Impekable

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm building a platform in the HR management software space. We provide a platform for a 360 review in more of a fast-paced environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

A classical 360 review involves giving feedback to your peers, your subordinates, support staff, as well as your supervisor or administrative staff, so up, down, left, and right. It usually takes a very long time because there’s a lot of paperwork with very long-winded questions. It just sucks the energy out of everybody after they do one or two. We wanted to change that around, make it like a nomination. Once every week you basically pick someone you want to recognize for doing a great job in a certain way. It’s always the same seven ways, and you just put in a name for each. It’s very simplistic.

It can aggregate all that data and determine quality employees’ strength profiles. Later on, when you’re looking to promote or transition someone, or they request a career shift within the company, you’ll know ahead of time whether they’ll be a good fit in that department or position. It’s basically crowd-sourcing within companies – hopefully, many companies – what they can expect out of their work team, and what their work team can expect out of each other. The way to give an incentive to use it is that, as employees get feedback, they also accumulate points and credits that can be converted into gifts or company benefits. An example could be an Amazon gift card, Uber credit, a Starbucks gift card, or a straight cash bonus, vacation days, whatever the company wants to set up as their prizes.

There’s a big data analytics side to this that’s under development. It’s not part of the MVP, but we’re looking to use that to get a lot of insight, kind of a study as to how companies work on a human level, the human virtues and strengths that are valuable, and we hope to learn a lot.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a mutual NDA, and they were very professional about that. Then we started off giving them an outline, a patent-pending pseudo-code for where we want this app to go. From that, they were able to give us a solid quotation. Their terms and conditions made sense to us and we went forward. They essentially developed the whole app.

They started off with a story-boarded check-in with us to confirm their understanding of our expectations. They did a sophisticated slideshow mockup to give us a good idea of what the UX/UI would feel like. It took them some time to really understand what the patent involved and all the pseudo-code. Once they had a grasp of that, we had a separate meeting on how to develop the backend, how to cloud host this, and things like that.

From there, they primarily focused on the backend, and I agreed with that. They wireframed everything and communicated with me at least weekly on where the wireframe is headed, the problems they were running into, the questions they had about the vision, and where our pseudo-code wasn’t quite clear. We also worked on a few simulations on Excel, to see if the data would work the way we wanted. The Excel spreadsheet we created for them was also a form of QC. If what they were building came out with the same outputs and the Excel prototype, then we’re good.

After that, we revisited some of the more cosmetic or UX type of issues. It was an iterative process. We’re currently four months into the development, and they mostly lived up to the schedule. I’m very happy about that.

It’s hard for me to gauge the size of the team. I’ve been working with four people directly, but I’m sure there were a lot more programmers, engineers, designers, and artists in the background, so I don’t know the full head-count. I was working directly with a project manager, who also functioned as the UX/UI designer. I was also working with a coordinator to ensure everyone was on the same page. There was a programmer with whom I interacted directly, and I’m sure he had a lot of staff under him to get all the backend stuff going. I was also in touch with Pek [Pongpaet, Managing Partner].

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I started with Google, and Clutch pages showed up on top in that search. I went onto the Clutch site and browsed around, looked at your reporting process, and it made a lot of sense. I particularly liked the bar chart that shows the primary focus of the companies; whether they focus on design or programming, more web or mobile. That gave me a good understanding of the core capabilities I was looking to match up with. I found four app developers that made sense to me. I got quotations from three of them, but one was two months too late in giving me a quote. The prices from the three quotes were all over the place, although I’d given them all the same document and outline.

I visited two offices, and I really appreciated Pek’s straightforward demeanor. He’s very professional, but also open to ideas and friendly. It seemed like it would be a good fit. I liked the way he and his staff interacted. He seemed like a very good leader, and that made a big difference. The other company I visited was very showboat-y. I had two salespeople trying to talk to me at the same time, and it was constant advertising. I couldn’t quite dive into the project, there wasn’t a lot of listening, and the price was double what Impekable offered.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March of this year, and our relationship is ongoing. We’re live testing it now, and it’s achieved the minimum viable product status.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started using it last week, so we haven’t gotten a lot of feedback yet. I’m meeting with Pek this afternoon to talk about any feedback that’s been posted. There’s probably a little more development left, maybe 25% more work to fix bugs, tweak an algorithm, change the location of a button, just some small on-boarding flaws or problems. That was essentially in our contract, but it’s always hard to define when you cut off and say you’re done and most of the feedback has been addressed. It’s a long-tailed thing when it comes to feedback, and we obviously cannot deal with all of them.

I’m sure there’s going to be contradictory feedback as well. Once we get the bulk of the feedback, we’ll have to figure out where we need to draw the line. I’m very cost-conscious, and I know that if we draw it out, it won’t be good for my time and it’s definitely killing their budget. So, I look to get a phase 2 underway. I’ll send another request for proposal out with outlines of features we need next. I think a lot of the selection of those features is going to be dependent on the feedback we get. As we wait for that, we’re working quickly to fix bugs before they become a real problem with users.

I’ve worked with many vendors in my day job. I would say that Impekable’s professionalism ranks in at least the 95^th percentile, top-tier stuff. They’re capable and confident, but not cocky. They’re communicative without being excessive or pesky. I’m just very satisfied.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

I was very impressed with one of the engineers I worked with. He was able to quickly take what I say, convert that into a scenario question, and ask me that question to confirm his understanding. That process helped us to avoid so much unnecessary reprogramming, going down the wrong path, or a misunderstanding. He just has a good way of reading the sentence backward to ensure the grammar makes sense, and it’s impressive. I haven’t seen anybody else work that way.

The project manager was very artistic and had a good eye for proportions, spacing, color selection. I think the questions she asked helped me to define the feel I wanted for the app. It’s was very enlightening, just to force me into putting an idea into three to five words. She was able to convert that into the same vision I had, which was very impressive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an ecosystem company providing a combination of platforms, devices, and content, all seamlessly working together in order to create better lifestyles for our audience. We are working to break down industry barriers and provide a better connection to content across devices, in a seamless platform available on TVs, smartphones, and even automotive displays. We provide cloud services, content, and applications for all of these. I am the senior director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

I needed to get work done quickly, so I wanted to avoid using a large, bureaucratic agency, while still finding one with enough resources to support a complex project. I was hoping to find a partner with a reputation that suggested they could deliver this, which is why I hired Impekable.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable has been involved in the design and technical work for our platform.

Our team included around 12 people for different areas of our work. There was some scope creep and changes requested by our stakeholders. Impekable was able to accommodate this by quickly adding resources and ensuring a timely delivery of the project.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I was referred to Impekable by another one of their clients. Impekable's team was flown to Los Angeles in order to offer an introduction to one of our strategic business partners.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

This is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable on November 1st, 2016, and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our platform is ready to launch, but we have decided to postpone it through a business decision. I don't have any feedback for it yet.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable's founder was heavily involved in our work, but we also had a project manager who actively developed the project timeline and worked collaboratively with us to ensure prioritization and a critical path. As a Chinese company, we've had to collaborate with our tech teams there. The project was pretty complex, with an almost 24-hour schedule, but Impekable accommodated our collaboration.

We used InVision for previewing designs. Impekable also used another preview tool at a later point, when we actually had developed material, in order to share it within the development environment. We collaborated through WeChat (which is common in China) and Slack, as well as email for formal communications. We used Jira for tracking testing and bug fixes after the front-end development was completed. Impekable's team worked seamlessly across all platforms.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

Impekable was available to us at a moment's notice. They're an Agile team, able to pivot and adapt with rapidly evolving scopes. Impekable was able to take tough feedback quickly and make changes, using it as helpful information for building a better product. Especially when we asked for changes without discussing them initially, Impekable was willing to comply. Working out of scope can be daunting for any agency, but Impekable was always flexible. They also let us know when something wouldn't be possible, and what trade-offs were available to us.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

Impekable accepted a project with a very tight timeframe, so it would be hard to determine what some improvement areas would be. I think that Impekable does need an even stronger nose for what would amount to too much work within a short period. Bigger agencies have an easier time saying no to work, but being newer, Impekable is happier to appease us. This is good, but they also have to be willing to push back a little more to someone like me.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Impekable?

I would advise other clients to tell Impekable when it's reasonable to say no to them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the B2B chief marketing officer of LegalZoom.com, Inc. Essentially, we’re a tech-enabled law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We wanted to test the concept of launching a series of patent search functions. Unfortunately, we have a shortage of tech resources in our company. We’re very business heavy and very marketing heavy. But when it comes to building web assets and digital products, we just don’t have the competency in-house to do it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

This project was for the product of patent law and services. An inventor can come to our new website, enter an idea, and see what patents are already associated with the idea. It’s a web app that’s supposed to be responsive, so you can use it on a phone as well. For this project, Impekable used CSS, InVision mockups, JavaScript, Node.js, all of those things.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I’ve known Pek for a while now. Impekable started in Chicago, where I also started my career.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

We paid $15,000 for Impekable’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Impekable this year. It took only a month for them to complete the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable’s project management was really good. I worked directly with Pek; he managed his designers and developers in doing all the mockups.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

The thing that stands out is that Impekable does not just have designers and UI/UX experts, Impekable are great for business brainstorming. As he went through the mockups, he pointed out his experience building similaquotr apps. He brought a lot of patterns and a business perspective to the job.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

I think they are on the more expensive side of things, but then you also get what you pay for. All of his staff is in San Francisco, which is a very expensive place. I would say that that’s the only thing. If it’s something that’s super deserving of their talent, then we give it to them, but for lesser projects, we would choose cheaper sources.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Betcade builds technology for the real-money gaming industry, primarily focusing on European markets. I am a co-founder and the chief technology officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We are working on a store for Android gambling apps for the Northern European and Western European markets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable has handled all of our front-end development, building our store according to our requirements for interfacing with the back-end technology. Impekable has also supported applications for the Android platform. We have used imPekable for some web projects and interface design, but their main contribution has been on Android interface implementation. We've used Impekable on around a dozen discrete projects, but the vast majority of the work has gone into the main platform. At the moment, we're working with around 6 resources from Impekable. There is a project lead who manages our interactions, but we have direct access to Impekable's developers. There is a good working relationship with all of them. There have been a few staff changes, but most of the people working on our project have been there for the duration.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I'd worked with Impekable's owner [Pek Pongpaet, managing partner at Impekable] prior to starting my current company and have known him for about 6 years. When I came to look for a resource center on the mobile side, Impekable was one of the first companies I contacted.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

The total cost of our projects with Impekable has been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable in April 2015 for a first mobile prototype, and they produced a working version within a few weeks of us being funded.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Impekable has effectively been our outsourced mobile development team, and we have not felt it necessary to staff in-house resources for Android work. Even though this is an important strategic point to my company, I've found Impekable to be a high-performance partner that delivers on time and with great quality. Impekable has been able to step up and do what needed to be done in order to move forward.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

The costs have been predictable and manageable. Impekable had advance communication before any changes. The process is also transparent in terms of scheduling. We don't farm tasks out to Impekable, but rather treat them as an in-house development team. Impekable is active in our in-house chat system and work with us as if they were on staff.

We have very little in-house infrastructure and have decided to put everything in the cloud, from bug tracking to source code management to collaboration tools and chat systems. When working with primary vendors like Impekable, we always tried to make sure that our choices were in line with how they were doing stuff and not have to ask for changes on how the provider engaged with clients. For example, we didn't pick Slack as a collaboration tool simply because Impekable used it, but it was certainly a factor. Likewise, source code and bug management were selected in collaboration with Impekable, rather than being picked in a vacuum.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

I've appreciated the fact that Impekable is a full-range shop with both mobile and web development. The fact that Impekable can pick up an iOS project, provide some web design or even back-end implementations, distinguishes them from many other shops I've worked with, which were more narrowly focused. Many providers will bring some designers and maybe some additional prototyping but, when the time comes to build complicated projects, we had to find other sources. Impekable has been able to take projects from design all the way to implementation and launch. 

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

Impekable has grown alongside us and, any time when there were resource crunches or communication issues, they were resolved through a quick call with their leadership. Usually, they'd already seen the same issues and were working on resolving them. I don't see this changing going forward.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the senior director of emerging technologies and I work in the office of our chief technology officer. Our projects are largely based on forward-leaning innovation, things which we aspire to do in the future. They typically fall outside of the traditional engineering path and are more skunkworks projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We were building a prototype for a product. To bring it to life, we needed professional user experience and design skills. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a rough framework for the product and Impekable helped us create a polished user experience. Impekable has worked on many professional interface design projects for us. Their involvement has expanded beyond my group since they have also worked with our IT and marketing departments. Our work has had a strong emphasis on user experience. We largely interfaced directly with Impekable's principal or one of their senior designers. We didn't have full visibility of the team of designers.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I had a chance meeting with the principal of Impekable at a coffee shop in Mountain View. We struck up a conversation and exchanged ideas about what was going on in the Valley. I learned a bit about Impekable and he learned a bit about the project I was working on. I asked if he'd be willing to offer contract work for a company like ours. We saw previous projects on their website and references.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

The cost of Impekable's services for my group has been in excess of $100,000 per year. Impekable also has projects with other groups in my company. I would estimate that our company has spent more than $500,000 on Impekable’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Initially, we picked a relatively small project in order to gauge Impekable's work. It was successful so we moved on to bigger and better things. Over the course of 3–4 years, Impekable has done 20 projects for different business units within our company. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've used a lot of Impekable's work during executive briefings and customer keynote presentations. The feedback has always been very positive. It was a great thing to have such a professional and polished experience on prototype-style projects. Our products looked as if they were ready to go out the door even though they were still in the concept stage. We've run projects that provoke people's thinking on what is possible and have achieved very polished results. We've tried to bring consumer-centric designs, taking very technical concepts and putting them into the hands of non-technical people.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable has been a professional group. Whenever there were blow-outs in terms of complexity and the time needed to get tasks done, Impekable has been flexible with the use of resources. They made sure that we stayed on time and on budget. Our projects have been fairly tactical and narrow in scope so we haven't had to fall into a formal project management process. Other groups within our company may have used project management tools. That’s because they were involved in broader, wholesale redesigns of community portals and quoting systems. 

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

Their principal has traveled at his own expense to customer events [we've hosted], standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us in order to make sure that the product worked. We've used Impekable as an extension to our own team in many cases, which is rare for a contract relationship. I have nothing negative to say about our collaboration.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

They could have come up with a better solution for tracking the consumption of our allocated hours. We had weekly check-ins with Impekable in this regard. But in hindsight, we both agree that we could have shared a Google Doc instead of email updates. It wasn't a big deal, rather an issue on which we could have collaborated better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a project manager for Lenspire. It is a collaboration platform for the photo, fashion, advertising, and film industries. It's a one-stop-shop for production, from call sheets to credits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We have worked with a previous development team which helped us publish the app into the store. Impekable has taken over that work and is now managing our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable is helping us develop our platform. They are taking care of design and strategy as well. We have the groundwork down for our design, but we have collaborated with Impekable in reworking it to make our vision come to life. Our solution is available as a web, iOS, and Android app.

The biggest part of our services is call sheet management and Impekable has implemented several steps for this process. Our app aims to coordinate everyone on a photo shoot. It lets users build call sheets and handle creative concepts for the preproduction process. Postproduction is done through it as well, with something we call "the images behind the call sheets." Our app provides full-circle production.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

The CEO and founder of our company discovered Impekable. We'd outsourced to another team in India initially, even though [they] were our first choice. We came back to Impekable in the end.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

I'm unsure of the finances behind this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable in April 2016. By the end of the month, we were already reviewing demos for the app. Our launch date is set for October.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The difference between Impekable and our previous team has been night and day. They've taken initiative and were always one step ahead of us, while our last developers were the exact opposite. I have complete faith in Impekable and find them to be a very capable team.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable has been proactive and extremely flexible in terms of call schedules. Anything that we may need is provided by them. Impekable has done everything possible to work within our tight schedules and to make the relationship work. We've used Slack for communication with Impekable. We've interacted with around 5 resources from Impekable, but there may be more in the background.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

Comparing Impekable to our last development team, I can say that they've understood the fashion industry a lot more. They saw what our vision was.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

No. Impekable has been perfect so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a research institute working as a subsidiary of a car manufacturer. We operate in Silicon Valley, focusing on technologies related to automated driving. I'm a senior research engineer for our company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We needed to build a tablet-based application from our custom specifications. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The deliverable will be an Android-based application which will run natively. The app allows us to log our testing activities, particularly information such as direction, time, and weather conditions. We also included an ability to add other features such as audio, video, and image recordings. Impekable created the app based on our specifications, helping our group record this info and put it into a database. We had initial discussions focusing on some general use cases and our initial ideas. Impekable took this information and had a team create some mock-up designs. We went through these weekly iterations, trying to work off of each other's ideas and hone in on a concept. During our meetings with Impekable, I've interacted with at least a couple of designers and developers. I don't know the exact size of their team. 

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I used to be neighbors with Impekable's owner and I heard that he had started his own company. I've only been involved in research software development, not Android. When we started the project, we shopped around for other vendors and I received offers which I didn't find reasonable. I reached out to Impekable's owner and asked for a professional opinion of what an estimate should be. He told me that the offers were within the ballpark, but also that he could do it. I asked for a quotation. He told us that they would be able to do this under the budget that we had available and within a quicker timeframe. Since they were also a local company, we decided to select Impekable.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

The total cost of Impekable's services has been under $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable a month ago. The weekly reviews and meetings took around 2 weeks. When we finalized our design, the prototyping phase started. The project is now in its final stages; we are just making last-minute tweaks and debugging. Our app should be finished within 2 weeks. So far, our application has been the only project we've done with Impekable. Since we've started the project, other groups within our company have seen what Impekable was able to do. They have offered additional contracts. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Impekable identified many features which we hadn't really thought of. Generally, I think that it was very good to work with Impekable. They were able to take our initial vision and suggest many improvements. They honed our ideas, made them more concrete, and implemented them. I appreciated the designers' ability to utilize their prior work and experience in order to make the final product a lot better.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable kept us in the loop through weekly meetings where we saw the latest developments. We haven't used any project collaboration tools because the process of working with Impekable has been really easy. We can tell them what we want, and receive new revisions a week later for us to test out. There hasn't been a need for us to watch Impekable's team do their work, so to speak.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

This is not my area of expertise; I don't work a lot with mobile applications. I do think that a unique feature of Impekable is that they're a one-stop-shop, with their own design team and software engineers. It wasn't necessary for us to go in with fully-defined requirements. Impekable was able to work with us, as long as we had a vision and general ideas. We came with an idea for a simple application, and Impekable went above and beyond. I'm confident that the final product will be much better than what we'd envisioned in the beginning. Impekable has exceeded our expectations.

Are there any areas  Impekable could improve?

No, I don’t think there are any areas that they need to improve. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Constant Contact empowers small businesses and organizations to create and grow customer relationships. We help them succeed through email marketing. I am the director of emerging business for the company. I am responsible for launching and developing new products. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We needed additional capacity while trying to launch a few different business initiatives at the same time. Normally, we have a development team in-house, but we needed help with some prototyping and getting ideas off the ground. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the time, we were launching a new small business advertising service. Impekable handled the overall design engagement, primarily on the front-end. They were responsible for developing clickable prototypes for the user experience. They created InVision prototypes which we put together. We were looking for additional feedback for our design group. Impekable came up with an alternative product experience. This was pitched to the team in the form of an interactive InVision prototype.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I've known Impekable's head for 6 to 7 years through the startup community in Chicago. We are part of the same networking groups. I'd never actually hired his firm for any work, but knew how Impekable came to where it was. Initially, we had a design-focused exercise with Impekable. We wanted to engage them because they were strong from a design and UX standpoint.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable at the end of 2015. The overall engagement went on for 6 to 8 weeks. Impekable is still under retainer with us technically because we didn't utilize all the hours allocated to us. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 Within my department, ideas become greenlit and killed often. Impekable enabled me not to have to hire full-time resources, which saved money at the end of the day. I can't provide dollar metrics, but Impekable has been able to help me conserve resources. Impekable's work was on par with what our full-time UX team could do. That challenged our in-house team to think about the problem that we were addressing.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Impekable's principal provided consultation for our project and we had weekly calls with 2 to 3 members of their team. I don't know how many people were working behind the scenes, but we had an account manager who kept the project moving. We were the primary driver of the timeline, while Impekable was conscious of the schedule. If anything, we dragged our feet because of company bureaucracy. We used InVision for creating clickable prototypes, and shared Basecamp, which I brought to the table.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

I think of my department as the innovation part of a big enterprise. Impekable is phenomenal at swooping in, learning about a problem, and helping with that engagement. They did all that without pushing their fee. Whenever we had additional work for brochures and so on, we were able to use Impekable's services through the hours we had left. Sometimes, consultants can be focused on the after-work, trying to burn the remaining hours. Impekable has been protective of this and focused on what was best for the customer.

Impekable is quick and nimble. They're able to respond to business needs fast, which is what we would have expected of someone of their caliber. I'd known Impekable's head for quite a while, but it was the first time I'd actually engaged his firm. I expected that we'd be working more with his junior staff, but we actually worked with him as part of the engagement. I didn't push for this during negotiations, so this exceeded my expectations.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

At the time of hiring Impekable, it didn't seem that they were a full-stack shop. I couldn't outsource a complete app development project to them, from front-end to Ruby on Rails work. I appreciated Impekable's transparency in letting us know that they mainly handled front-end work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Insight ADVANCE is an EduTech company. We are a sister company of Insight Education Group, which was founded 20 years ago. We have spun off from them, working primarily on teacher and school leader development. Our technology is used for coaching, delivering professional development for teachers, and ensuring that they're receiving high-quality feedback. I am the head of products for the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We needed small upgrades and improvement for our core product, ADVANCEfeedback. In addition, we also required ongoing maintenance and support for that software. It had been sitting dormant for 2 years and we didn't know what the code looked like. It turned out that it had been poorly put together, using several different pieces. It was written using the Groovy language, so the software was significantly outdated. We had a serious time crunch of 3 months, during which it needed to be up and running for statewide usage.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We recently relaunched the software for a state's department of education. Impekable made it possible to roll out our product to a statewide group of users. Our most complex project involved digging into the old product. Impekable handled numerous repairs, upgrades, and refactorings for that software. The project involved a significant discovery process, both on the front and back-end. Impekable learned along the way with us.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

Impekable had done work with a team with which our president had been involved in a previous engagement. Impekable left a good impression so, when we were looking for a new team for maintenance and support, he went back to them. We interviewed several other teams as well, but I was very happy with Impekable

How much have you invested with Impekable?

The total cost of Impekable's services has been around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable in March 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We gave Impekable a messy, black box project with a tight timeline, but they worked it out. The ADVANCEfeedback software went from being dormant to being implemented statewide within a short timeframe. This is a great testament to what Impekable is able to do. Impekable told us what they would be able to accomplish from the start. They were honest and upfront about this, which meant that we were able to deliver on time to the client. Impekable was able to say that they would not be able to go above a certain threshold. Going on another route would have involved rebuilding the software from scratch, for example. Impekable told us that this would not happen in time. They instead did an awesome job of refactoring what we had and delivered on time. The stability of our core product is another success indicator. We had been stuck with ongoing maintenance and repairs for it. Our senior developer from Impekable did a great job of stabilizing the base code, making the need for maintenance drop by about 75%.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked with up to 4 resources from Impekable, depending on our project. We worked directly with those members. Our senior developer served as a project lead while I was in charge of direct communication from our end. I met with the project lead and the rest of the team at least weekly during heavy development. While I'm the head of products, I'm not a senior developer. But Impekable's team did a great job of conveying what was happening, what our issues were, and what it would take to fix them. They were very communicative, made themselves available and were always very clear. We use Zendesk internally and have given Impekable access to it. Google Docs is our main communication tool.

What did you find most impressive about  Impekable?

We have appreciated Impekable's ability to scale their level of management and oversight. We've worked with firms which had set processes for project management. It may have been what certain people need, but not our company. We've seen Impekable scale up and provide more management whenever things became more ambiguous. But they were also able to scale the process down when we stopped needing it. Impekable made its team accessible to us in this way. We're a startup, and often run on a lean budget and pressed timeline. Being able to remain responsive has been spectacular.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

The only improvement would be getting constant updates on the number of hours we've used and what we're doing next.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Impekable?

I would recommend that anyone be as clear as possible regarding a problem, allowing Impekable to be as clear as they can be on how to solve it. Being open to Impekable's insight is advisable. They're very knowledgeable and realistic in terms of estimates. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My former company provides a call log management system. They have been around for several years. I was the chief technology officer of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

A business partner got a look at our app and told us that they loved what we were doing, but that our UI [user interface] was atrocious. We needed to find an award-winning UI/UX design team that could help clean up the app from the end-user side of things.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There was a number of aspects to consider; one of them was redefining the interface. More importantly, we needed to make sure that the user experience was correct. Impekable made some recommendations and helped us work through them. We had a UI redesign and had Impekable build us a PowerPoint template for presentations. We also asked them to create collateral pieces and a corporate website redesign. Impekable also built our website. At one point, we were working with 5 people from Impekable. The process was very transparent, and we were able to interact with people directly. The project manager took part of the bigger operations but, for little questions or suggestions, we could go directly to our team.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I went on a search, talked to around 10 companies, and decided to choose Impekable.

How much have you invested with Impekable?

The total cost of Impekable's services has been around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Impekable in January 2016. Our project was finished in April. We had a very short timeline in which we needed to accomplish a lot. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website code was quite solid when we received it. There will always be issues and changes to be made, but Impekable was very responsive in this regard. We were able to test 90% of the site right away, so it was very functional. The UI designs made by Impekable were good. They were able to find some inefficiencies we had. They then made some very clever recommendations which hadn't occurred to our own team. Impekable gave us more UI choices than we expected. Because of our budget, we only expected 2-3 pieces, but we had up to 6-7 choices at times. We were featured as the best new app in the app store because of Impekable's work.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager from Impekable was great. She was always on top of things. She knew the status of all our work even before weekly meetings. We didn't have to waste time having each member talk about their involvement. She gave an overview, mentioned outstanding issues, presented results, and moved on. During the week, she checked in with us and gave minor updates depending on certain deadlines. We could email or call her and get a response within a short amount of time.

Impekable used standard project management tools instead of proprietary or unusual technology. I was happy about that. Impekable spent some time teaching our team how the tools could be used. We used Jira for internal bug tracking on our project. I didn't interface with Impekable's bug tracking system. They also used Sketch and InVision.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

We had no issues with billing at all. We had milestones and payments based on those. Impekable was never late and they were patient whenever we took the time to make decisions. There was never a disagreement. Impekable may not have liked every decision that we made, but we were the client and they respected that. I've recommended Impekable to many companies.

Impekable never held back in terms of listening and offering advice. There were times when my boss couldn't quite make decisions about which direction to take. We didn't want to hold up the progress. Because I know a bit about UI/UI, I could work interactively with Impekable's files and hand them off to our developer. That allowed him to export assets for the mobile app. Impekable was very willing to modify their process to meet our requirements.

Are there any areas Impekable could improve?

For our website design, we featured a marquee image. Our chief marketing officer had a vision of what that image should be, but we never clearly explained it to Impekable. We only offered 1 to 2 sentences when we asked them to create a design. It didn't come close to what we wanted. It wasn't possible for Impekable to understand our vision from that little information, so it wasn't really their fault. However, it's always important for everyone to ask for clarifications.