Burning Buttons

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Speaker 1: We’re a tech company that’s developing diagnostic and monitoring tools that rely on voice as the primary method of evaluating a patient.  We’re the president and CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Burning Buttons?

Speaker 1: We hired them to help us with the development of a web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Speaker 1: Utilizing APIs that we created, they built a web application to collect voice and breath sound samples from users. The app then analyzes the sounds and displays diagnostic results. 

What is the team composition?

Speaker 1: The vast majority of the work has been with two individuals, but we’ve collaborated with four people in total.

How did you come to work with Burning Buttons?

Speaker 1: We found them on Upwork along with several other candidates. After our interview with them, we were impressed with their technical expertise. 

How much have you invested with them?

Speaker 1: We’ve spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Speaker 1: We’ve been working with them since March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Speaker 1: We’ve integrated them closely with our team, evaluating them on the quality of their code and development speed. We value their expertise in technical architecture and web app development topics.  

How did Burning Buttons perform from a project management standpoint?

Speaker 1: They generally met deadlines. We communicated using Zoom and Slack. 

Speaker 2: They exceeded our expectations from a timeline perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Speaker 2: They listen to our needs and suggest changes when needed. We appreciate that they actively engage and have a sense of ownership in their work. That makes them feel like a true part of the team. They genuinely care about the products they create both in terms of technical soundness and collaboration. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Speaker 2: I was surprised to see them asking questions about all aspects of our business. Sometimes that information was off-limits, but I was happy to see them really engaging with the work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Speaker 2: Documenting requirements and frequent communication is very important for technical projects like this.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of Kirschbaum Fenster and Rollladen GmbH. We’re a construction company with about 50 employees. Our business is mostly focused on selling goods around the house like doors, windows, and products like that. We also fix and install the products for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Burning Buttons?

Our goal is to build a platform that’ll allow us to easily offer our services to a wider range of customers. The platform is only focused on our repair and maintenance services for the products we serve.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Burning Buttons developed a web platform that also works on mobile browsers. The platform aims to connect customers to service providers who can repair or maintain the product. Right now, it’s just my company on the supply side. In the near future, the platform will include more companies that can help and serve customers.

The platform’s main purpose is to provide an easy user journey through a quiz. First, the customer is asked a series of questions based on the logic we defined —and Burning Buttons implemented — on the backend. Then, the customer receives certain quotes and information on how many people are needed for the job.

This is supposed to be a transparent process for the customer so they can see what resources are needed as well as the prices determined by their answers to the quiz. They can usually book an appointment at the end of the process. Then the customer will receive a confirmation email. We have a backend where we store all the orders. It also provides an overview of what needs to be done and how many orders are there.

There are some similar services that focus on different customers or products which we used as reference products. But in the end, this was pretty much created from scratch even though the design was created by our agency and executed by Burning Buttons. We provided them with reference material.

What is the team composition?

We had one full-time developer, a part-time project manager, and a salesperson.

How did you come to work with Burning Buttons?

I found them on Upwork. In fact, I had spoken to two different providers and liked both. However, I really liked how Burning Buttons handled the whole inventory process in relation to the platform’s look and feel as well as needed functions. I was pretty confident that it was a good idea to move forward with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested $30,000–$35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2019, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far, I’m pretty happy with the implementation of what my wishes were. I think the developer has done a good job of implementing all the things we requested.

How did Burning Buttons perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed pretty well when it came to project management. We didn’t need that much project management because I directly worked with the developer. There was just one full-time developer so tasks were rather easy to manage. This allowed the project manager to take more of an intermediary role.

Any issues we had were properly solved, so I’m pretty happy with the project management. Communication was great and all three people I was in contact with were always available. They were always responsive to feedback and pretty fast in the implementation.

Around 95% of our communication was through Slack. Trello was basically just a transparent tool for the developer to use and give me a way of checking on the progress. Besides that, we used Google Sheets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with how they can implement any wishes I have in a very short amount of time. There was never anything they couldn’t do or had a problem executing. Our interactions with the developer are very personal, and he is very available. We had direct contact with him which was great for me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing that didn’t go according to plan was the estimation on cost. The estimation at the start was a little lower than what we ended up with. This was due to some changes that we had made as we went along.

I can’t really speak to whether this is a good or bad thing, it’s mostly just a statement. We’re around 30% over the estimation that we had at the start. However, it’s okay because we also implemented some more things than we had initially planned. Overall, I’m happy with how things have gone so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working closely with the developers themselves is a great thing. Each to their own, but that would be my advice as we found working closely with the developer has made working together easier. Have a very clear idea of what you want at the start because it gives you a greater chance to have a correct estimation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project manager in IT business company, which provides revenue management tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

Develop&support of the revenue management websites.

What were your goals for this project?

Create revenue management tools for hotels and private properties.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

BB was found by our management team.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Backend and frontend development support, web design, team leading.

What was the team composition?

There are about 15-20 people, including back&frontend developers, QA engineers, designer and team lead who are still working with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The projects provided have had a meaningful impact on our business. As our client pace grows every day we receive new requests for additional features to be added to existing projects.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Perfect.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The company is open to any new challenges we ask of them. Developers team always delivers a high-quality result within a deadline.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a media based company that help business advertise to their perspective customers through detailed search and listings on our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

We were half way through our site build and needed to change developers. Burning Buttons came on with an existing code base and midway through the project and got the website to a state where we would launch the service.

What were your goals for this project?

Get the site live so we can launch without compromising on code quality, site functionality or reliability.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did a range of testing against other companies and this combined with previous projects plus their flexibility and communication were the determining factors with selecting Burning Buttons.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project was built with laravel framework, react.js, MySql, elastic search and other tech stacks. The team were very knowledgeable and proficient in these.

What was the team composition?

We were working with two team members with one focusing on front-end and the other on back-end. This allowed us to hit goals quicker. We worked with project management tools to track tasks for the project and the team were great at working with this style.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work the team did helped us get to launch our project to the public.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was managed using Jira in a Kanban style as this was the best and simplest approach for our small team. It worked for us extremely well and the Burning Buttons team were great at following this. It allowed quick testing and fixes through to product release.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their skills were excellent with very clean and structured code.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of Altling. a social platform created for gamers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Burning Buttons?

We were looking for help with web development for our gaming social platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought them on to develop a social media web platform for us. We came to them with a design blueprint of what we needed, and they developed the frontend and backend. The code was designed partly by many companies, which was the whole reason we had to really start from scratch.

Our requirements were pretty complex, but they were very honest with what they could do and what they thought might be different. They gave us their opinion and suggestions. They also helped us with database work on the backend. We used Drupal and we are planning to use Laravel for the next phase.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a minimum of two people and a maximum of six people. We had a project manager who was our main point of contact. If needed, we could speak directly with the senior or junior coders as well.

How did you come to work with Burning Buttons?

We had started the website ourselves, working with a freelancer and another company, but it didn’t work out. Initially, we were looking for a company on a freelancing website. They had quite a decent number of projects done on freelance.com. We started with a small part of our website, and we noticed that they do things differently and continued the engagement with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent close to £20,000 Pounds (Approximately $24,400 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from March 2017–January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They completed the project prior to the set timescale and we met our target. Compared to the previous developers we worked with, they were good at estimating and respected the timeline we had.

They are quite flexible when it comes to changes along the way. They reallocated some developers to another job, and whenever we needed more developers, they were able to scale up. There wasn’t a commitment in that sense on our side, so we had that flexibility when it came to how many developers we needed.

The quality was great. There were some problems, but that went back to having code from someone else and probably was not their fault.

How did Burning Buttons perform from a project management standpoint?

They actually understand a lot of what we do, which has been very positive. I usually see developers try to understand the project, try to read the blueprints and do whatever it says; however, in our project Burning Buttons gave us feedback based on what we wrote. They made suggestions and it was more like a dynamic response from them.

We were in constant contact with their team through Slack and different software. There was a decent level of communication going on, which we really enjoyed.

They were on time with scheduling, which was great. They were up to date on recent technologies. Even though we wanted to use Drupal, they recommended other technologies.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are quite friendly within a professional relationship. We enjoyed our time together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only problem was the coding that was designed by someone else, so I can’t really say much about that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are very flexible. The quality to price ratio is pretty great and is way better than what we can get in the UK where it is more expensive, and the quality isn’t even close.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup that offers web application services to online companies based in Australia. I am the co-founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

To develop a web application - widget and admin website. We had a crude generic prototype, but BB came in and developed the key features.

What were your goals for this project?

We had specific features/functions that were needed to be added to our service. Our previous vendors were not able to deliver. We needed someone to fully understand our existing codes, and build upon it. Because we already had a framework, BB had to study our existing one and implement our requirements within the framework.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We used a freelancer website. We looked at their previous track record, their pricing, and conducted interview. We were interviewing 3 more candidate teams, but eventually went with BB.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project was a short intense one where they had to quickly learn our existing codes, and develop a widget app with an admin website in PHP. We explained exactly what features were needed to be added, and gave our pre-existing codes.

They first reviewed the code, gave productive feedback which also played a role when deciding to work with BB. After two rounds of initial meeting, we had a catch up meeting. We mostly communicated via Skype/slack.

What was the team composition?

We have one business dev person, one who looks after the tech side with frontend dev background, and one does all ad hoc work. BB had a project manager, one tech lead, and one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are at the early stage of our project, and currently talking with potential customers and stakeholders. It wasn't development first then going out to customers. We had discussions with customers first, and then needed a prototype within a short period of time.

BB took over the project and quickly added the key function that was our selling point. This was a unique function that I don't believe they would have developed in the past. However, they were quick to understand the concept and developed it according to our requirement framework.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked through Skype and Slack. Always there to respond to us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

• Great communication - We've had issues with communications in the past with other vendors, e.g. they did not understand what we wanted, and came out with something that we did not initially planned. Always responsive.
• Lead time - After two meetings, BB came back with the expected turnaround time, which they kept. Never happened before with other teams.
• Attention to detail - They went above and beyond to pinpoint details and always had lots of questions. Lots of questions is always good from our experience.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I honestly did not see any area for improvement at this time. We will continue to work with BB, and will tackle much more complicated projects, which I firmly believe will also have awesome outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a web development company that, at times, partners with companies like Burning Buttons to complete specialized tasks where we need additional skilled developers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

We have worked with Burning Buttons for several years, now, and have used them for a number of various projects, including Drupal Commerce, custom PHP/Zend, Node.js and ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) support. We have additionally used them for design and UI.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals on many of these projects were either to bring in a lead developer or add additional resources to a project as needed. They have filled both of these roles without much effort.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have used quite a number of outsourced development partners over the years and settled on Burning Buttons due to their depth of ability, availability, and communication.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We have had ongoing long-term relationships with lead development resources on several projects. Lead development supported and or carried through on the entire dev life cycle, from brainstorming on critical functions and needs as they came up to scheduled support and maintenance of security and module updates. The team would be assigned tasks via project management tools where issues would be documented, updated, version controlled before being pushed to staging servers for QA.

What was the team composition?

The teams consisted mostly of their lead or support developers who communicated directly with our management team. They utilized our in-house project management software. Burning Buttons also had a great project management team in place to communicate overall productivity and additional team needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without Burning Buttons and their team, our services would be greatly diminished. They bring great depth to any team.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project managers are great at communication and are there when needed. When they aren’t, they don't get in the way. We prefer to discuss project details directly with the developers, and they have allowed and even promoted that level of access.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Burning Buttons is always excited to stay ahead of the game and love to talk about new tech, which makes them very helpful with technology solutions. The owners of the company are probably bigger geeks on technology than their development staff. They have been involved in a handful of high-level projects with us, as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No person or company has no room for improvement, so hard to say they don't. But it’s also hard to consider what that might be. Being a remote collaboration partner, communication is always the biggest area needed for us, so there’s always room to improve there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the project coordinator at a branding company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Burning Buttons?

We don't have any in-house Drupal developers, so we reached out to Burning Buttons to develop our website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Burning Buttons developed a website on Drupal, using provided wireframes and design files. They also incorporated some custom features such as a dashboard for users. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three people on their team, including a project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Burning Buttons?

One of our employees found Burning Buttons and set up some initial conversations with their team. We were impressed by their examples of previous work and presentation. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested between $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since March 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with the functionality of the website they've developed. We're in the process of fine-tuning the site.

How did Burning Buttons perform from a project management standpoint?

They're responsive and proactive in communications. We can reach them almost instantly through Slack, which has added a lot of value to the relationship. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Making themselves available on Slack has made communication with them seamless.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely take advantage of their availability over Slack, even if it's not a platform you're familiar with. It's made the whole process very easy for us. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the delivery manager for Neilson Active Holidays, managing our onsite and offshore development teams. We provide active holiday activities, ranging from cycling to windsurfing, and we cater to a range of travelers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

We hired Burning Buttons to create a new Drupal 8 website, and we also use them for additional web development.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a site with rich, robust pages and have more control over the customer booking journey. Our goal was to increase our conversions and provide a better UX.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

When looking for a vendor, we wanted them to have a specific skill set in Drupal 8 and PHP. We also wanted an established agency, so Burning Buttons was the best choice.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Burning Buttons has provided support for development and QA for our project. Their team handles all aspects of building and deploying throughout the engagement. They also assisted with creating an automation suite to streamline the process.

What was the team composition?

There are four developers, one designer, two QA teammates, and one business analyst working on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching, our website’s conversion rates have increased, and we have received highly positive feedback on the UX. Our customers enjoy the new features that we’ve built with Burning Buttons, and we have a comprehensive roadmap for future developments.  

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Burning Buttons has been instrumental in managing and supporting the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their skill set and depth of knowledge are excellent—they are always eager to work with us. They are easy to communicate with, even with the time difference.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Although this isn’t unique to Burning Buttons, there was some turnover on their team during the project. However, this is the risk with outsourcing no matter what the company.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Ed Tech Company. Cofounder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Burning Buttons?

Front end staff augmentation.

What were your goals for this project?

Expedite the delivery of the features

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Based on history on other projects in UpWork and initial "grace" period.

Describe the project in detail.

Build a VueJS front end for our email/SMS management feature and the parent portal feature.

What was the team composition?

From Burning Buttons: Designer, Front End developer, project manager, auditor, and coordinator.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Completed Implementation within time estimated and cost projected.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. Regular status check meetings, code reviews and feedback

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were good at sticking to timelines and the budget.

Are there any areas for improvement?

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