Django Stars

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Firstblox.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

The founder of Firstblox and I wanted to build financial regulatory compliance software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before we started working with them, we did a pilot sprint where we got a good understanding of how Django Stars worked. They gave us a comprehensive document that described their tools, processes, and techniques.

The team then helped us take the project from ideation to conception using Django Python. We provided them with requirements and they fleshed out the ideas from there. They also helped the founder translate some of his ideas into mind and site maps. Once the ideation was completed, the team started getting the prototype ready to present to investors and potential customers.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with about 5–6 people including a business analyst, a UX designer, and a system architect.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

They have a strong online presence. I saw some of their client video testimonials and attended their conferences and meet-ups. After discovering them, I had a few meetings with Django Stars’ business development manager who provided some clarity on the processes that they use and how they manage projects. We ultimately chose them because of their experience with previous clients and using agile methods to deliver a product successfully.

How much have you invested with them?

After wrapping up the upcoming development phase, we will have invested between $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019 and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was taken through an accelerator partially because of Django Stars’ good work. The fact that we were able to demo a product and win an award at a startup competition speaks to how successful the team was. They delivered everything we asked for and we even had follow-up conversations with investors.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide us with reports at the end of each sprint to highlight what is delivered and what isn’t. After reviewing the reports as a team, we are able to understand what improvements could be made. Their delivery is also seamless and their processes align with the best practices of agile methods.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are subject matter experts in their field and bring a lot of experiences to the table. Before commencing development, they helped us identify the key features of the project, which was valuable. Django Stars advised on how to spend our time and money wisely so we were able to make decisions in the beginning about what to tackle first. They are very flexible and align their methods with how we want to work. Overall, our teams gelled quite well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of. Anything we needed to iron out, we did during the pilot sprint. We figured out if we wanted to use our own version control or issue management right from the start, which was helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise customers to go through a pilot sprint and meet with their business analyst. Test the water to determine if you would have a good working relationship. Given their expertise and our experience with them, the answer would be yes. But go through these test sessions anyway to flesh out the ideas using their knowledge. They also have a complete document that will help you understand their processes upfront. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a financial data distribution platform. We gather data from provider and resell it to clients. I'm am the CTO of Sanostro AG responsible for technology and product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Django Stars?

We planned to develop a new analytics platform for our business. To automate all processes including advanced data combinations and simulations. We hired Django Stars to build the software for this platform.

What were your goals for this project?

To build a new platform from scratch.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We looked at different vendors in the region and had several meetings. In the end, we selected Django Stars because of the professional impression the gave.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software development based on a scrum methodology with Backend, Frontend, Quality assurance and project management. With us, they developed mainly in Python and ReactJS.

What was the team composition?

2 Backend, 1 Frontend, 1 QA, 1 Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was executed according to plan. We have been able to streamline our processes and reach more clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was good. Their initial estimates where upheld and we encountered no surprises.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The ability to put together a good team in a short period of time impressed us. We had a some delays in our project start date and when we finally started they were able to find good people that could do the job very fast.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The work held very high quality but it took some time before the developers got used to the old systems that we integrated. But this is always the case when you work with 2 systems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CPO at Scoperty. We created a new real estate marketplace here in Germany.

For every property we show, we provide an evaluation of the property based on an AI algorithm. This is our starting point in the selling and buying journey in the German housing market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

We were looking for someone to help us with web development. In particular, we wanted to use a very experienced backend DevOps resource as a freelancer. When it comes to resources in the IT sector in Munich, it’s really hard to get people on board.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Django Stars has provided us with a very competent backend developer. We started with the frontend and built our team out slowly.

In the end, Django helped us create our whole marketplace, and they’ve been providing us with an engineering team. At the moment, it’s a web-based application that’s fully responsive and also works on mobile devices.

When it comes to features, the product is a map-based marketplace. We have a Google map with all the prices, and the user can enter each property.

The user can get in contact with the owner, register, and share messages. They’ll also get search alert emails. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 12 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

One of our investors was already engaged with them and recommended them to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with them began in October 2018, and we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to increase story points with each sprint. Everything else is pretty hard to measure, and we don’t have a clear metric in place to measure the quality. 

The number of bugs after the release also decreased from sprint to sprint. From the beginning to now, we saw a dramatic increase in the pace of our sprints.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a project manager acting as a Scrum master within their team, so our product owner has a clear face on the other side. We manage them as a scrum team, and we are also in direct contact with every developer.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It feels as though they are a part of our company, and their people are really engaged in delivering a good solution. They feel fully responsible for our product. 

They think about the solution, and I think that is really cool for an outside company. They have a stable team. With Django Stars, you’re really able to create a Scrum mindset.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers need to have a little bit of trust in them because they ask for responsibility. If you give them responsibility, they take it seriously and start to perform. You need to really get into the action with them. You should go to Kyiv or invite them over to you and explain what you’re doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a Swiss-based financial research company. We serve several large corporate clients by providing financial data to retail customers and investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

We were developing a new version of a website based in Django and Python. Since our old developer had left the company before the site’s completion, we were looking to outsource the remaining work to a reliable firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The new release features a fresh customer interface and several new features. After Django Stars came on board, they utilized frameworks and coded in JavaScript in addition to Python and Django. After development, they provided quality-assurance by testing the product.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 4­–5 people.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

I believe I found them through a freelancing site. After I reached out to them, I was attracted to the fact that they have clients in Switzerland. I felt close to their working culture and sensed that they were responsive and reliable.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve probably spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work on our regional project lasted between February–November of 2019, but we plan to engage them again for the next step in the release.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Django Stars really took off of my plate, because there were no lengthy iterations. They promised to execute something, and they delivered something that was complete and functional in a timely manner.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the most professional development company I’ve engaged with. They’re transparent about their qualifications and costs and are able to stick to their promises. Apart from one or two normal delays, they delivered almost always on time with more than a dozen deliverables.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on Django is quite impressive. While it’s often considered a secondary tech stack, their focus on and competence in Django was of great use to me. They’re very efficient and know how to solve problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While this isn’t a shortcoming on their part, they’re probably better for larger corporations. As a smaller business, I was an exception to the general size of their projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about the size and scope of our project so that you’re both on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior manager of a mortgage company. I’m responsible for all the software solutions. We acquired the technology deck from a previous company that is no longer operating as a mortgage company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

They previously worked with our proprietary solution, which was an online workflow for clients to fill out a mortgage application and submit it to us. They had built two pathways, one for a purchase and one for a refinance. We needed help with further development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There were three components to the work they did for us. First, we asked them to build a third pathway for home equity liens. Second, we needed to be able to lock and unlock the file for the borrowers so they could continue editing after a sales person edits the file. The third piece was to allow for lead ingestion.

We used to have multiple questions on a page. They also helped to reengineer the application so it’s only one question per page in the first half of the process.

We had API connections with at least two other systems. How the fields work inside of our own proprietary system and how that translates to a loan origination system and to Salesforce is different in terms of what those field IDs are and in terms of when those data points should be injected into those various systems.

All the functionality is there. We’re done with this specific project, but I plan to continue working with them at least through the first quarter.

What is the team composition?

They had a project manager and a backend engineer that were fully committed to our project. Also, they had a QA person and additional backend engineers supporting as needed.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

They were working with the company we bought the technology deck from so they were already familiar with the product and had worked well with us in the past.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2018 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They got everything into gear and delivered on a short timeline. They were incredibly ambitious. We had a successful launch on time. They changed the way that we’re able to accept leads from some of our partner companies.

What they’ve done has been reliable, functional, and effective. I’m extremely satisfied with their work. They’re great at what they do. They needed a lot of direction, but that’s expected because they’re working with some foreign topics. They’re great at getting what you need done as long as you explain the true goals and how it will work effectively.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

We had meetings at least once a week. We used Jira to track each of the components. There were 100 plus Jira tickets associated with this project individually. For each one, I saw who worked on it, where, and how the time was used. It helped me better understand how many hours they worked in communication, development, QA, documentation, or investigation. Apart from Jira, I wrote up everything in a Word doc and PowerPoint slides.

The project manager did an awesome job at being organized and knowing when to bring in additional resources.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was truly impressed. Toward the end of the project, we knew it was coming down to the wire. They were dedicated to the last minute of the last day to deliver what they needed to, and they did it. We had a short time period with a lot of code to write and a lot of things to change. We knew that it was going to be tough, and everybody worked hard to make it happen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only concern I have is the project manager and backend engineer we were working with abruptly left at the end of December. I was given two to three days’ notice that they were leaving, which was concerning because they had a lot of organic knowledge based on many years of working on the system. Now that I have to get a new project manager and backend engineer, some of that knowledge is going to be lost no matter how well they documented things. I was initially planning to use them through 2019, but I don’t know what the working relationship will be like with the new people.

It was also challenging to deal with some of the paperwork. It took longer than expected to figure out their expenses and pay them because they didn’t have a W-9 or a tax ID number. It took us about six weeks to get all the paperwork squared away to pay them. That being said, they continued working without being paid for a few months knowing that we would pay them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re awesome at engineering and programming. If it’s a foreign concept like mortgage, you’re going to need to provide a lot more detail than you might expect. They’re super effective, come at the right price, and get the job done. Be particular. I’ll definitely continue to work with them based on my experiences so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a company that focuses on influencer marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Django Stars?

As we are lean and agile, we needed external resources to quickly deliver an MVP of a new reporting solution.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create an MVP as fast as possible in order to get real customer feedback.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found them on Google while looking for a Django-focused agency. I selected Django Stars because I had a prior touchpoint in Kiev.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

I provided the idea and shared my vision with their team. They provide project management, QA, frontend development ideas, and engineering know-how. After a quick onboarding, they developed an initial MVP of a dashboard. It includes all Facebook marketing KPIs in a single interface for our customers. Every value in the dashboard automatically updates multiple times per day.

What was the team composition?

I work with a project manager, two backend developers, a frontend developer, and a QA expert.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still very early, but they achieved a very nice-looking interface. We plan to have them add additional features and services beyond this initial MVP.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our dedicated project manager always responds in minutes, even over the weekend. Most of the communication went through the project manager. While I would like to talk directly to the engineers more often, in general the project manager does a great job of coordinating everything.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They share my high standards for how to run a successful and well-balanced company. They understand that people are an asset, and they provide a professional environment.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I’m very happy in general. I haven’t worked with many agencies, but my preference is to integrate each person working on my projects as a full team member. Django Stars works autonomously and sometimes I wish they were more integrated. For example, we could have a weekly meeting with the team or they could invite me to come to their office once a month.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CPO of Molo Finance, a U.K.-based mortgage lender.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

We had an idea to develop the UK’s first digital lender, but no one to actually build it, so we needed a team to take us from our idea through to implementation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our entire application website using Django and React, which was quite complex. It was a combined effort, but we provided them with some wireframes and they gave us collaborative feedback. They implemented features such as a calculator, decision engine, document generation, and third-party integrations.

What is the team composition?

We work with a scrum master/project manager, developers, and QA people. There have been some designers and management support as needed, as well the CTO and others.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

They were recommended by one of our board members who had used them in the past and continues to use them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around £400,000 (approximately $510,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018 and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is live, we have customers, and we’re a growing business, which means there is still a lot of work to do. So far, the feedback has been positive, and some people have been very impressed. It is a fairly stable proposition that I think our customers are happy with.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent. Any faults are on our side, mostly in terms of making sure that the requirements are there. The project management has been good: we use the Atlassian suite of tools such as Jira and Confluence for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Generally, it’s been a very positive experience. I’ve worked with other vendors in the past, and the biggest distinction is ownership—the Django team feel a lot of pride in their work and are invested in our company. They’re motivated and want to see us succeed, rather than acting purely as an outsourced developer doing daily tasks. They really go the extra mile to make sure that we have customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could think about a more holistic approach, rather than solely the implementation. Other companies I have worked with try to capture the essence and make strong recommendations on what to do next.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be structured and well organized. Have some concrete thoughts about what you want to have built and I am sure they will do it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and director of Solastis Solutions. We’re based in Singapore and are developing a CRM that’s aimed at the Asian and Australian markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

Developing a CRM is a big initiative for which we needed a multitenant structure. Multiple customers would be buying and using the system, which comes with a level of complexity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the requirements and wireframing, and Django Stars handled programming and project management according to our instructions. They used the Python Django framework on the backend, and they delivered whatever we asked for, including email functionalities, telephone integration, chat features, and so on.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager, a couple of backend engineers, a couple of frontend coders, and two QA specialists for testing purposes.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

We were looking for a company that could deliver the right services, so I searched on Google and visited Clutch’s website. I found good ratings for Django Stars and decided to meet with them. We visited them to discuss the project and liked their working style, so we decided to proceed with the first phase of development.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Django Stars in July 2017. The first development phase was completed around May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any statistics, but the quality of work has been good. All functionalities work as expected, and while there are some bugs, this happens in every project. We’re happy with Django Stars’ work so far.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been decent so far, though there’s room for improvement. We used Jira for issue tracking, Confluence for the wiki and documentation, and InVision for mockups. We also used Slack, Skype, and email for communication.

The project got slightly delayed, and cost control was also somewhat lacking. While the quality was good, we felt worried at times about the escalating costs and delayed timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We haven’t worked with other development companies before for this kind of work, so I can’t really mention something that makes Django Stars stand out. However, their quality of work is solid and their engineers are experienced. If the client can control de cost, they should get a high-quality product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to improve in managing customer expectations, budgets, and time management. The customer is always interested in when a project will be finished and what costs it will entail. I think they need to put some work in this department.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Any potential customers should spend a reasonable amount of time in putting their own products onto wireframes. If they simply go to Django Stars with a concept, their engineers may find it difficult to understand what exactly is needed. Clients should prepare their wireframes in advance and present them to the Django Stars team, who will take the project forward from there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of one of the largest record labels in Russia. Our company arranges management for different artists and organizes tours for them all over the country. We’re part of a group of companies that are working in show business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

Our company needed a CRM system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Django Stars has completed features that allow us to organize the logistics and ticket sales of concert tours. They continue to enhance the CRM system’s functionality.

What is the team composition?

There are 10 people on their team. The development engineers are always in touch with one designer. We also work with a project manager and one tester.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

One of the artists we’re working with recommended Django Stars.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent a little over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results are quite striking. Our system currently processes about 30% of ticket sales nationwide. For major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, that percentage goes up to 50%.

Django Stars proved it was necessary to build a system not only for ourselves, but also for every client and every event. What started as an internal product for our company is now being used by artists who aren’t even involved in our business.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

From the very beginning, their project manager showed us the right way. We have weekly Skype calls. Sometimes, we have meetings at their office in Kiev. Every month, they send an update about what they’re doing so we always know what’s going on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are reliable and professional. They’re a treasure for our company.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We keep recommending our new clients and friends to Django Stars. We’ll keep doing it because they really get the results that you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company has a B2C digital advisor platform. We provide a robo-advisor, or trading platform with financial advice.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Django Stars?

I was not working for the company at the beginning of the engagement. I joined after six months when Django Stars was already onboard. I came in and took over development, as a product owner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to build a financial advisory platform that was also connected to a trading platform, allowing users to execute the advice they received. We had a very loose blueprint, so there was a lot of co-creation in the beginning and the technology was almost entirely outsourced to them. We developed the architecture and infrastructure of the product, building it from scratch.

They used Django Python for the backend and developed a user-database management system. It’s a CRM system based on the Django framework. This user database also has an API connection to a local trading platform. The user database is always updated with the latest market data and portfolio standards. We've done some implementation on our side, and offered them ready packages of code to be used, but they implemented most of the features on their side.

We have three frontend parts: the website, an onboarding process for new customers, and an investment platform. The onboarding component and the investment platform are based on the user database. Users can log in, see their portfolio, invest, and make changes. This is then connected to the backend trading system.

What is the team composition?

The core team includes a QA resource, a scrum master, a backend engineer, and a frontend engineer. The team has evolved and changed size depending on the capacity we requested.

We have performed a redesign, where we have worked through the UX and developed a new website. We increased the team to five people for a 2–2 ½-month period during this engagement.

How did you come to work with Django Stars?

We researched the Ukrainian market and went through a due diligence process.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost has been $200,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016. We're currently finalizing the second iteration of our platform. We might stop the sprint-based work, but they will still be engaged with us at a support level.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The code they’ve developed so far has been reliable and functional. There have been too many bugs at times, which took time to fix, but overall the team is accurate.

How did Django Stars perform from a project management standpoint?

The core team is very dedicated. We experienced some friction after increasing the team size. Some team members were only kept on the project for a short duration. Joining a project takes time—the resources have to learn the code and how to communicate with their teammates. It doesn’t make sense for someone to be there for only a short time. We had one or two points where we were a bit more questioning from a project management point of view.

We get reports at the end of every sprint. They're fairly accurate to their estimates. All in all, we are satisfied with them at this level. We used Jira as our main communication tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're serious and they do good work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were a bit agitated on our side in terms of project management, but we overcame this.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should make sure that a core team is assigned and that they're able to stick to that team. We've been strict in this sense and it's helped us a lot.