EL Passion

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an innovative project management platform. It’s aimed primarily at education firms to help with project management and managing processes. However, it can be used for any startup or medium-size firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We needed a partner to work on our UI/UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by creating flowcharts of processes and then built wireframes. From there, they worked on the designs of the actual platform, using Sketch to produce all collateral. They also created the logo and updated our landing page. The platform is primarily based in HTML and CSS, and they use React as the website language. For the CMS, they used GatsbyJS.

What is the team composition?

They have one developer who writes the code and a senior developer who reviews and refactors it.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

We found them on Dribbble. I looked at and emailed a few different agencies, and EL Passion was the quickest to respond to my queries. That started an environment of trust and responsiveness, so I chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a complex project with lots of moving parts, and they did a great job of meeting all of our requirements. The platform is easy to use while still being able to accomplish a lot. The design is simple, which facilitates the user’s interaction with the actual platform.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and have weekly meetings on Hangouts. They answer any of our questions and clear any doubts. I’m pleased with their project management, and they always respond quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicate well and produce high-quality work. They met deadlines and provided valuable insight on how to develop the platform and which direction to take it in. If they had doubts about certain functionalities, they raised the concerns, so we could make the best product possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, my experience was entirely positive.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of a company that has created a web-based tool which can discover correlation relationships between 47 publicly-traded instruments. Our target audience is made up of traders at banks and hedge funds as well as asset managers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire EL Passion?

We hired them to help us with backend work and to integrate the designs that we had already done.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create a working first version that we could begin selling to customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were referred to us by a former colleague of mine in Spain. I interviewed several other companies but after meeting with EL Passion, we decided that they were the right company.

Describe the project in detail.

We began the project with EL Passion by spending a day scoping out the project in Warsaw, their headquarters. In the first half of the day, I described how each module on our dashboard needed to work, and with the second half, one of my colleagues explained the financial formulas that would drive the product.

Once the work began, we met once a week via join.me to discuss progress and to go over obstacles. It was an iterative process since we changed the scope as the website was being built. In some instances, we removed things that didn't work properly, and in others, we added things based on feedback from potential users.

Explain how the solution addressed your business challenge.

The most sophisticated correlation "tool" that is known to date is a PDF file that Goldman Sachs distributes to its traders which shows current correlation values. Our tool presents correlation through multiple lenses to help traders make informed trading decisions.

What was the team composition?

We had one backend developer and two frontend developers working on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

About midway through the project, we showed a working prototype to a hedge fund in Canada. They were so impressed with the prototype that they declared they wanted to be the first client when the website goes live.

How effective was the project management?

We had very good communication throughout the process, which is integral to success in my opinion. That level of communication made the entire project more efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What I found most impressive is their communication and willingness to be flexible on costs whenever there were some coding missteps.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

At first, it was clear their team was not very familiar with some of the financial concepts that we were involved with and it took a little time for them to get up to speed. As EL Passion is interested in doing more fintech work, it would make sense to train some of their developers to become more adept in the working procedures of Wall Street. That said, they picked things up quickly and did excellent work overall.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a media company with one of the most popular websites in Poland, wp.pl. We offer news and gossip, as well as other features. I'm an iOS technical leader and platform leader. I'm responsible for native iOS and Android applications, as well as progressive web applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We wanted to develop a video library for one of our apps. At that time, we had 12 developers, and all of them were occupied with other products, so we decided to outsource the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were responsible for creating the video player for our internet broadcasting app for Android, called WP Pilot. Users can watch Polish TV channels through the app, using the player they created. It not only plays videos, but it also displays ads, allowing us to monetize them.

They created the entire library. We gave them some specifications, but we agreed that we wouldn't prepare a huge list.

We had 3 agreements for stages of the project. In the first one, we created an MVP without any stats or monetization. After testing that product, we decided to move forward with it. Over the next 2 stages, they added new features and then tested and refined them.

What is the team dynamic?

They provided us with 4 developers.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

A few of their developers have been speakers at events we’ve attended. We decided to discuss potential collaboration with them.

We invited them to our office and held small workshops. They started developing the next day. A few days later, they gave us the first draft of a demo to show us what our cooperation would be like. We were able to install the demo application on our devices. This was even before we’d signed an agreement.

In addition to their proactive work upfront, we selected them because we liked that they understood our needs. Their idea for how to tackle the project was a perfect fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from July to December 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app they created the player for currently has 500,000 users. We now use the player in all of our applications, which means it has around 2 million users. Every article that includes video now displays it on their Android devices.

We got a return on our entire investment in the product in the first month of distribution. It was really nice to have such a well-functioning product.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

I was the product owner, and I was responsible for managing each sprint. They only provided us with developers. We’d have a small meeting everyday for about 5 minutes. Even though the meetings were short, I was confident they understood our goals exactly. We used Scrum for our collaborated and would make changes and add next steps each day.

They anticipated any technical problems or potential scheduling delays and informed me upfront. If there was a problem, they would contact me immediately and we would troubleshoot or cancel some optional tasks. I appreciated that clear communication.

While their testing process took a bit longer than it would’ve with our own developers, it yielded better results. They took the time to write tests themselves and polish each feature accordingly, but their resulting code was very high quality without any related crashes.

They created exactly what we wanted under budget and ahead of schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The code quality was outstanding—some of the best quality I've ever seen. During 4–5 years here, I’ve worked with 2 different companies. Every project I created with them was over time, over budget, and was of a mediocre quality. It was quite nice to finally find a company that could deliver exactly what we wanted. EL Passion was the first company I could recommend to other people. That’s not something I'm used to.

Their transparency also really surprised us. Every day from day 1, we were able to see their progress. The code quality, the continuous integration, and every commit and modification on Codebase was visible to us. It was nice to have this constant overview of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

After this project finished, we wanted them to provide more developers for additional, time-sensitive projects. Because of their commitment to other clients, they were unable to provide them. That's why our collaboration with them ended after just one product. That was our only issue, which wasn’t a major problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their team is medium-sized, with 10–12 developers now. If a client needs more, it might be challenging to make that happen.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of innovation at Rightmove Group Limited, the largest property portal in the United Kingdom.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with El Passion?

We are trying to create a brand-new property search experience, specifically focused on making the search experience for people looking for properties to rent in London much easier and more pleasant.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used a UK design resource to help us with user research, user experience, and interaction design. Once we had a rough idea of the features and the main user experience, I looked for a company to help with development, as well as with design and user interaction design. El Passion is a fully outsourced development service, so they were responsible for creating the infrastructure and setting up and configuring the cloud services. I’ve used them to develop both an iOS application as well as the entire web application that was serving as the backend for the iOS application. The backend itself consists of a web application written in Ruby with a fairly intense, large, and complex Elasticsearch Cluster.

El Passion also helped to develop a Natural Language Bot for Facebook Messenger. The bot can be used to find properties to rent, to book viewings and to ask the estate agents questions about the properties. We got the wireframes from our designers in the UK. El Passion spent a week with those designers, who helped them with user testing, finalizing the wireframes, doing some handover, and so forth. From that point onwards, El Passion created the high-fidelity designs. At some point, we had 7 team members from El Passion on the project—a designer, 3 backend developers, and 3 iOS developers. At present, there are 6 resources (3 frontend and 3 backend developers).

How did you come to work with El Passion?

I have a colleague who works in Warsaw. She recommended 4 development agencies in Warsaw to me. I interviewed all of them and shortlisted 2 that I thought would be the most suitable. We gave each of them a 4-day project, going through the entire Agile development process. In those 4 days, we did 8 development sprints, just so I could get an understanding of how they worked, what sort of discipline they have, and how they approach breaking down stories. After we’d done the 2 pilot projects, I chose El Passion as the best fit for our needs, and they were also the best fit culturally.

How much have you invested with El Passion?

We’ve spent $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August of 2016, and the work is ongoing. The app that we developed was launched into the App Store in April, but the project will be carried on until the end of June. When that project finishes, they will start with production support in the app, and there might be a second phase of the project later in 2017. If I have an opportunity to use them again, I most definitely will. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The entire app is an experiment, and the experiment is not finished yet. At this point in time, the usage is quite low, but that’s because we specifically don’t promote the app. We will measure the app quantitatively and qualitatively on user satisfaction and user happiness, which is a process that will officially start in July of this year. Our early prognosis is that there are loads of features, which our users absolutely love.

How did El Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed beyond our expectations. The projects were managed quite tightly, possibly because certain expectations were realistic. I’ve had a fairly rigid and hands-on role in the project management, so the combination of what I’ve brought to the table and what they’ve brought to the table made it one of the smoothest projects that I’ve ever worked on. Our project management tool is JIRA, so everything gets logged and recorded. We communicate mostly through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about El Passion?

The technical quality of the people I’ve worked with on the project was most definitely above average. Their commitment to the project was exemplary. I don’t think I’ve ever had any problem with commitment or them helping out in a crisis when things weren’t going exactly as they were supposed to be going. Both from an Agile perspective, as well as in general, I think their discipline and their coding are exceptional.

Are there any areas El Passion could improve?

They don’t normally take responsibility for production environments, but on this particular project, that was part of the arrangement. If there’s any room for improvement, it’s possibly getting some more experience in planning for production and releases. That’s not a major thing, though. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup company in Ireland. We’re are trying to develop an online health care platform specifically focused on the elderly population, enabling them and supporting them to get access to home health care services in a more seamless and simplified manner. What we’re trying to achieve with the platform is to bring together different services into one area, simplifying the transfer of communication and processes for the older person and their family. That is a very high-level overview of what we’re doing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with El Passion?

I am very fortunate to have a family member who is a developer. His strength and skill were in the backend development of the platform, so what we needed to find was a suitable front-end developer who could work with him on the project and who was familiar with Ruby on Rails.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I am not a technical person; I am in healthcare, so it was a massive learning curve for me.

My product is a web-based application. In the initial stages, it was very much about scoping of the project. We met and discussed how we would work together and build the team, considering the skills my family member and I had and combining those with the skill set from El Passion. We were also trying to get an understanding of our roles in the project and what needed to be done. They used a lot of processes to help manage the establishment of goals, including the Scrum process. Communication was going to be a big thing because we were all in different locations and time zones. I was in Ireland, my family member was in the US, and obviously, El Passion was in Poland. It was a learning curve and a process of trying to figure out the best way to make this work and be successful. So, we applied the Scrum method and used tools like Agile Zen to create tickets and track goals.

The key feature is being able to search for private practice healthcare professionals who are available in your local area. It’s a simplified matching system for elderly people of families who are looking for particular support from a caregiver. If they’re looking specifically for an occupational therapist, a home-based assessment, an environmental assessment or a physiotherapist, they can search based on their service requirement compared to their location. With the booking process, you can review the profiles of the providers in your area based on your search return. You can see profiles, experience, and clinical skills of the professionals and then match them to your needs and proceed to make a booking request with the professional. Another feature that we incorporated is a personalized account for the customer. After they have booked a care professional, they have their dashboard along with the ability to create a profile. They can see booking requests, confirm bookings on their calendar, and see information on who is arriving and when. We try to make the process easier for the care provider. Upon completion of the session, they can add some communication notes into the platform, and they are available for the older person or the family members to be able to review easily.

Intermittently, throughout the project, I had update calls with our project manager, Karolina and with the CTO to make sure things were progressing. She was checking if we were satisfied with the work, the quality of the work, etc. We were very lucky we were paired with a front-end developer who was fantastic, super flexible, and easy to work with, which meant that we didn’t have any issues at all, thankfully. That was a concern of mine—trying to envision how we would all work together being geographically in different parts. Our language barriers alone made me question how this would work, but it was actually all so seamless. It was fantastic, and they were super supportive. Even for an early startup, like myself, it felt like there was a huge value placed on us as part of the team.

How did you come to work with El Passion?

We went through a process of reviewing potential candidates here in Ireland and the US. My husband had been searching on Dribble and found El Passion. After doing the research, we could see that they had experience working with Ruby and worked specifically with startups. That led us to contact them and initiate a discussion on the potential of getting a front-end developer from their team.

After that, we met with Karolina and two others from El Passion at Web Summit in Dublin. We discovered the kind of work they did and the kinds of clients they had, and we verified that they had the skill set required and the time available to work with us. Budget constraints were always a huge deal because we were limited regarding what we had and what we could pay for. They were the most flexible in being able to prioritize the key features that we wanted to focus on so that we could stay within our budget. That was massively helpful, for me particularly, starting off. Their flexibility, their professionalism, their past experiences, and their case studies based on other clients were what sold them to us.

How much have you invested with El Passion?

The project scope changed. We spent between $10,000 and $50,000 with El Passion. We started with an initial budget of $10,000 but it expanded as funding became available.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think March 2016 was the official kickoff. Phase one development was completed November 2016. I, unfortunately, had to take a step back from doing work the last couple of weeks, so progression has been slowed a little bit due to personal circumstances. We will be getting back into the launch with more traction and testing with a small population of care providers and customers over the next coming weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It’s hard to give you anything quantitatively because we haven’t had the opportunity yet to push it and test it. Qualitatively, from feedback from customers and from pilots that are tested with a target customer base and with care professionals, the feedback has been very positive in terms of the usability.

We employed a UX designer and web designer previous to our engagement with El Passion, so we have done a huge amount of work trying to make it easy to use. Since we didn’t get that from El Passion, it’s hard to pinpoint feedback specifically related to their input. Our case is slightly unusual because we used them specifically for one aspect. We didn’t use them for design, UX, backend, etc. so it’s hard to get feedback just on front-end development.

How did El Passion from a project management standpoint?

I was very new to this, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, to be honest. The tools they used to communicate and prioritize tasks, Scrum, Agile Zen, and Slack, made the process very easy. Working with an experienced developer who was used to using these tools made our lives a lot easier. If there were any issues, Karolina made sure everything was going according to plan and provided updates of where we stood. We set goals in relation to sprints and then prioritized within those sprint periods. So, from a project management standpoint, I think it worked as smoothly as it could have.

What did you find most impressive about El Passion?

I have never worked with any development agencies before, so I didn’t know what to expect and felt very apprehensive. El Passion will work with people like me who have no idea of what is going on. They can simplify a complex process and speak to you on your terms. They break down things very clearly. One of the fears I had was that I wouldn’t fully understand or appreciate the type of work that had to be done, but they worked with me to make sure I was very clear on what was happening. So that, along with their flexibility and their customer focus, was something hugely valuable to me during the whole process.

We completed phase 1 but there are aspects of the project that we are going to revisit and redo, and I will get in contact with El Passion definitely. They are my preference.

Are there any areas El Passion could improve?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything that was frustrating or challenging; it worked pretty well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is called Pattern Factory. We're a Helsinki based startup, which was established in 2009. We have one product called Patternry, which is a new tool for building style guides for UI [user interface] designers and developers. We are quite a small company of only three people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

Our website design was outdated, and we needed to redesign it. We didn't have a designer on our team, so we went to a lot of different design agencies until we found EL Passion and started the project with them. They were primarily involved in the visual design of our website.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

The process of finding them took several months. We went to a lot of freelancers and smaller companies, looked at a lot of portfolios, and exchanged a lot of emails with a lot of companies. We completed two projects before we found EL Passion. It took a lot of time, but we were happy that we finally found them and did the project with them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We've spent about €10,000 [$11,200] working with EL Passion.

What is the status of this engagement?

We did the first project with them about a year ago, and another one about six months ago. There is no ongoing collaboration with them at this time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

The number of sign-ups we got increased after the redesign. I'm not sure by how much, but it was more than 20 percent at least. That was the major goal for us, and it was perfect. They were great and exceeded our expectations.

What distinguishes EL Passion from other providers?

We worked with several other agencies before finding EL Passion, and we weren't that happy with the results. But, EL Passion was great. EL Passion did everything fast and exactly the way we wanted. We are happy with the results. Even though they are based in Poland, and we're in Finland, everything worked well.

Is there anything EL Passion could have improved or done differently?

Not really. It required a lot of work from us to set the wireframes and do all the things behind the design, but that's the way we wanted to do it. They also offered us the full package, but we didn't want that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are located in Warsaw, so we're pretty close to EL Passion's headquarters. My company books online appointments for doctors. We are like the ZocDoc.com of Europe.

What is your position?

I am a product manager and currently head of mobile development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We already had a mobile/web version of our product, but we needed apps, and we had no experience developing apps in-house. Outsourcing development to EL Passion seemed like a good idea.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We have a team of developers at EL Passion that work full time for us. They're not doing any other projects while they are working for us, and I think that is special. Right now, they're pretty much part of our team. Their work includes product development and design. They've really become a part of the company.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

We know the co-founders of EL Passion. We knew that the people they hire are top notch, so we didn't have any problems in choosing them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I'm sorry, but that information is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with EL Passion in February 2012, and we are still working with them. For the first two years, we were not working with them on a full-time basis. Every two months, we'd just drop some tasks to EL Passion and waited for them to finish the development. Starting in January of this year, we switched to full-time developers at EL Passion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

Previously, we had some staff in-house working on the Android version, but after beginning work with EL Passion, we switched to them exclusively, since quality is important for us. For example, before joining with EL Passion, we didn't have any kind of continuous integration here. After bringing them onboard, we had that.

I'm a businessperson, so sometimes I really hated paying for testing but, at the end of the day, it's great that EL Passion takes care of the quality of the code as well as the product. Even more, we had some material designs, and the design language was new to us. EL Passion prepared some changes to our designs, which made conversions much higher. I'm constantly amazed by the people at EL Passion and by their knowledge.

What distinguishes EL Passion from other providers?

I would say they are open about what they can or can't do. EL Passion won't make promises they can't keep. They are open about how much quality work can be done. I was especially amazed by how well they integrated with our team. Today, our in-house development team doesn't feel like the mobile is outsourced to some agency. They're really a part of our team. That is awesome for me as a product manager.

Is there anything El Passion could have improved or done differently?

There was one decision we made, and we weren't aware that it could cause problems. With Android, we didn't go with native SDK [software development kit]. We prepared that in Groovy so, right now, we are pretty much the only app of this size in production written in that language. At the end of the day, the app is slower than it could have been if it were written in native SDK.

Giving them a free hand to choose a framework wasn't that great of a decision from a business or technology perspective. However, after giving them freedom, I learned that the combination of freedom from the client's side and project management from EL Passion produced good results. For example, one of our developers, who started as a junior level developer, is now, after only three months, a senior developer, just because of the coaching he received from EL Passion and the freedom we gave him. He is now really exploring and learning new things. After three months, he was ready to introduce a new junior level programmer to our project, which is great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are The Mobility House. We are based in Munich, and we've been in business since 2009, and we are working in the area of electric mobility.

What is your position?

I'm the head of IT [information technology].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We had a project with one of the premium brand car manufacturers in Germany, and we had to develop a complete Ruby on Rails ecosystem and application. We were searching for near-shore resources that were experienced in Ruby on Rails, as it's very difficult to find those resources in Germany.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope of work was pure website design and development and back-end and front-end development for our Web application.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

One of my employees knew another Polish guy, who referenced us to EL Passion.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

About €150,000 [approximately $162,000]. It was basically a team of six to seven people we had from July to April full time.

What is the status of this engagement?

That was around July 2014. Because the project was finished and there were no further requests from our client, we terminated the contract around the end of April, I think.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, excellent. They did a good job, definitely. It was a team, but we had one senior developer on the team who contributed more than 50 percent of the whole success, due to his good knowledge and lots of team management in Russia.

What distinguishes EL Passion from other providers?

We had looked at other agencies, and we decided on EL Passion basically because the price they gave us. During the course of the project, we had strong support from their management team. I think we had two times where we were not very happen with one of the team members, and we found a very open mind and spirit with the manager, and we got quick replacements. I would say the difference was the commitment the EL Passion management team devoted to us.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

Although I'm very satisfied, of course when you're under time pressure to develop something because launch dates are not moving, there is always some area where you had better spend some more time. There's always room for improvement, but they did a good job basically.

BACKGROUND

Please provide an overall picture of your work with EL Passion.

I've worked with them twice while I was with two different companies. One project was a client portal for small business that could provide their customers access to information. On the second project, we were doing an African mobile app – a mini social mobile app – and they designed the interface.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We had our own designers working on a project, but they weren't cutting it. We needed a company that could understand what we wanted and develop a rich yet simple and effective graphic. From looking at their previous work on their website, it seemed like EL Passion would fit the bill. We gave our designer another try, and we didn't like it. We gave EL Passion a try, and immediately knew that was what we wanted. We were so pleased with the first project that we came back for the next project.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We did a kick-start with our designer, so that I could emphasize what I was looking for and show them samples. They took it all in and came back with their initial design. I was pleased with it, but I had a few corrections to make here and there. They made those for me, and then we continued to work that way. They would bring something in, I'd correct it, they'd bring the revised product, and we'd move on. I was impressed and, within a week or two, the project was completed.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

I was doing a little Googling and looking at designs, and their design came up. I saw other clients that they had worked with, and I visited their sites. I liked what I saw, so I contacted them. Their account manager contacted me and asked what I wanted, and I gave them a brief description. We discussed the quote and how long the project would take, and I agreed. They gave me a contract, I reviewed it, I liked it, and signed it.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I think the first project was about $6,000, and the second project was probably $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I contacted them in the beginning of the year [2015], but I wasn't ready to start working with them at that point. I would say that the first project ran from April or May and, within two or three weeks, it was done. Then, this second one was just completed two weeks ago – probably middle to late June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great people. I thought that their being in Poland was going to be a problem, but it was as if I were working with somebody in the U.S. I had better communication with them than I'd have with someone who was in this country. I'm trying to think of anything that I had a problem with, and I truly can't think of anything. Working with then was very smooth.

The only thing that was difficult was that I originally thought I was going to get them in a certain week, but then they had to delay that because their previous client took longer than expected. That was not such a huge issue. Besides that, my all-around feedback is very positive.

They are experts at what they do. Once you understand where they're coming from with their approach and their comments, they're great people. They have been very professional. There were times where they wanted me to wire a payment, but I didn't want to drive 20 miles to my bank. They'd say, "Hey, we have PayPal." They were very accommodating.

What distinguishes EL Passion from other providers?

I think what makes EL Passion stand out is their understanding of design and their speed. With both projects, they hit it right on the point. I told them my requirements, I showed them examples, and they came back with a product that I really, really liked. By the time we were done, I was very impressed.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I would say that maybe initially getting in contact with them was a little hard because they are a busy company. But, besides that, nothing really.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Yeti Data is a customer analytics company located in Silicon Valley. We're the next generation of big data analytics for customers.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I'm the founder and chief executive officer. I am responsible for everything except technical engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with EL Passion?

What we wanted them to do was build an app factory of different applications on top of our super-duper robust back-end. Since they were very much in the front end of things, like UI [user interface], what we wanted was for EL Passion to do kind of a front-end factory for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The scope included UI, design, and implementation.

What was your process in selecting EL Passion?

We met with about 10 or so outsourcing companies, and what really sold us on EL Passion was their expertise in design.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

We've probably spent about a couple hundred thousand dollars working with EL Passion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

Their design work is fabulous, but their overall ability to deliver on schedule is atrocious. EL Passion couldn't meet a schedule if it hit them alongside the head.

Our first design was supposed to take eight weeks and it took almost eight months, but some of that was our fault. They believe in this completely bottoms-up program management-less model. The reality is, unless there is some kind of a Gantt chart, some kind of a deadline, this bottoms-up approach can drag on forever. Instead of setting up a factory for us, what they've done is really set up one application, and the application itself was actually fairly buggy. We ended up spending a fortune on QA [quality assurance] with them to clean the thing up.

What differentiates EL Passion from others?

Their design ended up being really awesome. Now, remember, we're not your standard type of company. We have an enterprise-class mentality. Even though we use relatively off-the-shelf commercial Web technologies to show people how we work, there's a lot of robust enterprise class stuff on the back-end, which they weren't able to grasp because they're primarily a Web shop.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

They didn't have very good QA built into their process at all. We're a startup, and we can deal with some problems, but had I been using them from the get-go at a big company, they would have been long gone.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Watch your schedule like a hawk. Don't get me wrong. We're still working with EL Passion, so it's not like we're totally negative on them. It's just that there is definitely a very clueless naiveté with regard to schedule that wouldn't fly in the United States.