Dirion

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product owner in Appdvlprs LLC. We transform bold business ideas into exceptional products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to revive the existing solution of our partner - the Italian mobile operator. The existing mobile app was obsolete in terms of UI/UX, code, and lacked business functionality that covered business requirements.We needed experts who to audit existing application, do API analytics and business requirements analytics.Who Based on the result, will create a modern mobile application for Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

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

We have already worked with these guys on another project. They proved to be a reliable partner. They were always in touch, actively delved into the details of the business problem and always offered solutions, many of which were implemented and work perfectly to this day.

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

We needed everything from scratch. So the scope included:

1. Audit of an existing application. As a result of the audits, problems were identified that prevented the application from scaling. We decided to rewrite the application from scratch.
2. Analytics. We wanted to make sure that all requirements are clear and can be implemented. We also identified a number of problems on the server side and API that need to be improved..
3. Preparing detailed technical requirements for developers
4. UI/UX - they worked with screens in Figma.
5. Development. At the end of each sprint, sometimes more often, they put together a mobile application so that we could touch the result.
6. Managment. Every week we called each other to discuss the results and agree on a plan.
7. QA Testing. Testing has been integrated into the development process.
8. Support. After fulfilling our goals, they are always in touch and ready to quickly connect to new tasks.

Tech stack:

1. Managment: Agile, Jira, Confluence, drawio, Figma, Firebase, Postman,
2. iOS: Swift, Coordinator + MVP, Rest API, Web Sockets
3. Android: Kotlin, Clean Architecture, MVVM, Web Sockets, Rest API, Custom view components
4. Qa: UI/UX testing, Functional testing, Non-functional testing, Regression testing, Smoke testing, Exploratory testing, ad-hoc testing.

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

Analyst - 1 Project Manager - 1 QA - 2 iOS developers - 3 Android developers - 3

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have made a plan for the development of a mobile application for 5 months. We met this deadline and got an excellent working project. We are currently working on marketing. In the near future we will launch the project and new metrics will appear.

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

Before starting work, we agreed on a list of application features and divided it into sprints of 2 weeks each. We called once a week, sometimes more frequently, to make sure everything was going according to plan. At the meetings, I received detailed information about the status of tasks and processes. We could change the requirements flexibly, agreeing them for the next sprint. The communication went through Google Meet, the requirements were fixed in Confluence, the tasks were formed in Jira.

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

Dirion showcased a very strong expertise in mobile development. They offered modern solutions that met our needs. They have great analytics, which, in my opinion, is an important foundation of any project. When I work with them, I forget that they are our partners, there is a feeling that we are working in the same company and we are making our project better. These guys have a very strong expertise in mobile development, they offer modern solutions that meet our goals, and do it well. They have great analytics, which, in my opinion, is an important foundation of any project. When I work with them, I forget that they are our partners, there is a feeling that we are working in the same company and we are making our project better.

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

What they do, they do well, I have no idea what can be changed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Gifteka is a startup from the USA. I am Co-Founder of this company, live in Russia and that is why I contacted them more than my partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had an idea of the startup and the budget on the Friends&Family level. We needed in the full stack development: backend, website, design, analytics, iOS and Android appliations.

SOLUTION

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

We had bad experience with outsourcing company before, so we did it very carefully. We have selected this company from a long list of candidates. They fit better than others, so we decided to meet them offline. We liked them as professionals and just as cool guys :-)

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

We needed everything from scratch. So the scope included:

1. Analytics. We wanted to be sure that everything is clear and this can be implemented.
2. Technical description of the requirements.
3. UI/UX - they worked with screens in zeplin and showed us the results.
4. Development and project management. We had a call every week for discussing the results.
5. Release. They helped us with all technical details.

Support. They supported us for a few years.

Tech stack:

1. iOS: Swift, Rest API, Web Sockets
2. Android: Java, Kotlin, Rest API, Web Sockets
3. Web + Backend: ASP.NET MVC, MS SQL, Azure, C#, Hangfire, RabitMQ"

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

"Analyst - 1 Project Manager - 1 iOS developers - 3 Android developers - 3 Web/backend developers - 5"

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The applications were in markets in 5 months after the start, which is very good result. The backend works stable for a few years.

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

They used Youtrack for all tasks. Their internal channel was Skype, but we had a Viber channel with them. All tasks from us were being carefully analysed, and only after that they were being passed to the development team.

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

They worked with the project like it was their own startup! They wanted it to be successful, we felt it. That is why we were sure that we have found the best team we could.

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

Sometimes we wanted some analysis would be faster. So I believe we were more happy if there was one more analyst on the project. But they hadn't have him that time, others were busy. But I believe that our project was not very standard one and required some more analysis than other ;-)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

To The Moon Mobile is a startup company. We developed a product that combines the services of mobile operator and banking. The first version of the product contained cryptocurrency exchange, but then we replaced this functionality to the bank client.

I am a Chief Digital Manager, so I had to find a team that can help me with all my tasks. Fortunatelly I knew such a team, cause I worked with these guys before. They helped me a lot with design, analytics, and of course with mobile development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our company wanted to develop mobile applications to provide our services to our existing users and also to attract new ones. We didn't have in-house specialists for this. Also we wanted to make it in professional level, so we needed in experts.

SOLUTION

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

The first company we tried to work before failed this project. It was before I joined the company. So I suggested to hire a team I worked with before and I was sure in their qualification.

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

1. Audit of the existing application (we decided to develop new applications from scratch after the results of audit)
2. Analysis of the requirements and the existing backend API endpoints
3. Catch-ups with all service providers
4. Preparing detailed technical requirements for developers
5. Start of the development process
6. Managing the process, technical sync calls every week
7. QA process
8. Release and support

Technologies iOS: Swift, Coordinator + MVP, Rest API, Web Sockets Android: Kotlin, Clean Architecture, MVVM, Web Sockets, Rest API, Custom view components Infrastructure: Youtrack, Figma, Confluence, Firebase, GitLab

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

Project manager: 1 Analist: 1 QA specialists: 2 iOS developers: 4 Android developers: 4

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This guys developed MVP for AppStore for 3 months. After that we could gather feedbacks from users and implement new features. We doubled the number of the users in the company after release. So we achieved all our goals.

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

All the process were clean and transparent. We always knew the status of every process and every task. We used Telegram for every day communications, because it was more preferable for us and we asked it. As I know Dirion use Slack for their internal communications and they asked us to join it as well.

All tasks were in Youtrack, and all documents were in Confluence. There were also some tools for QA. They used Fiddler for testing all cases in client-server communications. Speaking about the timeline, I would say that it was fair and predictable. The analytics was in a very good level.

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

The most impressive thing is their full commitment in the project. They knew everything about it in details. We could ask their advice for any question, from technical to business ones. And of course they have great expertise in iOS and Android, so I was always sure in the best quality of our apps.

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

I'm not sure. The only thing I would change is the size of their team. The more good project managers and developers they have the more projects I can give them :-)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the cofounder and CTO of a company exploring AR and how it pertains to listening to music.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I hired Dirion to help me with development and finish what I started. I had the design and basics of the code done but I needed help with the server connection layer and was busy with other projects. My goal was for Dirion to help finish the project quickly so we could get it out on the App Store and start testing to get feedback from users on our concept.

SOLUTION

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

I had worked with the manager at Dirion years ago and we reconnected, and as I shared about my project and his studio we decided it was a good fit.

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

We had a kick off zoom call to discuss the goals for the project and I showed him the code base and where things were at. I ran the project where it was and explained what needed to get done. After that we communicated via Telagram and also assigned tasks using a basic task tracker Todoist.

Since this was a small project we decided Jira was not needed. We stayed in sync and worked together, they coded the large parts I wanted to get done, and I could still add UI tweaks as I wanted them which was more efficient for everyone.

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

Mainly just one, but at some point they had 2 other engineers working together, so 3 iOS engineers total.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the MVP, my cofounder was pleased to see his idea come to life, and we are not still in the middle of gathering user feedback.

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

Daily sync of telegram and tracking tasks on Todoist, we opted not to use Jira since it was a small project but on a larger one we would have.

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

Good communication and fast work thats done right. Sometimes you get teams that work fast but build the wrong thing so you have to redo or undo things, which wastes everyone's time, I appreciate Dirion took the time to understand our goals correctly at the beginning. They are also good about asking questions when things aren't clear instead of assuming, this is essential.

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

There was some code which could have been integrated more neatly with the code I had already written and the solution could have been more elegant, but it did work in the end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CTO of MSP vendor. We have statewide company with headquarter in NY.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We need to establish communication between PBX and various hospitality property management systems to enable interfacing - reflecting actual PMS data inside PBX and transfer states of guest rooms back.

SOLUTION

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

I met them on different project when I was a part of different company. Was very satisfied with previous results.

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

ASP.NET Core, Postgre Sql, C#, Sockets, Multiplatform compilation

1. Initial concept discussion.
2. Collecting of all requirements from targeting systems (protocol of interfacing, API documentation, operation system specific requirements)
3. Create and confirm timeline of delivery.
4. Deliver the build.
5. QA
6. Support and extend functionality

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

Senior .NET developer + Analyst and project manager + QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Product was delivered on time. Over next month's we made couple of integrations with different PMS systems. During those integrations we received fast support, and all fixes and extended functionality were delivered in next one or two days after technical discussion and case conformation.

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

We are communicating through Zoom, email and GitHub. All builds were delivered just in time.

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

They offer variety of solutions that can fully resolve our business case - we chose most preferable for us.

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

We will discuss a different way for documenting changes and new functionality, because it was always delivered to strike against challenges that come during new integrations.