Evojam

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a software startup. We’re building a software as a service (SaaS) platform for industrial companies to create, manage, and analyze their operative workflows. Instead of printing out paper documentation and workflows, we let industrial companies build their processes via an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface, which makes them available on tablets, smartphones, and smart glasses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Evojam?

We already had the core of our platform but we needed help developing enhancements and building small modules that would add additional functionality.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning, they supported our team in developing an image editor that lets you upload a picture to our platform and work with it, which is hard to do, in terms of choosing the right web technologies and toolsets.We also provided them with user stories for the whole feature—20 of them—that explained how the feature should work. Finally, we spoke about what the UX, user flow, and workflow of our platform should be like and they started to build it.

What is the team composition?

There were two frontend developers, one UX/UI resource, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Evojam?

I did research on European agencies that could help us, but it’s hard to find good people that are focused on specific technologies in Germany and Europe. We chose Evojam because we needed experts in the Angular 6 framework.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten positive feedback from our clients about the UX/UI, and everyone is happy with the frontend work they’ve done. Our developers were able to learn about specific technologies and consume the knowledge they offered us, and their team leader worked with us to find ways to improve both the project and our internal processes. They over-perform our expectations, so we keep extending the project.

How did Evojam perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive, so I’d get a response within 30 minutes, usually over Skype. The project manager managed their team’s specific tasks on a daily basis and communicated with us once or twice a day, showing us new things that were being built and asking for feedback, which he’d provide to the team. They held both daily standup meetings, to discuss current issues, and retrospective, feedback sessions that allowed us to find improvements together, for both the project and our own processes.

They’re flexible with how they work so we tried different work styles. They worked by themselves at first, providing updates twice a week on how the feature was looking—what was still missing, and what its status was. They used an iterative process where they provided us with code to test and give feedback on, which was factored into the next round. After that project, we asked for more immediate support because we were working on issues that were deep in our core technology. They agreed to change their style and work with our developers on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a special relationship with them. I call them a boutique agency because they’re good with their technology and they offer their expertise to the client in a good way. They’re small, but they know what they’re doing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Always think about how communication can be improved to stay close to their team. If there’s anything that could be a roadblock, communicate about it. We learned a lot about good communication from the example they set.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of a software company that builds industry tools to support customer needs. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Evojam?

We hired them to build a rapid prototype that could test our process control and our product platform. 

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a rapid prototype that we could pass to our internal team for further development.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them after an internal review, discussions with them, and a comparison to other providers. 

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They provided full end-to-end scrum and project management, including the tech stack and design.

What was the team composition?

The team included a Scrum master and four to six developers, depending on the complexity of the workload. When necessary, they scaled up the number of developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team was fantastic. They enabled us to iterate quickly and bring the prototype to life. That built interest with potential clients and investors.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They handled project managment and scheduled daily calls to ensure process. Once or twice weekly, we scoped the project to ensure that the backlog was correct.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexible, dynamic thinking was fantastic. They proposed solutions whenever they found a problem.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, the team and their tools were great.