Honeycomb Software

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am COO/CTO for a startup focused on LoRaWAN edge hardware for industrial applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engaged Honeycomb to assist in development of firmware using C/C++ with Mbed OS and tools. The goals were to continue to add functionality and otherwise improve the offering.

SOLUTION

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

I met Oleg at an IoT Meetup in Houston shortly after returning from a trip to Ukraine. I had worked previously with various developers from Ukraine and thought highly of them. Based on that experience I was always interested in bringing Ukrainian talent into our operations.

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

There was no real definitive plan as the technology is very new and rapidly changing. Fortunately, Katya was a total rockstar and seemed to grasp what we were doing from the moment she started working with us.

She banged out deliverables super quickly without any significant handholding or even really guidance from us. In a very short time, she had a much a better handle on the code than we did.

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

Just Katya who is a Jr. Developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No, nothing measurable. They showed crazy overall progress consistently, though, over the 2 years.

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

Most everything was handled over Slack and Github with an occasional email. Basically, we'd write up a task on Github, assign it to Katya, and she'd come back with results. Occasionally she had a question or two about something that was unclear although more often than not that was our fault.

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

Katya. Again, she just crushed it for us.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Honeycomb Software?

I personally wrote the backend code and implemented the database design, while I hired friends and Upworkers to complete the frontend. After I funded my pre-seed round, I knew it was time to find an agency to populate a team. Given the demand for outsourced talent during the pandemic, I knew it would be a challenge.

I reached out to agencies I had worked with before and asked for three bids. Honeycomb has a manager based here in Houston and is very active in the startup scene. They knew exactly what stage of company I was in and the challenges I was facing in a way the others did not. They had the best price and some top talent with skills that matched my project.

SOLUTION

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

I have outsourced primarily in Eastern Europe over the last ten years, but also have experience with Mexico, India and China. When I look for a vendor, I always check online reviews, such as Clutch, as well as ask for a live testimonial from a current client. As a technical product manager, I am looking for a mix of technical chops, trust and leadership. Honeycomb demonstrated all three.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

This project required ongoing support from a technical team to develop both frontend and backend capabilities in React and Python.

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

I originally started with a team of three developers and a tester. After eight months, I added an extra developer as well as a designer. They were very good at asking questions about the problems we were solving and right sizing the team with the relevant experience levels required.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall I am very pleased with Honeycomb's management as well as the performance of the team. Given the state of the current war, I was immediately worried about the safety of the team, but also concerned about business continuity.

The CEO, CTO and my account manager have communicated with me regularly about current events and contingency plans. Honeycomb has done an excellent job supporting their employees during this time as well as adapting under extraordinary circumstances so that they can continue to operate and meet business objectives.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been a fairly standard implementation of Agile via sprints and using Azure DevOps. Personally I am a fan of Jira, but agree that Azure offers some great free tools for a startup at my stage. I meet with the team about three times a week in the early morning my time and regularly communicate via Slack. Overall, written and verbal communication is satisfactory with little language interference.

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

This is the first agency I have worked with that truly understood what I was trying to achieve as a business as well as the stage of the company. They have been generous in making introductions within the Houston startup scene and helped bring in an early client. They have gone above and beyond.

The designer they recommended also has been one of the best UI/UX collaborations I have ever had. Again, the designer truly understood what I was trying to do very quickly and was able to turn around good designs within a couple days.

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

Overall, Honeycomb has met or exceeded my expectations. The only thing I wish we had done differently is spent some time doing DevOps with Jira rather than Azure. I recognize they have a lot of Azure experience, but as a product manager it is much easier for me to manage tickets and roadmaps in Jira rather than Azure. That said, I agreed to make the tradeoff and it's worked just fine.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of IT services for Light IT, a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Honeycomb Software?

We had a client from the oil and energy industry that needed to develop a platform. Our client had an initial draft describing the functionalities and very basic mockups. We conducted a discovery phase, helped our client develop this idea, and created designs based on these mockups. 

During the discovery phase, we realized we didn’t have the necessary resources for development. We needed full stack developers for .NET and React, which wasn’t our tech stack. Although we did have a few .NET developers, we needed to ramp up quickly with additional developers to work on this project. Hiring in-house didn’t fit our goals because it would take time, so we decided to find a partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Honeycomb Software served as our augmented development team. Their developers helped us build a platform for our client using .NET and React. The project was a marketplace that connects clients and vendors. Our client’s main requirement involved the digitalization of some working processes.

The platform’s main features the Honeycomb Software team helped us develop included user login, the onboarding process for new users, and tutorials on using the platform. Honeycomb Software helped us create a gamification onboarding process. They also assisted in creating different types of profiles for users to choose from, including personal and company profiles to upload their information and different administrator options. 

Another feature the team worked on allows buyers to filter information by parameters like location. The program has a communication system through messaging that we can track. Honeycomb Software also implemented a payment functionality. We completed the MVP, and it was recently launched.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two full stack developers and a tech lead from Honeycomb Software.

How did you come to work with Honeycomb Software?

We found them on Clutch. We searched for companies that could supply us with the developers we needed and found the list of top .NET development companies. We had interview calls with some providers and chose Honeycomb because we liked them the most.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $95,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2021–January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Honeycomb Software provided us with really good and capable resources. We didn’t have any trouble from the technical perspective, and our project manager had no issue communicating with them and explaining the requirements. The fact that they provided a tech lead was great support because the project involved complex technical tasks.

Although the system just launched recently and I can’t provide any statistics, Honeycomb Software achieved the project’s goal. Overall, we were really satisfied with their work and will probably be collaborating with them again in the future when the opportunity arises.

How did Honeycomb Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Honeycomb Software always met their deadlines and never let us down — they were perfect. Although there were delays, they weren’t related to them. Any timeline changes had to do with the whole team, including us and the client, who was in a hurry and sometimes changed their requirements.

For project management, we used a standard set of tools that we utilize widely in all our projects, including Jira and Confluence. As for communication, we mainly messaged through Slack, and we had a daily meeting via Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed by Honeycomb Software’s high technical skill level, which was noted by our technical team. They also had good communication skills. 

Additionally, the Honeycomb Software team was very proactive. If they saw an opportunity for improvement, they always let us know about it. In some cases, we cut development time and achieved our result faster thanks to their recommendations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there was anything that needed improvement; everything was fine.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just talk to Honeycomb Software; you’ll see their competence and professionalism when you approach them, and they’ll help you with your request.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am President and co-owner of The Alesco Group. We own and operate privacy platform, MyDataPrivacy.com is a centralized platform for businesses, list owners and marketers to maintain and comply with the CCPA data compliance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our Privacy platform had been developed by a Honeycomb competitor. The frameworks the previous team used were very unstable, didn't allow much customization and was very difficult to support. We tasked the Honeycomb team with a ground-up rebuild. Our goals were to increase platform stability and scalability while allowing for on-the-fly customization.

SOLUTION

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

I was impressed with how they handled our initial discussions. They seemed eager to earn our business and were willing to put the time in to understand our challenges and our goals. After numerous in-depth, exploratory conversations along with several scope of work iterations, we arrived at a solution and budget that met our needs.

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

Together with Honeycomb’s team, we started by planning our architecture and designing a professional user interface. After that, they working on wireframes, building MVPs, and finally testing for production.

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

We worked closely with the CTO and our team was made up of several other members including including business analyst, developers, QA tester, project manager, and UI/UX resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are able to easily manage new feature releases, do updates, and fix bugs in individual components without redeploying the entire application. The team's Microsoft Gold partnership and skills and expertise in Azure microservices highly benefit our business. 

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

We used Microsoft teams, email and also had face to face meeting in Houston with their bad-ass local representative, Oleg. He paid me to make this statement. But seriously, the guy buys great beers. We had weekly stand ups. They always me the dead lines.

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

There was an extensive level of communication from Honeycomb and their team was able to operate at a pace that got our project completed more quickly than I thought was possible. If anything, the team on our side at Alesco was the hold-up for moving on to next steps in the development process.

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

I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Ongoing development work on a video editing web app.

SOLUTION

How did you select Honeycomb Software and what were the deciding factors?

They offered experienced services using our technologies at a great price for value.

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

We had a meeting with technical leads and a developer from Honeycomb Software to discuss the project. After that the developer has joined the project to work on it in a full time capacity adding features and improvements to the web app. We have daily stand ups that are also attended by the architect who provides technical advice from an experienced background.

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

At the start a project manager helped coordinate and facilitate the initial meetings. The CTO helped flesh out the broad technical requirements. Then a developer was assigned to the project to work in a full time capacity on development. An architect also provided supplemental oversight of the development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far Honeycomb soft has delivered several impactful new features and also contributed to a cleaner more efficient code base. These features include:

• Adding social sharing 
• Adding a new page for managing video exports
• Adding better video thumbnails - Integrating with a stock photo AP
• And more

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

After initial meetings to introduce the project. A developer from Honeycomb Software joined my team and we worked closely together to work on the web app. We have daily stand ups.

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

The attention and concern with delivering well designed code on top of high value features. The folks from Honecombsoft care about the project and are great to work with.

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

Not yet.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We produce electrical design drawings. Backing this service up with online drawing management and additional support software. The company commenced in the 1999. I am the operations manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Honeycomb Software?

We have aging software which was originally developed some 10 years ago. The original software also relied on many third-party applications which were no longer supported and falling over. We needed direction on the best solutions out there as we really were out of touch on the options available to us.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a solution that was built from the ground up for us and did not rely on third party applications. This was in the hope that the system could be more easily maintained over its lifetime. So, we first needed to be educated on the options to weigh up the pros and cons. With so much new tech around the corner we wanted to be in a position to capture this. From there we wanted to enhance the user experience with more tools and functionality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

This was a bit of a process for us. We explored local solutions here in Australia but due to the cost it seemed the project was likely going to need to be reduced in size. We explored hiring developers in Singapore directly but with development not being our core competence we opted to find a development company with the full stack of skills required. From there we spoke to companies in Singapore, India, and Ukraine. The Ukraine time zone starting as our workday finished was an advantage to us as work could be done while we continued our day to day operations. Ultimately our discussions with Honeycomb Software (HCS) gave us confidence they could meet our needs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

HCS helped us with the whole process. From design, development and rollouts to existing and new client environments. We first started with reviewing the existing system and brain storming where this system is going to need to go in the future. From there we reviewed the potential solutions and then began development. The project has been easy to manage using DevOps and an Agile project management methodology. Sprints ran 3 weeks with many rollouts to test environments between this for testing and reviewing changes.

What was the team composition?

Commencing with a senior developer to give us the depth of knowledge required to find the best solutions. As the development commenced, a middle developer to assist with code and a junior developer to assist with testing. As the build progressed an additional middle and junior developer were introduced to meet the workload.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had two deadlines which needed to be met by separate clients. They required functionality that our existing software did not contain. We me this deadline and ultimately maintained our strong relationship with the aforementioned clients. The software also moved from a windows XP look to Windows 10 which has meant all our clients have made the right investment.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was managed through close communication. Emailing and skyping almost daily and having a weekly update meeting with the whole team to ensure all were informed on who was doing what. All issues were managed within DevOps which made for a transparent experience.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to work in with us. We have had some hard deadlines and financial barriers. Each time HCS has been able to give us the solution required.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The area for improvement is probably more for us. If you do not quiet know what you want. Either because you do not know what is possible or how a change might affect other parts of the system then be prepared to have to rework sections until you have it right or spend more time scoping.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a Software Development company in Israel. We're doing work for several start-up companies in Israel in multiple fields including algorithm development and data analytics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Honeycomb Software?

Analyzing texts and extracting key features from it.

What were your goals for this project?

Build the first part of our text analyzing algorithm.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I got a recommendation from one of my colleagues.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project included defining and implementing tools that text free text, analyze it and extract key features we're interested in.

Honeycomb helped us define the implementation, find the relevant open source and other tools available today and to implement the whole solution.

What was the team composition?

2 developers, 1 Project manager, 1 QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

everything they delivered. We’ve tested it with our clients and everything worked perfectly. They exceeded expectations by showing a lot of personal interest in the success of our project.

Their suggestions were unique, and we hadn’t thought of them before. Unlike other software companies, they really contributed to our vision to ensure that the final result was successful.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was one of the factors that impressed us the most about Honeycomb Software.

Despite the cultural differences between our teams, we didn't experience any communication issues like timing or a language barrier. They have always been extremely responsive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Not only did they have excellent leadership, their staff genuinely cared about our project. It always felt like they wanted to help us reach our desired outcomes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can think of now...

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Ilya Abramov, I”m a System Engineer at Mobi. We’re offering Smart Cities a SaaS solution addressing the problem of traffic congestion. We also integrate novel V2X communications as part of this task.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Honeycomb Software?

We're looking for a reliable and quick-to-respond software development partner, responsible for end-to-end integration in a multi-party complex system.

What were your goals for this project?

The project intent is to showcase the combination of traffic management software and emergency communications in a smart city environment, as well as a method for improving transit time for trusted trader traffic across a national border.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We've been working together for some time now. So the choice was straight forward.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project will result in a semi-permanent demonstration capability for a scenario that leverages V2I (and I2V) communications with trusted trader vehicle(s) traversing a city to a border crossing, involving a traffic incident that involves routing emergency responders to the incident while rerouting the vehicle(s) via an intelligent traffic management system.

The approach to the border involves passing trusted trader documentation and routing of the vehicles to specific border-crossing lanes based on the validity of the documentation. This will demonstrate communications between the vehicles, the city managers, the first responders, and the border authorities, as well as demonstrating ways to improve trusted trader traffic efficiency. In addition a PowerBI-based page allows deep understanding and optimizing traffic on a municipal level.

What was the team composition?

2 HoneyComb developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This is a 2nd cooperation between Israeli Mobi and Canadian Amika under CIIRDF, performed in a dedicated V2X testing location- L5 Ottawa.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was conducted cooperatively by Amika and Mobi through frequent status calls, eventually coordinating activities with L5 Ottawa team. Then more technical sessions were conducted between Amika, Mobi and Honeycomb. The project hasn't been completed yet.

Finally, work will be performed by Mobi in Canada, with real-time cooperation with Honeycomb. Challenges included coordination of sessions and working hours over distant time-zones, and eventually a cross-ocean development and testing with coordination in real time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are a very high proficiency team that can overcome any technical challenge. High learning skills, flexibility to change working days/hours in order to meet the deadlines.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In certain situations the developer is expected to ask for clarification of prioritization/requirements by Mobi before significant time investment into (perhaps) minor tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a software consulting firm in the United States. Our specialty is building custom applications for the enterprise or government organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Honeycomb Software?

We hired Honeycomb to assist with the development work of a custom SaaS product for one of our clients. We used several resources to help with a range of technologies including .Net Core, React, API development, and QA.

What were your goals for this project?

The solution had to meet all the requirements of a legacy application that it was to replace. Timeline and budget were also important considerations. This application is absolutely core to our client's business. If we failed to deliver, their business would be unable to continue.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered several candidates, both individuals and other agencies. Honeycomb was able to consistently provide the most qualified candidates.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided project management and overall technical supervision. Honeycomb provided solution engineering support as well as the coding to implement the software.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of five key individuals: Project manager, Business Analyst, QA Analyst, API developer, and React developer. (It's worth noting that the API developer and React developer are both full stack developers and were able to work very well together.)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are close to launching the application to the first customer of our client. There are several additional customers waiting in line to use this application. The impact to our client's business is tremendous. Without this application, they would struggle to stay in business at all.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We use a combination of tools for managing a project - Trello, Active Collab, Azure DevOps. We found all the Honeycomb team members to be very conscientious about keeping up with the communication and following our process. Honeycomb is based in the Ukraine, but our team all had very solid English skills and were easy to communicate with. The difference in timezone was rarely a problem as our team had a substantial overlap with our workday.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing is the quality of the developers provided by Honeycomb. All have been highly skilled professionals. Also, the responsiveness of our point of contact has been outstanding. Pavel is a pleasure to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Offhand, I can't think of anything to suggest for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a senior developer at Tracir Financial Services, an analytics company that does business intelligence, scripting, and business analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Honeycomb Software?

We needed a SaaS platform as a catch-all solution for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Honeycomb Software created a Gantt chart for development and then built a cloud-based minimal viable product (MVP). The project is still in phase one and we’ve added an additional resource to their team. We plan to roll out the platform by the end of 2018.

What is the team composition?

We work with two developers, one tech lead, and one project lead that serves as a coordinator.

How did you come to work with Honeycomb Software?

We searched for a technical partner that could fulfill our business specifications and technical requirements. We then interviewed Honeycomb Software and liked their proposal. The team was detailed, prompt, and accommodating.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in April 2018 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The MVP successfully consolidated all of our data. We enjoy working on the project’s subsequent phases and roll out because the team is a great group to work with.

How did Honeycomb Software perform from a project management standpoint?

The team accommodates me because I have to deal with the business end, as well as the technical side of things. Although we’re in different time zones, they work during my regular business hours. Overall, the team is on-point and I cannot complain; I look forward to more collaboration.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy with their whole team. The developers are knowledgeable and use state-of-the-art technology, which is necessary for a cloud-based platform like ours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have lost developers because of vacation days, but that is something that can always be worked around. If we are still working together next year, which I intend to, we would work around that issue a bit better so that progress isn’t hampered.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If the client’s tech specifications aren’t clear, the team may get lost. In addition, since I got less than two weeks’ notice for a few developers’ vacation days, I suggest customers should plan accordingly. I should have asked about breaks at the start.