Fulcrum

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing partner at a Machine Learning company specialised in the accounting sector. Our clients are medium size to big 4 accounting firms, relying daily on our web based platform for their accounting processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

As we are expanding our services and platform, our web platform needed a critical UX audit and design rework of our existing web pages. We also had some new features that we wanted to add without overloading existing functionality.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed the user experience to be more fluent, with clearer information and easier to navigate. The pages had to be more modern and consistent.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fulcrum?

online search and one on one conversation with a customer in the same country for reference.

Describe the project in detail.

There was a thorough pre-sales meeting, a good offering and detailed explanation of project approach with a dedicated account manager. We had several meetings with the designer and ux specialist to go over the use case, our objectives and goals.

The UX audit was very well received with actionable outcomes. The design had several iterations, each one refining further on ideas and feedback until a well received final result.

What was the team composition?

A project/account manager, a UX expert and designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The feedback from our team was very positive as well as initial feedback from clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was effective, the language barrier was present but minimal, we were always able to understand their thinking and give our feedback. Everyone from our side was happy with the way of working and the results.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Very good follow up, quick iterations, strong UX knowledge. Most impressed with openness in time spent and progress follow up. This was the first time we work with supplier outside of EU and we were impressed with their work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Information on invoicing was not so clear initially, but turned out well in the end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am working as an E-commerce Executive at a global tobacco company British American Tobacco (BAT) in Ukraine. Our products there include cigarettes, tobacco, and other nicotine brands such as the tobacco heating device glo

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

Overall, we wanted to develop a mobile app for one of our products – the tobacco heating device glo. That’s why we were looking for a company to conduct a Discovery Stage for the potential application.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to validate the hypotheses about the potential application to actually decide whether we need to develop a mobile app at all. As a next stage, we planned to create technical requirements for the application keeping needs of all stakeholders in mind.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fulcrum?

Fulcrum was recommended to us by a partner while we were looking for a vendor. So, we started with an introductory call with the Fulcrum team where they presented their service to us. We liked the Discovery Stage they offered, so we went on working together.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was divided into stages. In the beginning, the following stages were planned: analysis & preparation, prototype creation & testing, writing requirements & architecture development. Later on, the project flow was updated.

Within the first stage, Fulcrum conducted marketing research, stakeholders & users’ interviews, UX analysis of existing functionalities & our current website. After they created the prototype & tested it with the potential users, Fulcrum presented the findings which prompted us to rethink the project’s goals overall.

During the UX audit, the Fulcrum team found lots of critical UX problems in our workflow & current website, so we decided to switch from the idea of developing a mobile app to raising conversion on our current website.

What was the team composition?

The project team included a Project Manager, Julia (she is our main point of contact), a Marketing Specialist, a Business Analyst, and a UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Overall, we are really satisfied with Fulcrum’s work on the project and how it’s all going. Their Discovery was a big mind-changer and eye-opener for us. The stage is now finished.

It was really insightful, detected critical issues in our CJM, and helped to prioritize what we need to do next – focus on the current website flow instead of developing a mobile app. Right now, we are working on improving the conversion & optimizing user interaction on our website along with Fulcrum as a regular part of our team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything went really smoothly. We had no problems communicating with Fulcrum during all project stages. Even with lots of stakeholders from our side, Fulcrum’s weekly & biweekly demos worked out pretty well for us. We also had 2 offline workshops with the team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Most of all, we were impressed with Fulcrum’s flexibility. They were ready to change project flow, goals, meetings, etc according to our needs & requests without any hesitation.

Another thing is how organized they were with preparing all the documentation for us. As an enterprise company, we need to present all project materials to our global headquarters.

So, it was a big relief that Fulcrum was aligned with us and managed to understand how we need to have all the docs done. Finally, we liked their reasoning behind all recommendations.

Every point they presented to us was based on deep user research and supported with strong arguments. It created an additional value and helped us understand that we need to move in another direction - work on our current website.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing big comes to mind. Maybe just some minor things like, for example, agreeing on the language of project documentation beforehand. Another thing – planning more time for approving stages/deliverables/steps with such a big corporation as we are.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of Launch.Career which is a Belgian startup that focuses on connecting new graduates (and young professionals) with their dream employer. We offer students the possibility to create a profile and get spotted and approached by potential employers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

In order to be attractive to students and young professionals we needed a professional web and mobile application. As we are a startup we don't have in-house developers and reached out to Fulcrum for development assistance.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a very user friendly and intuitive web and mobile application. Students should be able to create a profile fast and easily follow up on incoming leads. We needed an admin portal to manage our clients and a landing page which could convince potential students and employers to onboard on our platform in a few seconds.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fulcrum?

We had interviews with multiple different development agencies, which we found by posting our job on few online job boards. We choose to work with Fulcrum as their vision and motivation for the project matched with our mentality.

They were also able to present few good reference cases and we had a match in terms of technology stack to be used. Furthermore they already had the necessary experience of working with startups and were also not too big to introduce too much overhead in the project.

Describe the project in detail.

After choosing to work with Fulcrum, we started immediately with an intake phase in which we explained the concept of the application and presented the designs that were made by another party. After we have drafted a roadmap and started the development of the MVP in an agile manner.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of experienced profiles: 2 frontend developers, a mobile developer, a backend developer, 2 quality assurance engineers, a business analyst and a PM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

While the application is only live in a beta stage at this moment, we have already received a lot of positive feedback from the test users. They confirm the application works fine, is performant and adheres to their standards.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As the company is not too big, we were able to accomplish an efficient way of working together. We most communicate with the PM or the BA, who then conveys the message to the team of developers. Over the last few months we have also seen that the direct communication with the developers increases, which is good for efficiency reasons.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We really like the fact the business analyst dares to question our input, proposes his own ideas and presents us with clear options from which we have to choose. The developments are also of the high quality we were looking for.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The company was rather optimistic regarding the timeline and required budget for this project. We realise we have changed our minds few times regarding certain elements, but the deadlines we agreed upon upfront were not fully met.

This has unfortunately lead to a situation in which we had to postpone the launch of our MVP, but in the end we managed to work everything out and we ended up with a really nice end result.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder & Head of Business Development at Kifreez, an innovative international IT company. We specialize in developing AR mobile applications, web AR projects, games and website development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

Request to develop an MVP for a mobile web.

What were your goals for this project?

Fulcrum started with a brief 2-week Discovery. Their BA mapped out all the features that should be in the first iteration. Then they proceeded with design & development stages. In the end we received a scalable MVP that’s ready to be tested with users.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fulcrum?

We have known Fulcrum before, and noticed their MVP Assembly offering. It looked pretty interesting so we decided to work with Fulcrum for this particular project.

Describe the project in detail.

Our long-term customer came to us with a request to develop an MVP for a mobile web. We have already worked on a number of projects with this client, but we decided to engage Fulcrum for this project, since they had a pretty nice offering for their MVP development service.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a PM, a BA, two developers and a QA. On a regular basis I communicated with a PM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The main thing for us is that the client is happy with the design and the development work. Fulcrum created a scalable MVP, that’s just enough to be tested by the users

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Project management is top-notch. The PM always kept us updated on the progress, they sent us regular reports and presented weekly demos.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I find it pretty cool how they were able to develop a scalable, usable MVP under tight timelines, sacrificing none of the quality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

During our collaboration, they asked me this question several times, which I really appreciated. Fulcrum provided us with high-quality development and great project communication. I don’t see any particular areas for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO at SOFTUUP, a software development company. Our company covers all stages of software development – analysis, architecture, design, development, testing, deployment and ongoing support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

We hired Fulcrum to develop UI/UX for some of our projects.

What were your goals for this project?

At the time, we had several ongoing projects which required doing UI/UX part as well. We decided to give projects’ UI/UX to Fulcrum since they have great design expertise.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fulcrum?

I knew Ihor (Fulcrum’s CEO & co-founder) before, so I just contacted him when we needed a good design team.

Describe the project in detail.

Over the course of a few projects, Fulcrum’s helped us to develop UI/UX for mobile apps. For each project, Fulcrum started with the product's discovery performed by their BA. When the Discovery was finished, we moved to the design stage.

Based on the deliverables we’ve got after discovery, they developed mockups, wireframes and UI&UX for the apps.

What was the team composition?

The team composition varied from project to project, usually, we worked with a UI designer, UX designer and a BA. My main point of contact was a PM, but I could chat easily with anyone on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We’ve received lots of positive feedback regarding UI/UX for the projects Fulcrum designed. One of the projects is now in its beta testing phase. According to the feedback we have so far, users really seem to like the app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My contact point is the PM who is always available & answers any of my requests promptly. Usually, we communicate via Slack channel where I can write directly to any member of the project if necessary.

Everything connected to the app's design we discuss in Figma, a special tool for web design. The workflow between our teams is really effective since we haven’t had any delays, or failed expectations so far.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really like how they work on the design. Their ideas are fresh and always reasonable. Fulcrum always considers clients’ needs & desires: there was no negative feedback from the clients of the projects we worked together.

It is really important for us that our clients are satisfied in the end. I was also impressed when their designers always showed several variants of the product's mockups (each with different colours & visuals).

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can mention. The projects we’re still working at are going really smoothly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Kör. We built a digital platform for both students and driving instructors, as well as the student’s companions such as their partners. We give them the option to book driving lessons and follow their progression from the first driving lesson or theory class, to the driving test. We essentially digitized the whole customer journey for a driving student.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We did not have any technology when we started — we didn’t have an MVP or a website; we pretty much had nothing. We reached out to Fulcrum to provide that support for us

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We decided to engage Fulcrum on a pre-project to map out all of our needs and essentially start the full specification of what we needed to start operating and start building. We had a four-day workshop with them where we agreed on what they should start building. 

We worked in Figma, so they prepared the mock-ups and wireframes and we approved them and made any changes together. We have worked together for nine months now so they have quite a good idea of our long-term product vision. It is quite simple for us to communicate on new features and improvements.

In terms of development, Fulcrum built React Native apps for iOS and Android for the driving students, and they also built an iOS app for the driving instructors. With the student app, the student can arrange all the different driving lessons. They don’t choose the instructor, but they choose the timeslot, and then the system will assign them an instructor.

They select the pickup address, so they use both a calendar for booking as well as a Google Maps API for selecting the pickup address. Then the booking is forwarded and added to the instructor’s calendar.

They connected all the APIs. It is hosted on AWS, and they used SendGrid for the email confirmations before and after the lesson, as well as the Twilio API to send SMS and texts. They also integrated a European payment provider to charge payments and built our admin dashboard. We also have a simple but not constantly evolving analytics dashboard so we can see how the users interact with our app.

What is the team composition?

There are about nine people on the team. We started with one tech lead and also a mobile developer, two on the backend, one on the web, one PM, and one QA, and I think we added one more QA. There are around eight people now.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We decided to reach out to Fulcrum because one of the members of my team had worked with them previously on a web project, so we had some knowledge of them. They are in Ukraine and we are in Norway, so there is quite a geographical distance between us but we had a good reference for them, so it was quite simple for us to reach out.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested around €200,000 (approximately $237,000 USD) in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had the workshop with them in December 2019, and then they started setting up the project in January 2020. We are still working with them as this is sort of an ever-evolving project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The students really appreciate the app. They have said that they have the driving school in their pocket, and it’s super convenient for them to book lessons when they want to and not just when the instructor is available. 

Traditional driving schools, at least here in Norway, are centered around the instructor. The instructor chooses when the student can book, but we turned it around and gave the power to the student.

We also give them the tools to track the progress with the student, so that whenever they get a new instructor, this instructor can see the student progress and also the feedback from the instructor on the previous lessons. It is quite convenient for the students to book whenever they want and then keep track of their own progress.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate on Slack multiple times a day, and I have one project and product manager who I’m in contact with on a daily basis. 

I think Fulcrum has a very good understanding of our product now since we have been working together for so long and we have had meetings over video at least once a week. We also have some shorter calls and stand-ups just in case there is something urgent that needs to be done or just a general status update on the project. 

I think they are quite good at communicating, especially if there are any delays or if they suggest any changes in our roadmap to make both ours and their planning easier. They are quite good at rescheduling or replanning in case we need to, although they typically meet our deadlines. 

Fulcrum also challenges us on the product. They don’t just do whatever we say. They have given us quite good feedback on the product itself.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First of all, for us in Norway, it is quite expensive to contract both developers and PMs, so the price is important for us because we are also a new company and we don’t have a lot of money to throw around and especially not to waste. Pricing wise, they are very good. 

They have a very good product vision, and they share our long-term goals. They are a young team, and I think they are hungrier than a lot of other developers that we talked to, especially compared to the local developers that we talked to. Fulcrum is eager to get the job done and they are a lot faster than other development teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. We haven’t had any situations where we needed to straighten them out so to speak. I don’t have any experience working with other remote teams like Fulcrum, so my comparison bar is not the best. From other people I have talked to who also worked with them, they seem quite happy. I am not sure what could have been done better or differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Our relationship started with a workshop where we spent some time in their office just going through the whole product. They work in sprints which is very helpful to us, and any future client should trust them in their sprint set up which is good. 

Also, I think especially when working with remote teams, you need to meet with them first. Not just with Fulcrum, but in general, so I think if someone wants to work with them on a bigger project like this, I would definitely recommend a meeting just to get to know them. I think the money and time we spent going there is well invested, and we probably got that money back just by working with them more effectively since we know them on a personal level as well. 

They are generally good people and I would definitely recommend them as a team but also the human aspect of Fulcrum.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CEO at Lookinar. We create award-winning projects in Augmented and Virtual reality. I'm in charge of the strategy development of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

We hired Fulcrum to take on part of our project for our client. They helped us create a Backend renderer for a mobile VR app. The app helps to create 3D scenes with custom models and backend side renderer.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a strict timeline so we wanted to involve help from outside. We knew Fulcrum before, so we contacted them. The project isn't released yet, but we are at the final stage now. And our client is satisfied with the progress and with the code quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our team lead recommended them, since he worked with them before and had positive feedback. We jumped on a call and within a few weeks started to work together.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We are working on the mobile VR app for one of our clients. Fulcrum created Backend renderer and prepared the design. We did the rest from our side.

What was the team composition?

The team included a PM, two developers and a designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s too early to say, since we didn’t release the app yet. But the early users praised the design & functionality. And our client is happy.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our major point of contact is a PM, but we can reach any team member whenever we want. Sometimes, when we were short for time - the team agreed to work during the weekend to help us finish the project faster. Their work is structured so well that we didn’t experience any delays at all.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We love the quality of their code. They made sure to create a scalable product that works smoothly. We really appreciated their open culture. In fact we visited their office & we were impressed by their friendly, creative environment in the office. Their ideas were great - we implemented them in the project. They suggested a few features and our client liked them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind. They’ve been a great help and we are able to finish the project on time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Hyfa Ltd,  a social discovery platform for products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We needed someone to do cross-platform app development for our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum handled all of our app development work. They inherited the work that had previously been done by another agency, but they had to start a lot of aspects of the project from close to scratch. They took us all the way from an early discovery phase of looking into what we wanted to get out of our experience with them and then set out a clear work structure of how we could get there and they continued on with that. 

The team then developed a React Native stack cross-platform product for iOS and Android. They had to build some custom functionality into the app and they did that very well. They added features that allow the users who we call curators — which are a sub demographic of cultural influencers — to share products of a specific niche and demographic. 

For example, the curator might be someone who is a massive coffee enthusiast, someone who knows a lot about a specific type of jewelry, or someone who has a deep understanding of a particular area of fashion such as 90s sneakers. 

Through the app that Fulcrum built, users can post photos as they would do on Instagram, but on Hyfa, they post photos with links that go back to the products they are talking or posting about in the photo. This solves a pain point they have on Instagram which doesn’t allow people to backlink to any site in general. 

Curators want to be able to link their audience directly to products or experiences. Fulcrum had to build that tagging process from scratch. They created a custom UI for creating posts and with tags that, when clicked on, take users to the product that the curator has tagged in the photo.                   

What is the team composition?

We work very closely with their project managers. They also have a team of developers, but we don’t engage with them very much. 

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We worked with a development agency in Poland and we didn’t have a good experience, so we had to switch over. I started looking for a new agency and Clutch popped up. After holding a mini-tender with 10 or so agencies and chatting with their teams, I narrowed it down to three. 

I ultimately chose Fulcrum because, in the process of chatting with them, they actually sent us over lots of designs of how they thought the project would go and the direction we could take it in which stood out to us.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fulcrum in early February 2020, and it’s an ongoing project and will be for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fulcrum had to build the custom UI largely from the ground up and they did a very good job. We’ve had generally good feedback from our users. Nothing has gone wrong that I can attribute to Fulcrum; just the usual learnings as you go through the launch process. There is an odd bug, but it happens. 

The previous agency we worked with had virtually no QA process whereas Fulcrum has a really tight QA process and 90% of bugs are picked up and fixed before they roll into production. The ones that aren’t picked up before, are being dealt with as quickly as possibly. Other improvements can probably be made, but I haven’t had a better experience anywhere else.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

We work very closely with their project managers on a day to day basis. They split the project management into two roles. One handles the day-to-day communication with the clients. The other handles less frequent communication with the clients, but their role is specifically in writing the scope of work which requires making very detailed feature descriptions and having in-depth conversations with the client. 

They then translate that to the developer, so they know exactly what they need to build. I hadn’t seen a project structured in this way before. I was quite skeptical in the beginning, but it works extremely well. We don’t actually engage with the developers all that much which, again, I was skeptical about because I quite like talking to them. 

However, in the previous agency, it got to a point where they couldn’t be bothered to talk to me and I ended up having weekend conversations with the developer who had no idea what was going on. It was a disaster. Our setup with Fulcrum is much better. 

I have bi-weekly discussions with their head of business development who functions as an account manager. He asks me how things have been going, talks through our progress, where we want to go and things like that which has been very helpful. There are no issues. If anything, I think they need to get some rest because they communicate very actively, and we’ve been very impressed. 

I think they ought to take weekends off every now and again. In projects, there are always delays caused by things you can’t see, but I would say Fulcrum has been very good at doing their best to make sure we meet deadlines. In the case of any delays that come up or roadblocks that appear,  they work as quickly as possible to address them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills and the processes they have in place are incredibly well suited to startups. The team really gets what we are trying to do. They understand that we have massive time constraints and that this product is our baby. Their processes are brilliant, and they communicate incredibly actively. Those are their two main strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. I would really be scraping the barrel if I answered this question. There are always areas people can improve but, to be honest, I really can’t complain because they’ve done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them because they know what they are doing, and work within the processes that they already have set up. CEOs are always very tempted, especially when in an early stage, to skimp on elements like QA and push to reduce things that don’t impact what the end-user is seeing necessarily.

Just listen to Fulcrum and do what they tell you to do and you will be happy. I have personally already referred them to several of my friends who run companies.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager for an IT and software solutions provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We sometimes outsource some of our work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum is helping with the development of an iOS and Android food and beverage app. The app has a booking system for providers, as well as maps so that providers can see the locations of users. They use React.

What is the team composition?

They’ve designated a project manager to us. We’re in contact with three people, but I’m not sure how many other people there are.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

They were recommended by a friend who worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy with the results. We’re also pleased by how Fulcrum connects with and responds to us. The bugs are very minimal, and the quality is really good.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication is really smooth. They’re really helpful, and they respond well. We use Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of work is really amazing. The technology they’ve used is really good. They’re flexible. They try their best to meet our expectations and provide us with a good experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re a really good team and company to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You don’t have to worry about anything; they keep their customers’ best interests in mind. They bring good value and advice to the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

artsnext is an innovation agency based in Zurich, Switzerland. We focus on two things: engagement with young target groups, and empowerment, specifically in the context of new work and change awareness. That’s the space that the project with Fulcrum falls into. We’re a startup company with eight people, only three of them fulltime. I’m part of the board. I would refer to myself as the director, and I’m the one with the technical background.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We needed a platform to pilot a training or personal learning program that could foster change awareness. It would be a way of learning that could be integrated into the working day without the activity becoming distracting. The target group is employees of larger companies.

We had a short timeframe to develop the platform for the pilot program. We had six weeks to develop it before starting a round of testing, and another three weeks before taking it to the prospective client, who came on board with 100 test users. That phase is running right now. We needed someone who could support doing this in essentially no time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum developed the full web-based platform MVP. It involves a whole registration and authentication flow, with ‘Forgot Password’ and login features. The platform has two sides, with the first being for program participants to take part in the self-directed learning activities. Then, there’s an administration interface for creating the individual learning lessons. The platform is based on JavaScript, React, and AngularJS.

We spent a week in the discovery phase and provided some very lo-fi wireframes on paper. Fulcrum assigned a designer to essentially create the wireframes, including all of the developer assets, using Figma. We had a clickable prototype of what the platform would look like, based on which we made some design decisions. We also created the specifications in that first week.

Fulcrum essentially transformed our documentation into a more technical requirements analysis, and then they got to working on the project in phases. They did a two-week development sprint to put the whole framework together, with all of the login and user management features and a first version of the player. The player consists of a number of template screens that can be used.

What is the team composition?

We had a designer and a requirements analyst during the initial phase, and there was a part-time project manager throughout the project. Then, there were three developers; I only spoke to them once about the technical details, as they were fully managed by the project manager. We also had an account executive, who dealt with the contract, money, and so on.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We put out an offer on Upwork for the initial discovery phase, and we had around 100 companies making offers within 24 hours. We made a shortlist, and I had phone calls with five of them. There were three that were ultimately interested, and we decided that we’d go through this discovery phase with Fulcrum. We looked at whether they could do it within our timeframe and budget, which was limited as well.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $15,000 so far. The discovery phase was $1,000, development was $12,000, and the rest was for maintenance. We’re still on retainer with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fulcrum in November 2019, and it’s an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fulcrum delivered a working MVP platform. The thing that impressed me was the level of quality control and testing that they applied on their side. We went through a rather extensive testing of all use cases. Compared to previous experiences I’ve had, and given our shoestring budget, there was very little that didn’t work. They have a very good process for making sure that what they specify and the changes that come up are fully regression-tested.

Another helpful thing is that they’ve been incredibly responsive in terms of dealing with small bugs that came up on the weekend or other times outside of the agreed-upon response times.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. The team essentially did two sprints in two weeks. They used Airtable to break down the project and for communication. They put the project plan into Gannt charts. We also used Jira to look at the backlog. They were quite proactive about recording their progress. There were a few bugs and misunderstandings afterward, and we used Jira to deal with those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their internal quality control process sets them apart. I assume they have the size to also tackle bigger projects. They have sufficient resources to add an extra developer when things get tight. They keep all of these resources together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For some of our questions, I wish the project manager had more technical expertise. There were many things she had to take back to the team. It wasn’t a problem; she just couldn’t give me immediate answers. I got the sense that she didn’t have a technical background, but it was okay in the end. As long as she had project management in her control, it was fine.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends on the situation. They have technologies that they have mastered and are comfortable with. I’ve gone with their advice on a number of things where either I lacked experience or just didn’t know. What I would not recommend is that the client tries to impose their own preferences on Fulcrum, if it’s not something they’re comfortable with. If the client wants an application built in JavaScript, and they have a company that’s more comfortable with PHP frameworks, it’s probably not a good idea. If they’re more comfortable with AWS, they shouldn’t be forced to go on Google Cloud. I’m pretty pleased with Fulcrum’s advice, but I also didn’t try to move into something they were uncomfortable with.