Merixstudio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company provides consulting services for risk management and regulatory change. Position: Founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Merixstudio?

To prepare a wireframe demonstration for a complex fintech operational risk service proposition.

What were your goals for this project?

To prepare a professional high fidelity demonstration of the proposed functionality of the tool suite in order to show potential clients and investors.

SOLUTION

How did you select Merixstudio?

We assessed the services offered by 4 different companies and visited the final two companies including Merix to walk through the product and their service offering. Following the final internal assessment of the services offered Merix was chosen for the work to be undertaken.

Describe the project in detail.

An initial workshop was held and a number of further discovery meetings were held with the Merix team. Following the initial discovery meetings, a low fidelity wireframe mock-up was produced.

Regular stand up meetings was held to agree on the screens and functionality for the wireframe ahead of development and walkthrough the agreed work that had been completed. Final designs and changes were agreed to produce a high fidelity demonstration before the project was closed in order to meet our expectations.

What was the team composition?

The initial team consisted of the project manager, front end developer, and UX designer. After the initial discovery meetings and preparation of the draft plan, it was agreed that the UX designer would only be required for the build, as well as additional input being provided by a graphic designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Following the completion of the project, video demonstrations have been produced and the initial engagement of potential future clients has commenced.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team assigned was very competent and a good collaborative working relationship was established. General questions were handled over slack whilst meetings were held to cover off any more challenging aspects of the solution. Regular stand-up calls were held and the UX designer provided some really valuable input into how the information could be presented to simplify some of the complex requirements of the solution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The final product delivered has exceeded my expectations as has the work and commitment of the UX designer which has brought to life the complex ideas and concepts behind the solution. This has been a highly collaborative partnership throughout and the project has been delivered within budget. And I would have no hesitation in recommending the firm for any similar work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are no noteworthy areas for improvement. Overall this has been a very good experience and whilst there were a couple of final tweaks made for the demonstration, we are extremely happy with the quality of the product that was delivered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Evercoast is a computer vision and 3D software company. We do volumetric capture, where we primarily focus on turning humans in motion into 3D objects for use in VR, AR, and even conventional video. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We do 3D rendering and have software that captures data off of lots of cameras simultaneously. We then render that content, which requires an enormous amount of compute. Rather than trying to do that locally on a single server, we upload that data to the cloud. We wanted to build a web interface so that our clients could log in and manage their renders inside of the cloud and a web-based interface. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’d built a pipeline that manages all of our computer vision applications, and we initially engaged Merixstudio to take that pipeline and turn it into something that could run in the cloud. They built a web interface on top of it so that clients can log in, manage their renders and output, and preview data. The scope of their services was focused primarily on building a web application that could sit on top of and control all of the hard computer vision stuff that we do as a company internally.

The web app is built on Python and Django, as well as React and Angular. We use Redis, and it all runs on AWS.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of three people engaged at Merixstudio. 

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I’ve been working with Merixstudio for close to 12 years through various companies that I’ve had. I don’t recall exactly how I found them. They were a small company of about 10–20 people back then, and I understand they now have over 150 people. I’ve worked with them on a number of different engagements over the years. 

How much have you invested with them?

The cost has been $250,000–$400,000 over the last two years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on this particular project in October 2018. It was an iterative release process, so we launched the first part of it without the web interface by the end of November, and we’ve been continually building on top of it since then. The web interface went live in January or February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work that they did enables us to run a 3D rendering pipeline that completes work within an hour or two, whereas it would take days on a single computer. That’s the nature of running the pipeline on hundreds of computers in the cloud versus a single computer locally.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use them at all for project management; they provide a small team of people that has really become an extension of our team. We manage their engineering and design resources, so we don’t have a dedicated project manager allocated to our project.

Given the amount of projects I’ve done with Merixstudio over the years, I’ve used them for project management, giving them projects and letting them execute. Their project managers have always been very thorough and communicative. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Merixstudio has a high quality of engineering and design talent that they can deploy quickly. They have very reasonable rates, and the team is direct and easy to communicate with. 

I’ve found that with some offshore companies, you need to tell them exactly what to do, whereas Merixstudio has creative thinkers. They help us think through things and contribute to what the best approach is. That balance of being able to execute but then also contribute to the technical direction of what they’re working on has been helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have any suggested areas for improvement.

Any advice for potential customers?

I’d say that depends on the resources that the company who’s leveraging them has. I’ve found that what works best for us is having direct access to the engineering resources to be able to direct and work with them. However, in a lot of cases, companies don’t have the bandwidth to be able to do that as effectively, so engaging a project manager from their side would be much more important.

Pay attention to the time zone; being in New York, there’s a decent overlap of time throughout the day that we can work with them. However, if you’re somewhere like Los Angeles, you’re going to have a narrower window of time to overlap.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an independent insurance agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We built an agency management system originally. The challenge we had was that it was built in a language that was dying, so we couldn’t find resources to help us fix or enhance it. We were looking for a software development company to help facilitate the rebuilding of the entire management system from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Merixstudio did everything. They took a lot of the concepts from the original software and went through a journey mapping and storyboarding process. We looked at the existing issues and identified priorities before deciding what to enhance and tweak. The old language was ColdFusion, and the new one was Python.

What is the team composition?

They had a project manager, a QA team, UI/UX designers, and front- and backend developers.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

We got burned quite a few times before working with Merixstudio. We were going to go the traditional route but decided that it wouldn’t work because we wanted the customization. We then looked at local development companies and engaged with a software company from Arizona, but it didn’t work out well. 

I looked at developers across the world, and I found that Eastern Europe typically ranked in the top five. We came across Clutch and started looking at all of the development shops in Eastern Europe. We liked Merixstudio’s approach and the opportunity to meet with them in Poland for the first workshop. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September 2019–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had a great relationship with them. Because of circumstances outside of their control, Merixstudio ended up not finishing the project. From what I saw, it was an incredible application.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they did quite well. Their communication was good and we had weekly meetings. We also talked 2–3 times per week outside of that using Slack and Jira. Merixstudio also used Confluence, as well as a wireframing tool. Our only challenge was that there were a few times where the budget was expanded. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re in the insurance industry, and it’s quite unique. Merixstudio was able to grasp the industry as a whole, as well as its nuances, and then add value. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve kept the project in line by identifying priorities and helping us. Everyone needed to be kept in line with the plan, which goes both ways. They had the expertise, so if they had been able to do that, we could’ve finished the project within the budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your role and responsibilities and stick to them. Have clear and open communication, which the team is good at. Also, identify your objectives and what you need to get the software to function.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Burrow, a direct-to-consumer start-up that makes clever furniture for modern life. Burrow’s mission is to build products for the way people actually live their lives. Burrow was named one of the 10 most innovative retail brands in the world by Fast Company, and the Burrow sofa was named of the 50 best inventions of the year by TIME.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Merixstudio?

We operate a fairly small team of engineers but needed to expand our capabilities drastically as we were planning on launching into multiple new product lines. We didn't have the time or resources to recruit and train new engineers so we needed a way to quickly expand the teams bandwidth.

What were your goals for this project?

In order to achieve our targets for the year, it was imperative that we hit our product expansion timelines. We needed the new resources to be ramped up quickly, adhere to our coding standards, while ensuring that front-end design requirements were being met without compromising code maintainability and performance.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered a total of 16 companies for this specific task. Each of the companies were taken through several rounds of interviews to assess for culture fit, technical capabilities and prior experience in our business and technology stack. The interviews were held by our our directory of engineering, members of our engineering team and myself (CPO). The eventual selection was based on the likemindedness of the approach that Merix Studio had, their experience in very similar verticals, quality of engineers, and competitive rates.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

One of the larger projects that Merix Studio took on shortly after joining was helping us single-handedly re-tool our front end and move from a legacy state management system to a cutting edge state management solution that drastically improved performance and code maintainability. Obviously this was a very open ended task, however, they were able to create a detailed work plan and progress along the desired timelines. Apart from such larger projects, they are as essential part of the team that is involved in day-to-day projects and decisions.

What was the team composition?

We had a team of 5 engineers & 1 project manager. Our internal team contributed 3 engineers while the other 2 were from Merix Studio

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Prior to Merix Studio joining our team, it would take us months to launch new product lines on our e-commerce application. After integrating with them and updating our infrastructure to support the new state management framework and a headless content management system, we are now able to launch new products in a matter of days and provide our e-commerce team a way to do so without the need of engineers!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We utilized a part-time project manager from Merix Studio, along with our own internal product manager to co-ordinate resources and prioritization. For daily communication needs we passed all requirements through technical documentation and sprint planning on Hive. Daily communication was done through Slack with video calls on Microsoft Teams. We did not face any issues with the time difference or notice any language barriers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team at Merix Studio is very talented and knowledgeable about the current state of development and best practices, apart from picking up our approach they have also become critical advisors in helping us think through long lasting architectural decisions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

My only suggestions here is that we should have built a more standardized requirements and approach process with the team. Just doing a simple hand-off isn't good enough, it requires a constant open channel between the team members.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing and operations at a full-service ad agency. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We wanted to develop an interactive gaming website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Merixstudio did everything in building the custom website from scratch: from design to UX to backend development. We had a few calls about the scope of the project about what to include or not include along with the timing and budget. It was a collaborative effort. The site includes login and gaming features like tallying a user’s account and progress.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of five people from their side, including a main project manager.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

We put up a proposal online. We did some research, and Merixstudio showed up highly with their ratings and rankings. After considering 3–4 other agencies, we went with Merixstudio because they had the best resume and reviews and beat out a lot of North American companies in their communication and ability to follow up.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent close to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from October 2019 until February 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a pretty tight deadline for the scope of the project, but Merixstudio delivered on time and on budget. We’ve seen growth in userbase, and user feedback on the site has been great: it’s been a fun experience for users who have signed up. 

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. We had one of the best project managers we’ve ever dealt with. He communicated well and set expectations so that there were no surprises. He sent us reports through Jira and showed us timelines and budgets through Excel. He even got to understand the product fairly well despite being new to the industry at the beginning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Merixstudio had a really talented team that was able to learn our product’s concept and nuances quickly. The code was great, and if we ever ran into any issues, the team was able to pivot and adjust along the way. They have good developers and a solid system in place to give the client confidence in working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m trying to think of something, but in most cases, they did what we wanted them to do. I don’t really have any feedback on that side of things. 

Any advice for potential customers?

When you create a brief, make it as detailed as possible so that Merixstudio can understand your project and dissect it more easily. They’ll still come back with a lot of questions, but if you prepare in the beginning and know exactly what you want, you’ll have a successful project at the end of the day.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and managing director of a software startup that provides technological solutions to any corporate entity that operates a fleet of vehicles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MerixStudio?

We hired a developer who built an MVP that had issues. We weren't satisfied with the quality of the code. We also had issues with scope creep. We decided to pull away from that developer despite having spent a fair amount of money upfront. We needed to find a long term partner who could deliver for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MerixStudio started the project from scratch. Their team helped with the design, wireframes, and review process of the product. Ultimately, they built the software solution, which is a web-based platform and a mobile application for iOS and Android. Their team also implemented an admin panel that allows us to manage the system using Django. They built the solution and still support the product, fixing any bugs and making any changes needed. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 different individuals including designers, front- and backend developers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with MerixStudio?

We conducted a formal RFP and went out to a number of developers, MerixStudio being one of them. We whittled down our options and eventually selected them. One of the biggest contributors to our decision was the amount of time that their team spent trying to understand our product. Their team was slightly more expensive than other options but they were the only business that was reluctant to give us a fixed price until we completed a discovery session. That’s what we wanted because we learned from our previous experience. We liked their approach of coming to understand the problem that we wanted to solve. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around €100,000 (approximately $107,500 USD) with MerixStudio.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project around June 2019 and we’re still working with MerixStudio.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered all of the requirements within the established timeframe. The quality of their work’s good, so the testing went well and few bugs came through. We realized that the flow wasn’t quite what we wanted it to be, so we also made a few adjustments. We started testing with clients that signed up for a pilot program.

How did MerixStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team uses a range of different systems such as Slack, which we use for ongoing and daily communications. We also work with Google Sheets for items such as estimations. At the start, we ran into a couple of issues because it was difficult for our team to work with 3–4 different platforms. We talked with MerixStudio and ended up using Slack and Google Sheets as our main forms of communication. As well, we had sprint review calls every two weeks, so communication was good. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

MerixStudio invested time to understand the problem that needed to be solved and the industry problems. Their entire team took time to grasp what we wanted to deliver at the beginning, which was fantastic. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It seems that you can’t avoid scope creep in any project. In any other industry, you bid for work and adjustments are absorbed in your original fee. This isn’t specific to MerixStudio, it’s the industry. In other industries, you wouldn’t pay for adjustments or time to fix errors. One of the reasons that we chose them is because their team was committed to giving us a more accurate cost upfront. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time upfront to get their team to understand exactly what you want to achieve. Go into as much detail as possible about the product at the beginning of the project. Make sure to get clarity on the cost and why there's a buffer. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product owner, UI/UX lead, and head of media and development at Netvico, a digital product development company. We plan, develop, and design digital projects and products. We also have our own digital signage product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We wanted to accelerate product development, but we were having trouble finding suitable specialists, developers, and QA people.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Merixstudio is helping us develop our digital signage product. They’re developing on the spec that our developers created from scratch. Our teams work together daily.

What is the team composition?

There’s one scrum master, two full-stack developers, and two QA people.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I was happy when Merixstudio contacted me via LinkedIn. The contact was quite good; I liked everything that they said to me, plus the size of their company and the projects that I saw on their website. We went to their office in Poland to meet more people rather than just communicating via email. We had an initial workshop, during which we did a small development of a feature for our product; it was really good and delivered on time.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $110,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality is good. I don’t measure their work by anything other than the feeling I get.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager is really professional. He knows all of the methodologies and even brings some that I don’t know. He’s a dedicated scrum master, and we learn from him. 

Before we start development, I explain the feature that we want, and Merixstudio provides an estimation. We use Jira, through which I can see everything that’s in progress or why something isn’t in progress. We use Slack, Google Hangout, daily meetings, video conferences, etc. to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Merixstudio is flexible, and I trust them. If they were my employees, I’d say I had good employees. We had some things that we needed to change and make better, but they’re very flexible and want to help with the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO, and one of three co-founders, for a financial research startup. We specialise in helping DIY/retail customers make better investment decisions with an iOS and Android app. As a small startup, pre-seed funding and less than five full time employees, efficiency and cost-consensus decisions are absolutely key. My responsibilities cover all agencies and deliveries for our app and website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Merixstudio?

After our pre-seed funding, we needed a new look and a massive overhaul to our user experience. We looked around for an agency that has experience both in the financial space, as well as a proven track record of fast high quality delivery. We didn't just want a developer and experience which drew on a whiteboard, we needed an outside perspective and to give the agency space to innovate in ways we couldn't think of. With that in mind, the challenge was to produce a new brand, new look, and new experience, from an agency with some experience in the financial space.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a very hard deadline which had to be hit. We also required additional services as we went (from design into building frontend components, as well as creating our first advertising campaign.) The main goal was the delivery of high quality designs ahead of the deadline. This goal was hit, which then allowed us to get additional services and work in an extremely agile way. Our customer feedback on the new designs has been incredible. It has raised the bar for what our customers expect as well as given us a fresh new look to approach investors with.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We contacted nine different vendors, and interviewed six. Originally we were heavily focused on locally based agencies rather than anyone offshore. However, Merix went over and above to prove not only the ease of communication but also their commitment to winning the project. We were very impressed with not only the quality, but the flexibility they could offer us. Everything was managed in an extremely professional way without putting up barriers.

Describe the project in detail.

I produced two specification documents, one for design and one for development. The documents outlined required data, experience points, and 3rd party interactions. We described the flow and the information the user needed to view, but left a lot of room for "what is the best way to display this" as we wanted the external input. This meant we had a very agile approach in terms of what was expected versus a detailed requirement document. For the rebranding we agreed to leave parts until the end of the application design, allowing us to create a brand based off our new look and feel.

Merix contributed to our approach but sharing their knowledge about what yields the best results. We were also surprised at the openness and transparency of the team, as well as the approach to project management. We had direct slack communication with the whole team as well as regular formal updates from the project manager. Everything was documented and recorded, there was never a situation where we asked for information or clarity and there was a delay in collecting the information, it was always on hand. We had daily communication both through slack as well as invision for the designs.

When it came time to create the designs as reusable code elements, we were given access to the GIT repo on Gitlab and a testing environment to see all progress. Nothing during the project was hidden from us.

What was the team composition?

Project manager across any teams we interacted with, a business development point of contact, a UX/UI designer, and a team of three developers/QA personnel. The teams were kept small and focused, allowing for maximum communication and buy in on our project. For the first phase the main team was the PM and designer. As we moved into development we got the extra resources. Merix were very open around the team costs, their individual hours and deliverable, and the pros and cons of expanding or reducing the team size.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have received fantastic and encouraging feedback from our users and our community. The frontend elements which have been passed onto our app developers are also of extremely high quality, we have had little to no additional recoding of their output. The integration of their code into the application has been faster than expected. Both the board and our investors have also expressed their excitement at the new brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication and the tools used by Merix were both excellent. The ability for us to provide instant feedback and to work closely with their team as if they were in our office was fantastic. We could easily provide feedback, see new designs, and work through any changes. The structure of the work and process around delivery and communication was clear.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment to going over and above expectations stands out. They have consistently over-delivered and provided us with clarity and confidence. Working with a remote agency can have it's drawbacks, Merix are aware of the limitations and actively work harder to make sure they can offer the same level of quality and transparency as your own inhouse teams.

Are there any areas for improvement?

During one phase of the project, we were given different proposals for alternative approaches which slowed down the overall project. Pitching for a bigger project during the existing project did cause confusion which was then resolved. That was the only time we became worried about the delivery, as they had been excellent up to that point. Even with that distraction everything completed before the deadline.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of SelfmadeEnergy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

I needed full-stack web application development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a full scope of work from the beginning. They did the design for the website application as well as a comparison tool. Their team also built a product development workshop and assisted with my branding. They did some backend and frontend development and provided me with project management, UX support as well as testing.

They developed it from scratch. I had a clear idea of the product, but they changed it according to their perspectives. They created the wireframes and I gave them the final say on the product.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of six people, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

A friend of mine developed a website with them and had a good experience. I decided to contact them to discuss my ideas.

How much have you invested in them?

I spent €60,000 Euros (Approximately $65,738 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project went from June 2019–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of the users have been very happy with the product so far.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good and very responsive. We used Jira for project management. There were video calls at the end of our two-week sprints, but we communicated mostly through Slack. Whenever I had a question, they were really prompt in their response. I visited Poland and had the opportunity to visit their office.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quick response time is impressive. They're very supportive and have a can-do attitude. I was new to this, but they helped me develop a really strong product. I’m very grateful for their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m really happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend going to the same team I had because I am really happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Merixstudio's work was done for a real estate technology startup based in Los Angeles. I’m a consulting partner with this company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

There was an initial product that had been built, but we needed some more work done. The product was very large and had very high compliance and security requirements. A third-party security audit and PCI compliance was necessary. There were challenges with getting the project organized in regard to testing, remediation, and compliance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided software engineering, testing, and Python coding. Their team worked with the front- and backend engineering for the project. Later on in the project, the development work needed to be done on a highly demanding timeline; speed and execution were a major factor in the process. In order to meet the deadline, we required Merixstudio to work overtime and perform an all-out sprint for one month.

What is the team composition?

We were averaging two or three engineers before the all-out sprint. To hit the rather unreasonable deadline we gave them, we scaled up to five or six engineers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I had worked with them in the past at a different project. In my prior experience, I found them easy to work with, flexible, and accommodating. I knew they’d be capable of handling the compressed timeline. It was the first time the real estate technology company had worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The bulk of the work occurred across 10 months in 2018. The main sprint phase occurred between March and May 2018, but they provided ongoing work through the end of the year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product was very well-received. In terms of customer feedback, there isn’t much available because it is supposed to run in the background of other products. However, when one looks at the challenges of doing a security audit and remediation process with a fixed deadline, the fact that they performed the dozens of remediation issues in one iteration was highly impressive. There was no follow-up round from an external auditor—they did quality work on an urgent deadline without repeatedly fixing the project.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management went very well. As one could imagine, there were many moving pieces during this stressful work period. They did a good job of keeping themselves in the loop in terms of what was happening. They asked questions, sought out feedback, and were good members of the team. Their team was communicative with other parties and had plenty of back and forth.

They provided some project management but also worked in conjunction with the real estate company. We used Jira to track everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility in meeting our requirements was impressive. There are many great developers, but Merixstudio’s unique ability to put our needs front and center was the biggest differentiating factor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. There’s going to be turnover in resources, but that happens at every developer shop. You’re never going to have the exact same team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think you need to be well-defined with your scope. You need to have a very clear plan and a clear chain of communication. They need to be given enough to go out and achieve whatever your goals are. It went very well in this case.