Boldare

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the sales and marketing executive of HK Engage. Our company designs learning solutions for Hong Kong learning centers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid Agency?

We wanted to create a software solution for learning centers, and hired them to develop it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided designers and front- and backend developers for our work. They developed our web platform by customizing the source code, making it easy to make changes every time.

The platform has a register and login page. After logging in to the system, users have access to a dashboard, similar to a timetable. We also have a database for students and teachers, where they can see personal information, current lessons, and so on. We also have a parents’ database, which can display invoicing for the children they have enrolled.

Finally, we have the payment part, where users can see their payment status. Users can also preview and download invoices, and see a history of changes made to their accounts. All the data can be imported and exported.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a scrum master, but most of the time I'm directly working with the whole team.

How did you come to work with Chilid Agency?

They were introduced to us by a friend of my boss, who’d hired them in the past for some projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around January 2018. They’re continuing to work on enhancements and bug fixes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t finished building our system, so there are still some minor bugs to fix; some of our clients had their information inputted incorrectly, for example. The platform is becoming more and more stable with their assistance. It’s also user-friendly, and it’s available in both Chinese and English. The interface design is amazing, thoughtful and clean.

They brought ideas on how to make the product better, some of which were amazing. They’ve allowed us to minimize time and cost, while still getting what we want. They are a professional team with a short response time. They're the best team I have ever worked with.

How did Chilid Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate in Slack, and we have a backlog of tasks in Jira. We’ve been working well with those tools. They provided clear time estimates and the general performance was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They respond really fast and I’ve felt comfortable working with them. Every time we identified a bug, we could post it in the backlog. They are well organized with the whole process. Sometimes we will request that they fix an urgent bug and they are able to fix it in a matter of hours, which made our customers happy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be better if they run the testing and fix bugs before asking us to review an update.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Communicate more with them. A lot of things become simple to solve when there is direct communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm working for a software company specializing in the telecom and electricity business. I'm the go-to-market director, working on opening the company up globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid Agency?

As part of our globalization activities, we recently wanted to rework our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a completely fresh design for our website. We developed new content for it, which was transferred to the old one. We kept the original logotype, but they reworked everything else in terms of design. We also made integrations with other systems we had in place. The CMS is WordPress.

They haven’t provided any digital marketing services at this point. They did make some basic SEO adjustments, but nothing on a deeper level.

What is the team composition?

I was the project manager and product owner on our side, working with a development and design team from their side. There was a designer, two developers, and a part-time scrum master.

How did you come to work with Chilid Agency?

I was initially approached by their CEO through LinkedIn around a year ago. She offered their services, so we had a call. She said that their Polish company was as good as a Swedish one in terms of design, but with more competitive prices, relative to typical Swedish web companies.

I'd worked with outsourced partners before, so I thought it was a good idea. We also have a sister company in Poland, so I was quite familiar with the technical knowledge there. It was a matter of seeing if their design capabilities would be as good as what I was used to. I was pretty confident that they could measure up in terms of development.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was around €40,000 [$46,485 USD].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017 and finalized the project in May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've gone from having an old, not-so-good digital platform, to having a quite good digital platform—one that is prepared for another caliber of digital marketing.

We've just gone live with the next version of the site and have many other things to bring onboard. We aren’t putting any kinds of measurements in place at the moment, but we're prepared to push the start button, and we will definitely be doing it later on.

For now, we’ve received verbal feedback from our peers. They’ve liked the design of the site and consider it to be modern. I believe that it’s been a success for our company, at least internally. Compared to what we usually work on, this hasn’t been a very complex solution. It’s a stable product that will fit our needs.

How did Chilid Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They're an organized group and they stick to their commitments. They're very good in terms of execution.

There are many means of communication available, including phone and online platforms, which they utilized well. We mostly communicated over web calls, and we track the project using a software platform. Everything was web-based and easy to use.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were professional and they had a high drive throughout the project. They were in the driver’s seat and knew what they were doing. Overall, they're an organized team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I got the impression that they're a young company. They will learn that they need to listen a bit more to what customers want and don't want. They could improve the way in which they extract from the customer what the expectations are, but it is tough to do.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Experience with modern project management, such as agile platforms, can ease everyone’s work. They're an up-to-date company, so if you know the field, it will be quite easy; if you’re not, it can take some time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sonnen is a fast-developing company in the sector of renewable energy and technology. We ship ready-to-use systems that store solar energy and distribute that energy around the house and pass it on to other people registered in the community. I’m the VP of Digital R&D, so I oversee the strategy and every digital product that we are building for customers besides our core product, the sonnenBatterie.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XSolve?

We were looking for a company that had the resources and skills to implement the frontend of our new customer portal. We needed them to bring an MVP version to life within a few months.

Our clients demand to see how the sonnenBatterie works day-to-day and the impact it has on the environment. We tried to find something to keep the excitement alive months and years after customers have bought the system. The customer portal is a way to visualize all this information and activity in a very pleasing way. It gives you a real understanding about your family’s energy consumption and how everybody can profit from producing clean and affordable energy in a decentralized manner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The previous version of the portal had only the must-have features and offered some data, but it was too technical and not very visually appealing. We wanted to go to the next level, simplify it, and make it visually stunning and easy to understand so our customers would proudly show it off to their friends and neighbors and become ambassadors for sonnen. The customer portal makes it easy to understand the products they own to be energy independent, what positive impact it has on the environment, and how self-sustainable they are. In the end, our customers like to share the ecological and economic benefits with others and that’s the big story the portal should provide.

We wanted the new portal to be stable, allowing easy integration of new features, with short page loading times and minimal downtime. We wanted to offer our customers a top-notch UX as well as an amazing digital experience. For the minimal viable product (MVP) of the new customer portal, we planned to measure the satisfaction of users through surveys aiming for an average score of four out of five or higher.

XSolve worked on our MVP. We discussed several approaches and ended up building with React. We’re hosting it on different Amazon Web Services like Amazon CloudFront and Elastic Beanstalk. We’re also using several libraries inside the portal like Highcharts that plots us graphs, statistics and insights from energy data. The MVP was finished in December.

What was the team composition?

We kicked off with three frontend developers and a Scrum master. I asked XSolve to add a designer after the initial meeting. The product owner was on sonnen’s side. We had assistance from our in-house backend developer who onboarded the XSolve team on the existing infrastructure and told them what they should consider when coding. In November, sonnen recruited an in-house designer who also joined the team.

How did you come to work with XSolve?

I started my research online. XSolve’s home page gave me an indication that I should contact them. They channeled a startup atmosphere and this suggested a good culture match between our companies. I contacted several potential partners. XSolve stood out as a company who really wanted to understand our problem and fulfill our needs in a partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In XSolve we found a team that had already worked together in the past and that performed from day one on the project. Thanks to that, we saw the first results early, which could not have been achieved if we just relied on internal resources who were occupied with other projects at the same time.

The product is now live. The response to our customer satisfaction surveys so far is incredibly positive. We are happy with the results and continue working with XSolve on further development of the portal. We have also decided to partner with XSolve on our new flagship project which will release soon.

We gained a partner that is not only doing what we asked them to do but is also thinking and giving feedback. We enjoy the input from each individual team member about the technology, content, and design. This feedback gives us the chance to get in touch with new ideas that you can’t see if you have been involved in the same company for years. We really like that we have a partner who deeply understands the challenge.

The XSolve team feels like they are sonnen employees. They work on equal footing collaboratively with our team members. This allows us to create a better experience for our customers and that is extremely important. XSolve treats the customer portal as their product and this resulted in the high quality of their work.

The relationship between our companies is developing further, and we feel that we can trust XSolve with other complex projects. This is a success.

How did XSolve perform from a project management standpoint?

We kicked off the project within four working days after the initial contact. We presented the vision and goals of the product. Then, we established the schedule and team structure and assigned responsibilities for the coming weeks. We worked in a Scrum framework with one-week sprints. The product owner was on sonnen’s side and prioritized the backlog.

We collaborate in the Scrum framework so the team is self-organized. We work together closely, and it has always been transparent and agile. We have daily meetings online so the team can discuss obstacles and ask questions about the product and resolve them within 24 hours. Everyone is in constant contact via Slack and Google Hangout so it is a perfect working environment for an agile development team and for self-organization. XSolve’s Scrum master helps the team to follow the process and looks after transparency. The XSolve team visited our headquarters, and we also have visited XSolve’s headquarters.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, their company culture really fits us well, especially their startup atmosphere, their agility, and the engagement of the team members. Second, we appreciate the technical qualifications of the developers. Third, they made themselves available very quickly. Finally, we are impressed with how the team works well together; they give each other honest feedback and communicate very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication skills are essential for every project and every collaboration. This is a general comment for both the XSolve and sonnen teams. Holding up our hands when something is blocked or when we have an issue could really make a difference between delaying the release of the product and delivering it on time. Also testing your changes and as a whole is something you can’t stress enough once you built up a product that is complex enough and used by thousands of users every day.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a unique cross-platform of radio, outdoor, publishing, and digital media channels. We offer our partners strategic and cost-effective media choices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid Agency? 

We were introducing a new brand into our product portfolio and wanted to target the millennial demographic. We hired Chilid Agency to develop a website and mobile apps with a fresh, appealing design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chilid Agency designed, developed, and implemented a responsive website with corresponding iOS and Android apps. We released the platform in three phases over several months. The team proactively developed a viable plan to deliver and implement the final product. During phase one, we needed to build a basic platform and mobile apps by our radio channel launch date. They managed minute aspects of design and development.

We help workshops to develop the direction and formulate the features and design. Designers created mood and vision boards, wireframes, prototypes, and mockups. The web app team implemented the WordPress site. It features SHOUTcast live streaming and a Google DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) for ad management. The Android and iOS teams coordinated to produce uniform content and UX for both versions. We’ve completed the first launch so far. Subsequently, they’ve added several enhancements to maximize functionality.

What is the team composition?

The product business owner was instrumental in assembling the team. It initially included more than 8-10 resources so we could meet a challenging deadline. I deferred responsibility for this selection process since I lacked insight on individual competencies. We scale the team based on fluctuating requirements. I provided minimal direction about expectations. They took full responsibility for assembling the solution.

How did you come to work with Chilid Agency?

After clarifying the scope, we listed potential vendors found through Google. Set criteria included websites, online and social presence, references, clients, and finished product designs. We contacted the four most promising vendors to discuss our project brief and pricing. Chilid Agency was the best option based on design implementation, project approach, delivery timeline, cost, UX/UI expectations, and use of cutting-edge tools.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000 so far and are due to invest an additional $20,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product launched a few days ago, so we’re still evaluating quantitative data. We’ve received nothing but praise thus far for the product from both end users and our in-house team. Chilid Agency performed better than most vendors we’ve used for similar projects. They took ownership of the product as if it were their own. The team took a hands-on approach, worked autonomously, and required minimal oversight.

How did Chilid Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Chilid Agency’s product business owners and scrum masters supervised the team to ensure adherence to sprint deadlines. Slack, Basecamp, and Jira helped us organize the project. They used InVision for prototyping. We limited email correspondence to scheduling. Our meetings took place over Skype, Appear.in, and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I admire their organized methodology. At several stages, their work made me feel confident I’d chosen the right partner. Their constant feedback at the micro level provided tremendous reassurance. Frequent updates let our management and in-house team easily track progress.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Chilid Agency uses a time and material budget model that was hard to digest. Their vague estimate was disconcerting, especially since we had no input. Thankfully, they’ve since promised to deliver within our fixed budget. They use a rigid system to plan, estimate, then allocate resources. It works 95% of the time but doesn’t account for emergency requests.

Sometimes they were hard to contact. They rely heavily on tools that can easily be filtered or switched off. It wasn’t always possible to call them about escalating urgent problems. They struggled with turnaround for time-sensitive, ad hoc tasks. Ultimately, they delivered on time and beyond this scope. Team members even worked late nights and weekends as needed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Chilid Agency provides thorough support for inexperienced buyers. Their approach is simple to follow. The skilled product business owners will guide you through the whole journey.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for a newly launched company that provides interior lighting fixtures for condominiums and hotel construction projects. I am responsible for overseeing operations and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Chilid Agency?

We engaged Chilid to design and develop a website to promote our products. Since the brand was entirely new, we were starting with no pre-existing reference points or sites.

What were your goals for this project?

Due to the innovative and unique nature of our products, we required a website that sufficiently explained what they are. Furthermore, the website needed to be a self-service destination. We wanted our customers to return time and time again to view the product lineup and obtain pricing and technical details as required.

We approached the project with a lean start mentality, with the goal of going live as quickly as possible. Finally, we wanted a website that was easy to use and pleasing to the eye, since our target customers usually work under tight deadlines and have a keen sense of aesthetics.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Initially, we did an exhaustive search of other websites that we admired in order to trace back to their creators. When we discovered Chilid’s portfolio, we were immediately impressed by the scope and sophistication of their work. We were further encouraged by our preliminary discussions as they clearly held themselves to a high level of professionalism and listened openly to our objectives and questions. After reviewing their proposal, we felt that the cost estimate was very fair.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Chilid designed and built an entirely new website for our company. The project started with workshop sessions that helped us refine several key aspects of our brand. From this shared understanding, they began to swiftly create several designs that were presented to us in variations to select and modify. This was followed by development and programming work. It was quite exhaustive as the website involved several plug-ins and modifications on the Shopify storefront. Once the site construction began, we were involved in the debugging and testing process. Their team quickly made final adjustments prior to launch.

What was the team composition?

The first contact we had was with the business owner, with whom we discussed the scope of the initiative and negotiated the agreement. We were introduced to the designers, programmers and the Scrum master during the first workshop session.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without the website, our company essentially would not exist. The project guided us through core matters such as pricing, marketing strategy, product development, and so forth. Now that the soft launch is complete, we now have the opportunity to start our promotional efforts.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We were truly impressed with the rigor of their project management techniques and procedures. The Scrum master was the primary enforcer of the plan within Jira, while the entire team utilized Basecamp for ongoing communication. We had direct communication with each team member throughout the project. I found that the team was very transparent with what was involved to achieve certain tasks and proactive in preventing unnecessary delays. If there was a concern or challenge to be managed, we would work directly with the business owner or Scrum master to formulate a solution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

From the start, Chilid took on a collaborative role to help us achieve excellent results. We never felt that we were just a customer or that they lacked enthusiasm. They demonstrated a true desire to understand and support our business objectives, and this translated into the quality of work they produced. Beyond these qualities, they are also true experts in design and web development.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

The only issue we encountered was that a few edit requests discussed within Basecamp did not get implemented, which we discovered in the testing phase. They made those revisions before launch, but it did cause a short delay. Eventually, we employed a spreadsheet to track required changes. We should have done this earlier in the process, as there were aspects discussed in the early design phase that had later implications but were forgotten.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO of Lamden, a crypto currency tech company that develops open source software for enterprises. We help other developers get into the crypto currency space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid Agency?

I hired them to build and develop our marketing website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was an eight-hour discovery phase held over multiple sessions. They had a process to identify our site’s persona and visitors, which influenced our initial concept for the homepage. The team then held brainstorming sessions and provided wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes.

Next, Chilid presented two options: WordPress or Netlify CMS. They strongly suggested the latter because it made sense for the project’s limited scope. Once the site went live, we only planned to change text and pictures; there wasn’t need for the complex plugins found on WordPress. In the end, we decided to develop on Netlify CMS and host on GitHub.

The site went live this month. At our request, they added last minute features just prior to launch.

What is the team composition?

The team included: a project manager, one designer, two developers, and another manager that oversaw their internal organizational strategy. I communicated with every team member.

How did you come to work with Chilid Agency?

I found them on Clutch. I had tried to engage them as subcontractors because I was impressed by their work, but the price points weren’t right for those projects. However, it made sense to hire them for this venture.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $13,000 – $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in December 2017 and development wrapped in February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone loves the result. As a marketing website, the impressive presentation of content elevates its sophistication. The homepage has rather static content, but the whole site has great complex functionality. That combination of form and function makes our company appear highly professional.

How did Chilid Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They put a lot of thought and strategy into their process. The discovery and brainstorming sessions were very helpful.

Chilid set up dedicated Basecamp, Jira, and Slack channels. Their individual team members were always available on these platforms. They used a ticket system to review progress, but also pushed me to follow through quickly. The team wasn’t comfortable moving forward without knowing their work met my expectations.

We also held weekly video conferences to go over sprints. The developers completed them at an impressive pace.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They executed work cleanly throughout development. I knew the status of everything, which made me feel secure about deliveries. As a developer, I know it’s sometimes necessary to be lenient with deadlines, but I never had to be with Chilid. Everything was streamlined and on point.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I’m completely satisfied with everything. I was mindful that we’re on the Pacific Coast and they’re in Poland, but the time difference wasn’t a problem. In fact, I chose them in part due to Poland’s highly reputable work culture.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them work in their element; don’t micromanage. Some clients have trouble letting go of control, but they should do just that for Chilid.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a software-as-a-service (SaaS) enabled marketplace startup. We operate in four countries and more than eight cities across the Middle East. I'm the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire XSolve?

We needed to expand our tech team and complete important milestones. They provided end-to-end development and quality assurance resources. The relationship went well and we are extending it into the next year.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to finalize critical features in our SaaS product, upgrade the architecture, and ultimately stabilize the product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We contacted around 20 companies from around the world. We researched all of their profiles and operating techniques, but XSolve stood out as the best.

Describe the project in detail.

They helped reduce our backlog and introduced new features to both the SaaS product and the marketplace website. 

What was the team composition?

We hired around eight backend developers, three frontend developers, two QA specialists, and one developer for user experience and user interface. They also provided a scrum master and their business owner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

They added many vital features to the product, such as new monitoring systems, taxes, and packages, and built a new version of the API.

How effective was the project management?

They provided very helpful project managment. They followed a scrum framework and adjusted it to be more convenient for our situation.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

XSolve is very experienced. They are acutely aware of the latest standards and most current technologies.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

I do not have any. The team is professional enough to execute any tech project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of e-commerce for a semi-government company. We are working on some initiatives. One of them involves building a marketplace for home-based businesses and small and medium enterprises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid?

We were looking for someone to design the marketplace. They needed to take care of the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] and the system in general.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Chilid worked with our business analyst. After they discussed the features and functions we wanted to add to the system, Chilid provided several options. They gave excellent designs and enhanced the UX for some of them. The design we chose was adaptive and dynamic. Chilid then worked on the functional design for the homepage, messaging center, store page, product page, filler page, invoice, and the rest of the website.

What is the team dynamic?

I remember that we worked with 2 people from their design team. The other team focused on development, but I don’t remember how many they were.

How did you come to work with Chilid?

Initially, we considered 2 companies. We were working with their sister company, who we reached through Clutch, and we found them to be professional people. When we met with Chilid, they showed us some designs and samples. We then agreed to work with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together March 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am satisfied, and my VP is satisfied as well. If it has passed our UX team, that means it’s okay. I don’t have the information right now.

How did Chilid perform from a project management standpoint?

During the development phase, we had daily meetings. Our communication is okay.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good ideas, and they understand me quickly, so there’s no need to explain things multiple times. They are good at understanding our requirements and plan. In particular, Bartek [Digital Product Designer, Chilid] is really dynamic, flexible, and supportive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can do better in evaluating the design and paying attention to detail. Some small points are out of alignment. But in general, they are good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the product owner of marketing for Brass Willow. In short, we guide organizations in order to make products happen. We are a strategy consulting company, mainly dealing with scrum, Agile, and lean methodologies and techniques. We are very much concentrated on product development, design, and process. We help our clients with development matters, and have also used Chilid during the very early stages of our company’s existence in order to learn a bit about agility and product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chilid?

We were looking for someone to redesign and build our web page, as well as our overall marketing corporate identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Chilid from the very beginning, and hadn’t had previous company branding. They designed our collateral, and also coded those designs.

During the last few months, we have been working on rebranding and redesigning our full corporate web page. We’re doing this in a continuous deployment, so, at the end of every sprint, we have a live result. We were aiming to obtain the biggest business values, and weren’t working on particular features. I have tried to give developers as much creative freedom as possible, which was useful both for them and for me.

There was a particular high-risk moment, namely combining our custom registration system with webpage registration and payment portals like PayPal. We had 3 very complex, fragile systems which needed to be combined into a single sales funnel for the Brass Willow professional scrum services. It was a difficult and risky job, and one which Chilid delivered excellently.

During our 3-year collaboration, our team included up to 6 people. It’s not always obvious who is counted as part of the team in a scrum process. We worked with a business product owner, a scrum master, 2 developers, and 1 UX designer. We hired Chilid because they offer teams, so there was no one liaising the communication with our resources. We had a very good graphic and UX designer, and it was good to work with someone who knew the project and whose professional skills I very much valued, but it was mainly Chilid’s decision of who was sent to us.

In the very beginning of our first release, around 4 months ago, there was a change of 1 team member, which was motivated by his health state more than anything else. Apart from this, Chilid’s team has been stable.

How did you come to work with Chilid?

They were the best web design company we could get a hold of in Poland. There were some other groups under consideration, but we chose Chilid based on their experience as well as their working process, agility, and flexibility, combined with the very high-quality work they do.

How much have you invested with Chilid?

I don’t know what the cost of our first iteration was. The second one had a cost of 80,000 Polish Zloty. [$21,000]

What is the status of this engagement?

The first version of our web page was made 3 years ago. I wasn’t an employee of the company at that time, so I don’t know how much time it took. We have been working on our new redesign for the last 4-5 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve had no problems with abroad payments on our system. It’s been working well.

We haven’t used any similar companies in this capacity, since we’ve only worked with Chilid, but we have many clients struggling with the same problems as us. The productivity of Chilid is 30% higher, or even more. We tried not to rely on hourly estimates during the project. I am in the process of preparing a detailed report of how well the work went, and how much time we actually spent on it. We were much more concentrated on the quality of the solutions for our problems.

How did Chilid perform from a project management standpoint?

Their productivity, compared to other companies we’ve used as consultants, is about 50% higher. Chilid has delivered to our deadlines. We are tracking the work through JIRA, and we also use Slack. The biggest problem is that we are a remote team, with the product owner sitting in Warsaw, and Chilid based in Gliwice. I have made 3 trips to their location, at crucial moments in the project, in order to be present on the spot and help.

Most communication has been done through Slack and Basecamp, and it suits us well. We also have daily scrums through appear.in, for items which are too big for Slack, and too small for Basecamp and JIRA. It allows us to have pseudo-face-to-face communication, and maintain our rapport and chemistry. It also helps to feel the emotion surrounding a project, both on the team’s side and on the product owner side. This has led to a greater sense of ownership for both our parties.

What did you find most impressive about Chilid?

We have tried to have continuous deployments. We discussed this during a presentation during Scrum days in Poland. The code is released as one-to-one previews in a very smooth way. There are usually no bugs, and we’re surprised to get one. We have also tried to estimate based on abstract terms. Rather than talking about burning tasks or actions, we discuss items and measurements. This is hard to do when not working with an in-house team, and it was quite a risk, but it paid off very well.

Are there any areas Chilid could improve?

We are working on transparency about the emotions around a project, including on higher managerial levels. My hands were sometimes tied because of what was happening on the Brass Willow side. We have gone through retrospectives with Chilid after every sprint, and discussed every problem which arose, almost immediately.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Chilid?

I recommend focusing on effects, not hours, and making the team love the project. They are the first group which should be absolutely infatuated with one.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

TelSpan is a U.S.-based conferencing company that basically has 3 main components to what they do. They offer audio, video, and web conferencing. We also have onsite services, like video recording and editing of conferences and other events. I’m the project manager of our learning management system [LMS] for businesses and associations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with XSolve?

We created an LMS internally based on feedback from clients, but found our own design did not scale well, so we sought a better solution. While supporting our first solution, XSolve began working on a new LMS from the ground-up.

The goal was a cloud-based, custom, e-learning platform, built responsively and capable of eCommerce, custom branded sites, certification management, online testing, reporting, and more.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

They started from scratch and created an LMS where a client can house content, including files, text, videos, and pictures. They can ask a learner to go through their content within a certain sequence, and they may or may not ask them to take tests along the way, the results of which are trackable. People can also bundle these things together and sell them through our payment gateway setup.

The idea is that we manage the LMS and sell it to clients, and they can then brand each portal of their own the way they want, as if it’s their own product, and sell it through their own portals. There are 3 people from XSolve that work with us. There were times we had several more depending on where we were at with the project. The product is now live, but XSolve continues to enhance and improve it.

How did you come to work with XSolve?

We went with the recommendation of partners we had.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them May 2015 and have been working together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I have now worked closely with XSolve for about 8 months. I once had a fear that outsourcing development would give me a group of task-completing robots, but instead, I discovered a group of creative, intelligent, thoughtful individuals who wanted to make something great together.

Working with XSolve is more of hiring a process rather than a product. They continually adapt so that our needs and concerns are met. The team shares honestly about expectations and goals, so there are few misunderstandings with results. Sometimes they over deliver, and other times under, but I’m rarely surprised by a result. Estimating software development isn’t an exact science.

Remote communication has its challenges, but we make the most of impromptu and scheduled video calls, messaging apps, and any other means of communication we find helpful. Whenever I express a concern, the team is quick to find a solution. I recommend taking a trip to their office to get a clear understanding of the XSolve culture. I didn’t meet anyone who didn’t speak English well when I was there. Language has never been an issue for communication.

As for specific metrics, we just newly published it. So we’ve only got our first couple of clients using it.

How did XSolve perform from a project management standpoint?

I was brought in to help them figure out exactly how they wanted to complete the project. I manage them directly, but the team at XSolve has been consistent. They work with an Agile approach, and depending on the team size, you’re dependent on those specific individuals. There’s a 6-hour time difference, but XSolve does a really good job of trying to figure out ways to better communicate so they can better meet our needs. We chat on Slack almost daily. They ask questions back and forth and send pictures of things along the way.

What distinguishes XSolve from other providers?

They speak English very well.

Is there anything XSolve could have improved or done differently?

My understanding is that, when you’re a new group with them, they prefer you to do workshops with them to make sure that you understand their process and that you know how to get started with your project and have a good vision for it. I can’t talk about what it’s like to start with them, because I wasn’t a part of that. I don’t think they had the realization that I was new to their team. It took me a while to figure out how we were going to work together and we struggled with that a little bit at first. It would have been nice if they redid that workshopping stage for me. My greatest concern is it’s taken a little while to figure out the best way to communicate with each other. I think sometimes they’re hesitant to push people to communicate with them. But once we established some systems that worked well for us, it improved the process.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with XSolve?

If you plan to work with XSolve, it’s important to find the best means of communication with them. You have to build an individual relationship with your team of resources. I would also recommend taking a Scrum course if you don’t know much about it. I believe our initial communication would have been easier had I done this. It’s possible that XSolve provided some of this support when they were initially hired, but I was not on the project at the time.