CodeFulcrum

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-executive director. We are a global organization that develops tools and provides services for the off-grid electricity sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

codeFulcrum was hired for end-to-end development of Community Energy Toolkit (COMET), a role-playing software tool built around a representation of a mini-grid system, intended to be used as an educational and collaborative planning tool in designing a community-sized mini-grid system. The tool is designed to be used within a process that explores mini-grid planning and operational decisions. ​ In COMET, networked users come together to play out household consumption and make important energy choices, like purchasing appliances, setting energy tariffs, and managing finances to pay their bills on time. Users' individual behavior, like switching appliances on and off, or failing to make a payment, are immediately visible to everyone else. The tool facilitates meaningful collaboration, and enables the community to collectively decide on an appropriately sized system, a tariff that pays for system costs, and allows users to consume amounts of energy within the mini-grid's limited capacity.

SOLUTION

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

We found this vendor through UpWork and went through a process of testing their capabilities through a series of initial, self-contained projects. Their positive performance encourage us to hire them to lead the development. They listened and asked the necessary questions from the start, and they were patient and efficient with us.

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

Their team was there for us through the entire development process, from planning to implementation. Wireframes and specification documentations were delivered in detail to their team. They developed the solution through a series of development sprints, incorporating the features specified in the design. We leveraged several core technologies and infrastructure including Python, Django, React, Typescript, and Postgresql.

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

We work with a project manager as the main point of contact and there’s one front-end developer and one back-end developer dedicated to the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their skill and experience showed in the quality of their work, and they followed through on everything they promised. They have delivered a series of prototypes with significant work on both front and back-end development. codeFulcrum put in a lot of extra work to hit some deadlines and allow us to show it to clients. We’ve been using the demo version since May 2021

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

Their project manager is very organized, which enabled us to meet all of our deadlines. We use JIRA to stay on the same page at all times and have a slack channel which works well for us as it is efficient and timely. The team engages in 2 week sprints with daily standups and weekly performance evaluation meetings.

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

Their openness and honesty sticks out. Working with contractors necessitates a high level of trust, especially if they are located in another region. They are dependable and friendly. They are also very responsive and adaptable to our team, which is spread from Asia to North America.

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

Their work to date has focused on prototypes working in a development environment. We are now increasing our attention on our unique off-line deployment requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief software architect for OhmConnect, and we pay people to save energy. When electric grids are stressed, the utility companies pay us to reduce such stress on the grid. We alert people to postpone any large electrical usage and then pay them. I oversee our architecture and special projects. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with codeFulcrum?

We initially brought in codeFulcrum for a contract with an Australian energy provider. Our company needed to customize our basic product to work in the Australian market, and that was a big body of work. Apart from that, they've also worked on other projects in all aspects of our market. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our collaboration with codeFulcrum isn’t project-based. Instead, they serve as offshore members of our development team, and we give them projects in many areas. The technologies they use include Python with Flask, React, and MySQL. Their team also uses plenty of third-party tools like Slack, Jira, and GitHub. We use Webflow for our website’s frontend and Twilio for SMS. Further, a huge body of our work involves smart devices like Nest Thermostat and TPLink Smart Plugs; the codeFulcrum team handles the API tasks for these devices. 

As an example, we previously brought in one of their developers to help us on a short-term project. We were opening a Texas branch, so we needed a completely new website. They assigned a developer who was familiar with that kind of workflow to develop the website. That project lasted for about a month. 

At present, one of the things we’re working on is adding an interface to a smart device that controls air conditioning units. Apart from that, the team is also working on another smart device — this one’s based in New York, and it’s difficult and confusing. They currently work with the manufacturer to get that project going. On top of that, codeFulcrum also works on fine-tuning the way we send our messages to people who need to save energy. The goal is to make that process more efficient.

Overall, we have a ton of interfaces. The codeFulcrum team is involved with most of it, and we keep on working with them in more areas. We’re trying to expand the partnership and look for more engineers from their team to work on more projects.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with three people. One of them is a frontend engineer, and the other two are full stack developers that handle React, Python, and database technologies. 

How did you come to work with codeFulcrum?

We were searching for companies online when we found codeFulcrum. We weren’t specifically searching in Pakistan, but we also had engineers all over the world, including Poland, Spain, and eastern European countries. 

When we stumbled upon codeFulcrum, they seemed to be a company that could fulfill our needs. We had a rigorous screening process where we gave them assessments and interviews. Eventually, we started working with them and liked the way they worked, so we kept going. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $50,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with codeFulcrum in August 2020, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In general, the quality of codeFulcrum’s code and their commitment have been top-level. For context, our feedback is more about how smoothly the project goes. We check the quality of their work, testing, and deployment processes; our team looks at whether the deliverables work as expected. 

Similar to any engineering project, there are times when the code isn’t so good or a bug comes up eventually. However, codeFulcrum’s performance is equal to the top programmers we have onshore. Based on that, we’re truly happy with them, as evidenced by our continuing work and expansion. 

For our Texas website project, we were pleased with how quickly they assigned a person to work on it. We were also happy with that person’s skills; he finished the project on time.  

How did codeFulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

With project management in mind, working with offshore teams can be challenging because of time zone differences. For instance, codeFulcrum has a 12-hour time zone difference with us. When we have morning meetings, it’s nighttime for them. What’s great about them is that they’ve adjusted their schedule to overlap with ours and keep working with us. 

More importantly, their resources can work independently. We try to write highly descriptive instructions on what to do and how to do it, but even with instructions that aren’t precise, they can figure things out by themselves. In almost all cases, they come up with the right decisions based on what they know about our projects. That’s truly important for us. 

Moreover, the codeFulcrum team is great at using tools like Jira and GitHub. We have standups twice a week, and they provide standup reports via Slack every three days. Their reports are always great; they contain descriptions of where the project is. If we need to review a request, the reports also contain links to such requests, making it easy for us to go through and scan exactly what they do. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The number one reason why we enjoy working with codeFulcrum is that we enjoy them as people. We get online at least twice a week, and we talk to each other about what’s going on and have personal conversations. On top of that, their English is good, and we don’t have any problems with their accent. 

Another impressive thing about codeFulcrum is that they’re on the ball. If I ask them to do something, they’ll get it done — they don’t drop the ball. They implement what we ask and do it consistently. In summary, they’re easy to work with and they get the job done; these are the most outstanding things about them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

While the codeFulcrum team is great at figuring things out by themselves, they still can use our schedule’s overlap to ask us questions. They should take advantage of that time by interacting with us when necessary. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Strada offers tools to simplify the management of Commercial Real Estate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired codeFulcrum for its end to end development. We wanted someone who could take up the challenge and own the project.

SOLUTION

How did you select codeFulcrum and what were the deciding factors?

We selected them through a bidding process on a work marketplace. Their selection interview was well done.

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

We have another design team on board while codeFulcrum takes up the responsibility of end to end development. The project was in an MVP state but they picked up on the idea and the challenges of the project quickly. I shared the need to polish the existing Strada features and get going on new ones.

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

Presently there’s one project lead and two developers: one for the frontend and one for the backend. They've been dedicated to us. Other resources like design and QA, can be added as needed along the way. From that perspective, they are quite flexible and adaptive. The core team is constantly there, and it's rather convenient to bring in additional resources as needed for specific periods of time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing so i can’t provide any numbers or statistics to demonstrate the impact exactly but they have been working effectively and delivering the project goals in time. We are happy with the results and our ongoing engagement.

The way they handled Yardi integration coordinating with their QA team for a smooth process while keeping me in loop in everything was very impressive.

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

Communication has been great since the day we started working together. We make use of JIRA so all tasks are kept track of. The Development team works in sprints, building and testing each module. Their team has always been meeting the deadlines and are always welcoming to adjust around our feedback. Plus they are always available for meetings.

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

The quality of their work, their attention towards our challenges, and the project goals have been impressive.

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

Nothing stands out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an executive of a start-up education company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Develop a web based educational software application

SOLUTION

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

I was impressed with their initial design work, based on this we entered into an agreement to design the software.

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

Web design and development

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

We’ve worked with 6 team members from codeFulcrum including a Design Lead, Senior UI/UX Designer, Technical Lead, and 2 full stack engineers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application built was intuitive and simple to use. The team at codeFulcrum came up with good ideas to facilitate a great user experience

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

Even though we were working in different time zones, they codeFulcrum team made themselves available at short notice to resolve any issues.

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

They produced a quality product that allows me to simply and efficiently create educational Quiz's.

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

No - I was very satisfied with what they delivered.