Calcey Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I ran Shared Services for large, global, real estate company, specifically shopping malls.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Calcey Technologies?

we had medium sized team in San Francisco and we needed additional resources for QA and web application development.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

We had tried outsourcing to a few agencies that were located around the globe, ultimately we settled on Calcey. Their commitment to process and price made the decision easy.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had developed various applications, in house. We were looking for QA work on both mobile and web applications. Prior to Calcey we did not have any QA resources in house.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

This was straightforward process. Calcey came in and did an assessment and came back with recommendation that seemed very reasonable, from a cost and resource perspective.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Calcey eventually became a "6th Man" (NBA basketball analogy) for us. They taught us how to work best together and accelerated the various projects they worked on. We ended up delivering the mobile app 4 weeks sooner with their involvement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was seamless. Projects typically have hiccups, initially. We had some initial hiccups, but they quickly were remedied and Calcey became part of our team.

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

Feeling like Calcey had skin in the game. They didn't seem like they only cared about finishing the project and getting paid. They had great team attitudes.

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

No. They have nailed how to be effective outsource shop.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the head of User Experience at the Wikimedia Foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Calcey Technologies, and what were your goals?

Development and QA work.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Multiple vendor evaluations.

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

The challenge was to go through as many exploration, development, QA and release cycles in 250+ languages in 12 months to release the relevant features. Calcey Team played a vital roles in the dev & QA.

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

3 people (1 project manager, 1 dev, 1 QA)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Calcey provided a daily report on what has been worked on and questions on tasks if there were any.

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

Proactive and concise.

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

Their agility and quality of work were outstanding.

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

Not that I can think of at this time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a creative post production editing firm

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Calcey Technologies, and what were your goals?

SaaS and internal software to automate internal workflow.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Reference from someone

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Did not start nor finish

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

Horrible communication

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

Nothing

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

Provided them the scope of a project and a budget initially. They told me they would need to charge me for the proposal so i thought I would be okay since i had already told them the scope and budget for the project. I figured if it wasn't feasible to do the project within budget, they would have told me. Proceeded to provide me a proposal that was nearly 3 times the budget then charge me $6000 for it. Obviously didn’t go through with the project, while they managed to take $6000 from us.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on October 11, 2021.

Hi Emmanuel,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’re sorry your experience wasn’t what you expected. We have always prided ourselves on providing truly great customer services and it’s a great disappointment to have let you down in this way. Just for context, we charge for requirements elaboration engagements because they are significant pieces of work with a set of formal deliverables (i.e. user stories, acceptance criteria, and application screen designs). In this case, we had planned a 3-week requirements project but ultimately spent close to 5 months working with you to capture the expanding scope (although we still only billed for 3 weeks of work).

Our requirements team believes that they raised the cost implications of this expanded scope with you on multiple occasions, but given your experience, we presume that we have not done this communication with sufficient clarity and formality and that's a failing from us. We will take this as a learning and make sure to improve this aspect of our service going forward. Our apologies again for your experience and we wish you all the best with your project.