Darly Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LLC Darly Solutions?

We needed staff augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Darly Solutions provided us with a team of engineers to augment our staff. Initially, we had an introductory call where we told them what we were looking for; we had a very specific idea of the set of engineers we required. From there, they provided us with the resources we asked for — a frontend software engineer and a backend software engineer.

What is the team composition?

At any given moment, we worked with two full-time engineers from Darly Solutions. Still, we changed one engineer for another one, so we worked with three different resources in total. Moreover, their CTO and their product manager occasionally joined the project to help us out.

How did you come to work with LLC Darly Solutions?

We found them on Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2022, and the collaboration ended in February 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Darly Solutions helped us find the resources we needed, who integrated well into our processes. At one point, we had an issue with one of the engineers caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. However, they helped us solve it by providing a different engineer.

How did LLC Darly Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Darly Solutions performed well — we had no complaints. They used an internal tool to track their hours, and we used Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Darly Solutions was always willing to help us out, even on weekends, and they went above and beyond by working extra hours as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was nothing Darly Solutions could have improved on; it was a good partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Managing Director of Lower Capital - a specialist corporate advisory firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LLC Darly Solutions, and what were your goals?

We had a placeholder website for a number of years and needed an update within a short amount of time to support a PR initiative. Our core goals were establishing a simple online presence and ensuring a securely hosted and responsive website was available.

SOLUTION

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

We initially shortlisted three vendors and were significantly impressed with the wireframe/skeleton website Darly Solutions provided as part of their response. We interviewed Daria and her team and engaged them very shortly after.

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

Following an initial meeting to discuss our timelines and goals, we provided outline designs and access to repositories and hosting platforms for Darly Solution to build upon. Our techstack comprised Angular and Firebase, all with custom components (i.e. no third-party material, css or design frameworks).

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

A total of four people worked with us from Darly Solutions, including the company owner, sales manager and a number of engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They exceeded all of our expectations, from design through to delivery. All deadlines were met and the engineering team offered a number of key suggestions that accelerated the development process and resulted in a fantastic final product.

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

Communication with the Darly Solutions team was all online and was absolutely seamless. They were highly responsive, worked to tight deadlines and provided great feedback and communication throughout the entire project to ensure it remained on schedule and all quality requirements were being met.

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

The responsiveness, attention to detail and high-level communication from Darly Solutions was outstanding. We have used a number of web development agencies before, but none have come close to the professionalism of Daria and her team.

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

Darly Solutions met all deadlines and exceeded all expectations - it's impossible to find any areas that needed improvement. The team was an absolute pleasure to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of technology at PSS AG; we're a digital asset management company. We provide asset management services, especially for people looking for investment solutions for their retirement funds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LLC Darly Solutions?

We hired LLC Darly Solutions for custom software development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We're using external implementation companies for development, so LLC Darly Solutions does software development using AngularJS, which we use internally to provide customer services.

In addition, they provide maintenance to the software products they've developed for us.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is their project manager, who works closely with his development team.

How did you come to work with LLC Darly Solutions?

We put out an RFP on Upwork. Consequently, we received several bids, but we were impressed by LLC Darly Solutions because their profile showed they had great references for their previous and current work.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we've spent around $20,000 with them.

What is the status of the engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and the engagement it's still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work is very high, and we get very good customer feedback on what our site looks like.

How did LLC Darly Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet our deadlines and are very accurate with their time estimations on a project. In addition, they're responsive and great with communication with a great command of English — it's very easy to talk to them. Moreover, we've integrated them into our development and scrum process, where we have daily stand-ups with their project manager and developers through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very reliable and have a great overview of the technologies they're using.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on — working with them has been a great experience, and I'd like to engage with them for another project.

Any advice for potential customers?

It's important to have close communication with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a director and Head of Technology at a consulting company focused on delivering custom software and integration solutions to the access control, security and logistics sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LLC Darly Solutions, and what were your goals?

Our primary product's web platform and API was developed in-house in 2021. The MVP and initial launch was hugely successful but many corners were cut in developing the software in-house. The code quality needed to be improved to allow for scale, and the backlog needed to be moved to additional developers to free up resources internally. That's what we contracted Darly Solutions to assist us with i.e. better code quality for scale and additional development resources.

SOLUTION

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

We considered a number of factors during vendor selection for this project, namely experience, cost, timezone, proficiency in English, professionalism and personality. Darly Solutions had the best balance of all these factors; smart, experienced, friendly, well-spoken, good value for money, and willing to laugh at a joke (very important in South African culture).

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

The approach here was always going to be quite agile, as we were hoping to learn from the Darly Solutions team as we progressed through the project. We started off with giving Darly Solutions access to our Javascript codebase (Nodejs, Express, EJS, jQuery) and requesting a code audit with immediate recommendations for refactoring the existing code. Darly solutions were then tasked to implement some of the suggested changes, and then to start rebuilding (as opposed to refactoring) some of the existing functionality in a separate space in the codebase, while still using our existing MySQL database.

This continued with weekly updates from ourselves to the specification document, which Darly Solutions would deliver on. We meet weekly to discuss progress and any parts of the specification that might be unclear or could do with improvements. Darly Solutions also provides weekly timesheets of all work completed in the prior week. Recently we moved all the code from Darly Solutions to a completely new repository, which will become the codebase for the new platform. We are currently considering a front-end Javascript framework for the new platform, most likely Angular or Vue.

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

So far we have worked with one project manager and one back-end developer from Darly Solutions. We have also had brief interactions with a handful of other people from Darly Solutions, including the CEO and CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Nothing measurable at this stage, as we're still busy rebuilding the back-end, with plans to move to the front-end soon. So we have no real user interactions or data yet. However, I can attest to a dramatic improvement in the quality of code produced by Darly Solutions, as opposed to our original codebase.

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

The project management from Darly Solutions has been great, very thorough when necessary, and also hands-off when needed (to let the development process flow) i.e. flexible to our needs, which we appreciate. We really value our weekly reports and also the ability to reach out to the project manager whenever we need them. Most communication is through Slack, with reports being sent via email. We haven't had the need to implement a task tracking platform yet, this might become necessary later when we scale up to more developers.

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

Their flexibility, professionalism, friendliness and (very importantly) willingness to speak up when they feel that we may not be suggesting the best approach for a feature or requirement ourselves i.e. they don't just do as they're told, they actively participate in the design process, which is going to yield us a much better platform in the end.

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

I suppose our only comment here is that it would have been nice to see examples of the kind of specifications they would like to see from us. So far we believe the specifications we're providing are working well for them, but some upfront guidance might have been helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a food app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LLC Darly Solution?

I needed help with UI/UX design for my customer and merchant apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had a video call where they asked about my needs. After that, they set up another meeting with their designer and project manager. Then, the team provided the scope of work and an estimate. They completed each milestone and I paid them after each one.

What is the team composition?

Their project manager was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with LLC Darly Solutions?

I posted a job listing on UpWork. They sent over their portfolio and we decided to work together from there.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place in February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work definitely gave my app direction. The team is very thorough and identified key elements that were listening. The team really knows what they’re doing. The work they did was very valuable for my business.

How did LLC Darly Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack to keep in touch. Every week there was a meeting and an update until the project was completed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really professional and they know what they’re doing. The team knows how to identify my problems and solve them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to give them as much information as possible. Great communication helps the team create a better solution.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A software development company and I am a Product Owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LLC Darly Solutions, and what were your goals?

Our company hired LLC Darly Solutions to start the development of our advertising platform. Our goal was to create the frontend parts of our platform with enough backend to support the frontend.

We have a specific tech stack for this build of the project so we needed Darly Solutions to work hand in hand with how our company operates. After this section of the project is complete, it'll be passed onto our in-house developers.

SOLUTION

How did you select LLC Darly Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

As the Product Owner, I scanned through at least 50 candidates (individuals and agencies). The deciding factors were fluency in specific programming languages, fluency in English, and response time. After having interviewed multiple individuals and agencies, Daria the CEO, had been the best out of our shortlisted candidates.

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

We needed Darly Solutions to work with Ionic, React, Typescript, Strapi and Nodejs to create the frontend and backend of our advertising platform. We provided some design mockups using powerpoint files for the team to follow.

We worked hand-in-hand to ensure that we know the user flow of the project. Within their task, they had to provide frontend for features such as setting up demographics, uploading images, and setting up forms.

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

About seven people from Darly Solutions are working with us. The team consists of a product owner, frontend developers, backend developers and designers. The agency was able to provide us with the full support including DevOps for deployments.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With Darly Solutions effort in our project, we will be able to show our executives how the platform will look like and operate. This was our main goal before the project although we did not know when this meeting would be scheduled.

Therefore, this agency has been very agile with us by following our guidelines and working with the experts to achieve this deadline. The Darly Solutions team have performed very well since the beginning of our project in October 2020 and we decided to add additional scopes of work.

Within this very fast-paced industry, communication, transparency, and honesty is vital to the project and we are happy working with this agency. Our developers as well are very happy to be working with them.

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

The project was handled very well from talking about the terms of the project all the way to the project being in development. The processes of the Agency aligned with our ideal workflow wherein there is a Product Owner who will be managing how the frontend and backend will be built.

We communicated through Upwork about terms, additional scopes of work, budgets and timelines. We used Slack for immediate responses and we also set up a daily standup. Phil, the product owner for our project gave us daily reports via email and slack on the status of the project which helped us support their team as soon as we see their requests.

We also setup a JIRA board in which we can track the development as well.

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

What is most unique and impressive about Darly Solutions is that everyone in the team is inherently communicative and understands the expertise of their respective fields. The team is very agile and can predict stress situations in which we work together to fix and maintain.

I believe that every client looking for a development agency require these qualities which can be very hard to find. We know this because we have worked with other freelance candidates before and the chemistry between our team and this agency has been astounding.

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

With full transparency, I believe that Darly Solutions is operating the way development companies dream to. The way they work is admirable and I'm happy to know that we can contact them anytime if we ever need the support. Keep up the great work!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a healthcare company. We have an online platform that helps organizations dealing with handicapped people. We work mainly with organizations dealing with autistic people. They have everything they need on our platform to serve their employees and clients, in terms of time tracking and invoicing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LLC Darly Solutions?

The frontend of our platform had been built by our own team. We wanted to replace it with progressive web apps, and we were looking for someone that could handle that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LLC Darly Solutions has built a complete frontend for us, based on progressive web apps. The languages used are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We integrated a videoconferencing system into our platform, using Jitsi.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three people from Darly, including Phil (Project Manager). His English is perfect. It’s very good to converse with him, and he has a precise way of defining the jobs that need to be done. We tell him what to do, and he takes care of it.

How did you come to work with LLC Darly Solutions?

I found them on Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is around $5,000, and we’re looking to spend around $1,000 per month with them on an ongoing basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with LLC Darly Solutions around July 2020, and they’re currently working on a progressive web app especially for smartphones. I expect them to be with us on a long-term basis. Darly could do much more for us, but we’re the bottleneck. We don’t manage to prepare new jobs fast enough.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Getting things done is the first priority for us, and I don’t have any special KPIs. We’ve just started marketing a couple of months ago, so it remains to be seen what the future will bring us. I’m definitely satisfied with Darly’s work so far. I’m really glad that I’ve found them.

How did LLC Darly Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Phil is doing a very good job. We use Slack as a communication medium, and he has regular management reports on what’s being done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have meetings through Jitsi, which is integrated into our web app, and Darly has implemented a functionality for recording those meetings. We could host the Jitsi platform on our own servers, but recording requires a lot of bandwidth and power, which is a limiting factor. The solution implemented by Darly has the user record on their own machines.

I found a few other companies online, but it quickly became obvious that they were mainly looking to see what they could get out of us. This is definitely not the way Darly does work. I trust them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m happy with them, and I don’t see much room for improvement. I have thoughts on what we could do to expand the relationship, and we are discussing things that may happen in the future. The bottleneck is the work I have to do.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d recommend them to people looking to do more than build a simple little software.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are developing three solutions - VModel, VStudio, VWorld - that revolutionize the 3D content creation processes by using mixed reality to render new landscapes and visualizations, allowing physical and digital objects to occupy the same space and interact in real time. I am the CTO and responsible for the design and delivery of our solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LLC Darly Solutions, and what were your goals?

The purpose of this project is to deliver the web applications that will support the functionality we are delivering as part of our solutions. The primary focus is on the user interface and implementation using the best available frameworks and resources to deliver an application developed to the highest standards.

SOLUTION

How did you select LLC Darly Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

LLC Darly Solutions are highly skilled at UI/UX and follow very good engineering standards and have been very professional in their approach to all the work to date (including the initial consultancy which was the deciding factor).

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

The work is based on Akveo's Nebular Angular framework and we are currently working through two iterations to deliver the MVP by the end of the year.

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

5 members of their team are working with us and they cover all the UI/UX roles and web development roles.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing but all the milestones have been achieved and the quality of the work to date has been unquestionable in terms of its quality.

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

The project management and communication has been very good. They have found ways to overcome all of the challenges with regards to multiple teams and ensuring the communication is good.

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

They have taken ownership of the work in way that demonstrates how much they value the work they are doing and consequently the work we are doing. I am gaining confidence that the decisions they make are good decisions and that this will result in a product that will exceed our initial expectations.

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

There have not been any decisions or work done that I would question at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Associate Product Manager of a chemicals & biotechnology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell bioimaging devices for research and commercial use in life science fields.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Darly Solutions to accomplish?

• Design UI for one of our products

SOLUTION

How did you find Darly Solutions?

Online Search

Why did you select Darly Solutions over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Darly Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The goal was to design user friendly UI for the remote control of an imaging device. Key deliverables were different milestones in the development of that software.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We received a well-designed interface as requested from the team and had a good working relationship throughout.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The company was responsive, delivered high-quality work, and were amenable to changes in design preferences and timeline from our end.

What was your primary form of communication with Darly Solutions?

Virtual Meeting

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

I enjoyed working with the members of the team and appreciated their professional, yet friendly demeanor.

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

I was impressed with the company and satisfied by our collaboration for its duration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Learning Program Manager of PL Coding

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides education and mentorship to a global community of app developers, helping them improve their skills through practical, project-based learning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Darly Solutions to accomplish?

professional app mockups for edtech projects

SOLUTION

How did you find Darly Solutions?

Upwork

Why did you select Darly Solutions over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Darly Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The PL coding leads a community of app developers who require professional app mockups, primarily for edtech projects. Our team provides UI/UX design only, enabling student developers to build high-quality, production-level applications based on our designs.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The team delivered polished designs across different industries, including EdTech and FinTech. Each mockup was well thought out, visually engaging, and tailored to the purpose of the product.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Darly Solutions demonstrated excellent project management. Deadlines were consistently met, and the team was highly responsive, making sure our priorities were always taken into account.

What was your primary form of communication with Darly Solutions?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I found their flexibility and genuine commitment to our project very impressive. They adapted quickly to our needs and delivered results that exceeded our expectations.

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

No, I believe Darly Solutions handled the project very well. I don’t have any suggestions for improvements at this point.