best thing because we didn’t need many of the native features from Android or iOS.

They helped guide me on the proper way of doing it and then finding the proper developers to support me throughout the process. Even when I wanted to do some initial stuff, there were some R&D topics we wanted to look into, and they managed to support us there as well. I wanted to do the website and again, I could reach out to them and also have that done. There were many aspects that I could collaborate with them on.

What is the team composition?

There was one guy that was dedicated full-time to me. He was the main developer that I worked with. Of course, their CTO was involved and always helped with the planning.

In addition to them, there were a few people depending on if there was something special that I needed such as R&D, where they pulled in additional resources from other departments. I think in total, I was probably in contact with four or five people from their team.

How did you come to work with agileful?

There were multiple reasons we chose to work with them. They are also based in Berlin and I could see them on a daily basis. Their price was good, and we had a good understanding. Initially, I went out and got four or five quotes.

One aspect was monetary and how much would it cost, but it was also the way they asked questions and tried to formulate what kind of solution it would be, and then see what the cost would be. From the beginning, I felt I got along well with them and that I could talk about the cost of features with them or what was riskier.

I felt comfortable with the quote I got and the support I was receiving because I didn’t know anything about app development. It was the first time I was looking at app development.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together about a year and a half ago. The conversations and development with them started in February 2019, and we worked with them in March 2020 with a six-month break in between.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am fairly happy. I am used to very stringent coding environments and a lot of tests because you cannot just deploy something, so in that sense, it is very stringent, but when you look at app development, it is not at all like that. Because of the budget that I had and because of the deadline, I myself asked them to skip some tests and skip some documentation because there was just no time for that.

I needed an MVP and I needed to go out and show it to people; I didn’t have time to build something robust. In that sense, I would find it unfair to say that they didn’t enough testing because it was something that I asked them not to do. Given the budget and time constraint I had given them, I think they did a fantastic job.

The reason I stopped is that I now have my own in-house developers. We have not rewritten the code and we are building on top of it. Of course, as we go along, we will refactor and improve, but we didn’t have to scrap it and then start from scratch at all.

In that sense, the quality has definitely been sufficient for what I needed. If I had more budget and more time, I am sure they could have done a perfect job but that was not what I was looking for. In that sense, it was really good value for money and really good support.

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint?

From the beginning, I had my own Jira environment and would keep their project management in the loop around the milestones that were coming up as well as the features that I wanted. I was doing the day to day management of the developer. It was as if he was my own developer, but just sitting remotely and he was always there.

I know that oftentimes, they give people their project management, but given that I am a project manager myself, I wanted to see to it myself instead of handing over the project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked their work mentality. When talking to them about my requirements and how we were going to solve things, it came really easy. The fact that they are based very close to where I am, and I could just stop by and discuss something and have a coffee with them was really good.

When I needed more development, they had the capability of quickly scaling up, or when I had to break it down, they could take those developers for me. In terms of flexibility and budget, it was super handy and probably the most important part for me personally in this stage as an early startup. In a few weeks or months and I needed more people, they would pull additional resources in for those few weeks or months, or even days.

There were some days that we just needed additional support. In terms of the flexibility and the range of people they could offer us, it was the correct solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From the day we started, until I had an MVP when I was going around to show this thing, doing demos with it, was four weeks. It was ridiculously fast, and of course, they managed to put in a unit test while they were doing that, but it was a solid piece of work and it never crashed. Six months later we picked up, they managed to get me the same developer back again which meant that I didn't have to spend the time teaching someone else what the codebase was. He could just go full speed again.

I would definitely not put it as a negative thing that they didn’t do the unit tests. At the end of both the MVP and when I finished up completely, I asked them to put time aside to do the documentation for me which they did. I think that was good.

If it was my company, even though I managed the team myself, I would probably still be more involved in the sprint planning, and just pop in once in a while to make sure that things are going well, even though any time I needed support, I would just call the project manager and ask. If it was me personally, I would be more engaged with the customer even though I had told them I want to manage the team myself.

That is all I can say really because there is nothing from their side that they did badly and needed to change. There are also a few things I could have done better. I had never done app development but today I know. They could insist on being there at least once a month to supervise what I am doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a fraud detection and prevention company that works in the online market space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with agileful?

We hired them for frontend development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re developing the frontend of our web application using React. This includes building the interface, charts, and menus. Our in-house team built the backend. 

What is the team composition?

We currently work with one frontend developer, but we’ve worked with multiple developers at the company. 

How did you come to work with agileful?

I received a referral. 

How much have you invested in them? 

We spend between €3,000–€3,500 per month (approximately $3,550–$4,140 USD).  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in March or April 2019, and we’re still working together. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve worked with multiple development companies, but agileful has been the best. They work quite well with our internal team. We’re happy with the work we’ve received. 

How did agileful perform from a project management standpoint? 

We handle the project management on our end, but they deliver what we ask. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve always been very transparent. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication is more difficult because we’re working remotely. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

You should hire a designer beforehand if you don’t have one -in-house so you can provide them with a sketch of what you’re looking for visually. In addition, it’s served us well to work in small iterations rather than sprints. This way we can guide them and provide feedback more consistently. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of fjalla

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Helping musicians make a living from music stream by our pay-per-stream system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire agileful to accomplish?

• Building MVP

SOLUTION

How did you find agileful?

Personal

Why did you select agileful over others?

Referred to me

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

agileful built a MVP 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Finishing the MVP

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

It was ok

What was your primary form of communication with agileful?

Virtual Meeting

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

They are really flexible.

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

They could test more what they are building

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Wevelers

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Travel & Leisure

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire agileful to accomplish?

• App development

SOLUTION

How did you find agileful?

Online Search

Why did you select agileful over others?

Pricing fit our budget

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

Totally inadequate: I invested 18,000 euros in an app that never reached its final version. So, the money was completely lost. The contract was for three months, with delivery upon payment completion. Initially, the CEO and founder seemed available and interested in the project until I had to pay the balance. After that, they became completely disinterested in the commissioned app’s progress, displaying an irritated and arrogant attitude. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 The first beta was delivered a month after the payment balance (which occurred promptly at the end of the three-month contract). Unfortunately, the beta was wholly inadequate, and I requested fixes for unacceptable bugs.

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

I spent a year chasing them down, but they never provided a corrected beta. Eventually, I had to pursue legal action to obtain a refund. I strongly advise against working with them—utterly inadequate, approximate, and dishonest.

What was your primary form of communication with agileful?

Virtual Meeting

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

They were totally inadequate and dishonest.

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

Deliver the app to me!