Aurity

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for a blockchain company building a virtual wallet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aurity?

We had a specific integration challenge: we wanted to be able to send push notifications to our virtual wallet users. We didn’t want to rely on emails because people don’t always read them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to send pop-up messages at the right point in time for our users. We were having trouble getting this to work on React Native, so we sought help from Aurity. Our requirements including targeting messages to individuals or groups and sending them before or after they went into the virtual wallet.

We started with a discussion about the scope. They worked from an outline we provided and did a proof of concept validation before beginning development.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project scrum master, who was our point of contact, as well as one technical person. They were both on our initial call.

How did you come to work with Aurity?

We wanted a partner who was experienced with JavaScript and working with React data. Peter (Architect, Aurity) impressed us because he’d been doing this for two or three years. His team demonstrated deep knowledge and provided some references. They’d also worked in the blockchain space, so they understood the business context of our project.

They did elegant UX work in React, which we found logical and well-structured. That requires a certain capability with React Native. All of this convinced us that Aurity was the right choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than 10,000 pounds ($12,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This was a small piece of work that was very nicely done and it met the needs of the product owner. We didn’t track metrics, but our marketing team uses the tool, and if they’re not complaining, I’m happy.

How did Aurity perform from a project management standpoint?

We ran a lightweight process with flexible scheduling and no formalized reporting. They created and ran a demo and used that to fine-tune the solution. We communicated through email and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical knowledge really came through when they developed based on an outline without requiring a lot of our time and effort. I was quite impressed by the maturity they showed with that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing major. There were some small challenges around environment access, but there’s always something, and we’d prefer to leave them to their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need a clear understanding of your ask to have a basis of understanding. You need to be realistic. If you don’t know, tell them it’s a hypothesis and you want to validate it. The old saying is, “Perfection is the enemy of good enough.”

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO at Nez, a mobile platform that connects office workers in central London with food and drink offers in the area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aurity?

We wanted to augment our onshore development capability in order to help us quickly build the mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used Aurity to complement our core team as part of three projects spanning 18 months. Initially, we had one developer onsite to help us, architect, build, and employ features on the mobile app. That developer also helped build some of the backend API in the first iteration of the product.

We first built the product for iOS only. We decided that expanding onto the Android platform was the quickest way to increase our user base. We reengaged with Aurity for a developer to spend a few weeks taking our existing code and converting it to the Android platform.

In early 2018, we did a complete rework of the frontend application. We needed to accelerate the work faster, so we brought on a couple of remote developers to help our core product team. We worked in one-week sprints for a period of about six months. One developer was chiefly responsible for the Android implementation, the other for UI and the interaction with the mobile app.

What is the team composition?

I work with Peter (founder, Aurity) and a scrum master.

How did you come to work with Aurity?

I met Peter at a meet-up in early 2017. He told me about Aurity and their work, and it seemed like a good fit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initially worked together from January–June 2017. We used them again in September 2017 for a few weeks. Most recently we worked with them from January–June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They increased our development velocity. We had very tight delivery deadlines, which we were able to meet because of their team. We've been very happy with the developers’ work.

How did Aurity perform from a project management standpoint?

We were a bit hesitant about working with remote developers because of bad experiences in the past. They’ve been excellent communicators. Their scrum master made sure that communications were clear throughout the process. They were familiar with our tools and our processes, which made things really easy. They’re transparent. They used Jira and were good at providing updates on progress. We always knew what the team was doing on any given day. They also weren’t afraid to ask questions if there was a problem or something needed to be clarified.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It can be nerve-racking working with remote developers because of time differences and language barriers. I’m very impressed with their communication skills.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO and co-founder of Quiqup, which is an on-demand logistics company. We serve B2B and B2C clients. We are a tech-driven company. We have a lot of software, as well as state of the art technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aurity?

We had started to use React Native as a technology and needed to develop our first React Native driver app called Transmission. It is for a tablet in restaurants which the food orders come in on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their scope was to work on the app alongside our in-house developers. We started out developing the app for Android only which was our first React Native app. We then built our driver app, which was iOS only to begin with, and we are just about to ship the Android version. It took an extra three months to get Android in shape.

What is the team composition?

We currently have six people from their team who form part of our team. Aurity provides us with extra resources for the frontend side.

How did you come to work with Aurity?

I had worked with the founder before when he worked as a contractor for us. When he left his contract position here, he said that he could help us build the apps faster and at a better cost. We engaged him to help find some developers for us.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2016 and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work is good quality.

How did Aurity perform from a project management standpoint?

They haven’t had much project management involvement as it is mainly managed by our project managers in-house. We mostly communicate via Slack and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

You can’t always expect the developers to go above and beyond to take on initiatives beyond the daily work they do, but it has been pretty good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have had some situations where the developer hasn’t been quite to standard, but Aurity has acted very quickly to resolve that problem and find a new developer for us.

Although it isn’t really their responsibility, it would be good if more people would take on initiatives that might not necessarily fall within their agreement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you bring on developers that are not part of the local team, make efforts so they are as involved as the rest of the team. Otherwise, it can be very difficult for them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We deliver data optimised staff schedules for enterprise organisations. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aurity?

To fill a need for high-quality React developers

What were your goals for this project?

Augment the development of our React Native application and to train the team.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Comprehensive search of suppliers

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Assisted our in-house team with design, development and testing of our new react app.

What was the team composition?

2 Aurity team members, complementing the Rotageek team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successfully delivered our application

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management ran in -house with liaison from the Aurity team

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I'm impressed with the skill of the React developers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nil