Monstarlab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a product manager at a gym chain. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fuzz?

We reached out to Fuzz to help us figure out what was causing frustration at our front desk check-in areas for both our employees and gym members, and to provide some technology solutions. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fuzz conducted a lot of research, embedding themselves within the front desk teams at different locations to learn about our business and challenges first hand. They then created a kiosk app solution that allows gym members to check-in quickly, while condensing and simplifying the technology already at our front desks.

They've provided some initial training and testing of the new software with our staff, and we're in the process of presenting some of the technology to our upper management.

What is the team composition? 

We work with 6–7 people on their team, including a client services manager and product manager, who I speak to almost every hour of every day. 

How did you come to work with Fuzz?

I wasn't involved in the hiring process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested less than $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since November 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fuzz has come up with innovative solutions to help solve many frustrations within our business. The custom technology they've developed will help decrease congestion during the check-in process at our gyms, helping customers get through more quickly.

How did Fuzz perform from a project management standpoint?

They embed themselves within our team, taking the time to work behind our front desks to learn about our issues. They're also very responsive and accessible; I talk to the project manager regularly throughout the day.

They're great about working with third-party vendors as needed, including the contractor we hired to set up an artificial front desk area for training and presentation purposes. They've been great at handling whatever we throw their way. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take ownership of their work. They're not just good at one thing, but provide full-service capabilities to help clients solve various issues creatively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don't have to wait until their presentation is perfect for showing us the status of their work. I've let them know it's ok to give us more casual updates, so we see how the project is progressing. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like they're part of your team and don't give them strict guidelines. They're good at navigating and creative problem solving once they've embedded themselves on your team in their own way. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an online job matching platform headquartered in Singapore.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire Monstar Lab?

We wanted to create a cross-platform, job matching app and needed a company that was best suited to help us with its development.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to create an online platform that utilized an innovative algorithm to simplify the recruiting process by matching the right jobs to the right candidates.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My team and I searched online for app development companies and shortlisted multiple vendors to meet with them and learn about what they could offer. Based on our interactions and the quality of their past work, we came to the conclusion that Monstar Lab was the best choice for our project.

Describe the project in detail.

After selecting them, we had a few meetings to discuss and establish our objectives and determine the features we wanted to include in our app. Within weeks, we received mockups and wireframes, which we provided feedback on. After a few iterations, we finalized the framework, created a prototype, and subsequently, completed the final version of our app.

What was the team composition?

A project manager, a project executive, and a development team were assigned to us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were very few issues after the launch of our app and everything is functioning beyond expectations. We are very satisfied with the final product which they helped us to build.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager and project executive that were assigned to us were very easy to communicate and work with. We connected over the phone and shared emails regularly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their patience and dedication in helping us build the app we envisioned are very much appreciated. I'm also thoroughly impressed with their technical capabilities to implement all the features in our app effectively and with ease. Working with Monstar Lab has allowed us the opportunity to learn a great deal; it was a collaborative and positive experience for us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything can always be done faster, but we were very satisfied with their work every step of the way. In the end, quality is more important than speed and we ended up with a beautiful product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in the innovation group within a subsidiary of a large CPG company. We are a disruptive growth group tasked with creating incremental growth for the company in the next five years. I’m a specialty innovation manager for our portfolio of specialty and craft breweries. The innovation piece involves everything from brand refresh, new product innovation, and creating completely new brands. Overall, we work closely with the craft and specialty breweries that we own to help them expand globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fuzz?

As we were working with our set of global breweries, one of the things we wanted to do was create a community for them. Part of that involved creating a digital platform, which is the project that Fuzz worked on for us. The idea was to create an internal forum and resources platform that they could use to communicate, share ideas, troubleshoot—you name it. It was meant to be a focused place where they can communicate in the absence of another platform to use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform is multifaceted, so we worked in conjunction with the global procurement team within our umbrella company. They created a specialties ingredient procurement tool. We were tasked with combining this tool with an internal forum, a newsfeed, and several other aspects that we will be exploring in phase two of the project. The procurement tool was used on the Shopify platform so it was used and built around that. Fuzz licensed a forum software called nodBB that was streamlined and integrated into our platform. These were two of our specifications. We started working with Fuzz when we did the initial brief and proposal for the specialties ingredient procurement tool.

How did you come to work with Fuzz?

I’m not sure how we found them. I have a background in tech startups and product management, so I was brought in to assist with that project. I provided clarity for the global side so that they became familiar with how that process worked.

How much have you invested in Fuzz?

We paid $70,000 for the September project. The specialties procurement tool was probably six figures; I’m not sure, to be honest.

What is the status of this engagement?

I did a full day with them in April 2016. After several months of planning, we embarked on our forum, newsfeed, and overall digital platform in September 2016. We plan on working with them on phase two of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fuzz definitely completed the project on time, even though there were some curveballs from our end. They held their end of the bargain and delivered as they said they would. We are pretty early in terms of the user engagement on our platforms, so I don’t really have any meaningful statistics there. Fuzz gave us all the tools and backend training needed to sufficiently manage the site without their help. The environment they created for us is quite robust.

How did Fuzz perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated mostly through UberConference calls, emails, and in-person meetings. Our offices are in Chelsea and theirs are in Williamsburg, so we did a lot of in-person work with them. We’ve also had discussions using Slack and created a channel moving forward. The key thing was we had full-day teardowns of the project. Each time a major portion got started, we aligned our expectations with the engineering team. From the beginning, they were very exhaustive in terms of their methodology. They asked questions and got into the core of what we were looking for.

What did you find most impressive about Fuzz?

They are very flexible with last-minute adjustments or very iterative designing sprints. They are very receptive to feedback and act on it quickly. Having a very clear and open communication channel was the best part about working with Fuzz. Even now that we’ve been done with our project for four months, we still have biweekly calls for status updates. We’ve also done preliminary planning for phase two of the project. Having the project manager and the whole team at our disposal was helpful, and it set them apart from other firms that tend to isolate. I loved working with the different teams. We were assigned a lead engineer who worked specifically on our project. We had direct access to him and could ask questions anytime. Their transparency about their structure and work process was really helpful. That provided an easy environment to work with, for sure. Overall, they have just been great with communication; that’s the key thing for me here.

Are there any areas Fuzz could improve?

I’m a bit jaded coming from the startup world. They were a bit expensive but they delivered above and beyond what we asked them to. They were worth every penny. I’m not used to the agency model and what it costs to put these kinds of projects together, so I was a little shocked by how expensive it was. Outside of that, I wouldn’t say they were overly expensive, but the price was definitely premium.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The New York Post is a media company which publishes a newspaper and operates several websites and apps, as well as other digital products. I am the CDO [chief digital officer] of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fuzz?

We had some substandard apps that needed to be reimagined and rebuilt from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fuzz built an iPad and iPhone app, as well as one for Android phones and tablets. The iOS and Android tablet apps are paid products serving as a print replica experience, allowing users to see the daily paper and flip its pages. The phone version is more of a typical news app which updates continually based on feeds from our CMS [content management system]. It's a free app providing a different experience to the tablet version.

Fuzz built a CMS which allowed us to ingest the newspaper, essentially. There is a production process for doing this, involving adding new media and links, changing the page sequence, and adding digital-only ads. The edition published overnight is then automatically delivered to our subscribers. If push notifications are turned on, the content downloads in the background, allowing them to see the edition when they wake up.

One of our technical challenges was delivering the tablet content to users, because of the file size. We've focused on minimizing those files in order to not take up too much storage space. We also needed to create an efficient process for delivering the content overnight. We have very demanding readers with high expectations, which is also true for our own company. There were strong ideas on how we should do things, so we've had to deal with a lot of diplomacy and politics.

Along with the CMS, Fuzz had to build the subscription and authentication pieces, which made things trickier than having a free app.

The technologies used for building our software included C++ and Swift.

How did you come to work with Fuzz?

We use a different design agency for our WordPress work. Their founder had used Fuzz previously and had good things to say about the team. It was a great recommendation from someone who'd worked for us on the web development side for a long time. It's nice to see web and app developers get along and work together. The key thing for us was that Fuzz had relevant experience in our category, having built apps for a number of other publishers. We also appreciated the fact that Fuzz is a local company from Brooklyn, which meant that we could have face-to-face meetings. The team was very smart, knew the space, brought some good ideas in our initial meetings, and got along well with us.

How much have you invested with Fuzz?

The cost of Fuzz's work has been in excess of $100,000 per year, and above $500,000 since the start of our collaboration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fuzz three years ago. We have an ongoing collaboration for support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our phone apps have seen significant growth over the last two years, both in terms of active user numbers and time spent on the app. In the past year, we've seen a 20% increase in active users, which translated into increased revenue from the included advertising. Because the apps are easy to use and quick, people are spending 30–40 minutes per day with them, reading dozens of stories. That has been hugely positive and is a function of the apps' quality.

How did Fuzz perform from a project management standpoint?

Fuzz has a strong and organized team; they've been easy to work with. Our project managers used JIRA, which allowed us to check on the status of the work. During the development process, we had bi-weekly calls with Fuzz's team in order to set up timing expectations and sort out any issues they were experiencing. The roadmap was laid out in advance, but it was changed along the way as we ran into different issues.

What did you find most impressive about Fuzz?

Fuzz has done a good job on all fronts, from their technical abilities to managing the project. They're good communicators, did an all-around good job, and continued to support the apps, staying by our side whenever we had an issue. If we need them at three in the morning, someone from Fuzz's team is there to answer the phone.

Are there any areas Fuzz could improve?

As with all development, the work can always be cheaper, but we are aware that the process is costly and requires time to be done right. Fuzz isn't more expensive than any other agency doing the same work. Taking the project offshore would have been cheaper, but it would also have made the product suffer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Respondent 1: We're a full-fledged digital and advertising agency. We handle everything from regular marketing to SEO [search engine optimization], website builds, and social media (which is our specialty). I'm a senior producer for the agency. I have a project management role, setting up schedules and seeing projects through, from contract negotiations to delivery.

Respondent 2: I am the technology director of the company. I am responsible for vetting projects in terms of technical capability, working out timelines based on Level of Effort, coordinating the development and quality assurance, and delivering the product at the end.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fuzz?

Respondent 2: We needed to create Android and iOS ports of a web app. Because we were short on resources, we reached out to Fuzz for the Android portion.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Respondent 2: Fuzz was directed to build the Android version of an existing web app. It required some redesigns in terms of UI, in order to make some features compatible with the operating system and to allow for the creation of new ones. The phase-one build included promoter profiles, which gave certain users the ability to build their own profile, add event photos, and make other customizations.

How did you come to work with Fuzz?

Respondent 2: Our director of engineering had worked for Fuzz at one point. He knew some people in the company and recommended them. Fuzz also had a lower quote than another company we considered.

How much have you invested with Fuzz?

Respondent 2: The cost of Fuzz's work was north of $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Respondent 2: We started working with Fuzz on October 18th, 2016. The application was made live on December 9th. Fuzz continued to deal with post-launch bugs until the end of December.

We had the internal resources in place, so our contract with Fuzz has ended and we're currently working on phase two internally. It will wrap up in the next 2 weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Respondent 2: I don't have any exact stats, but the Android downloads exceeded what we originally anticipated, surpassing iOS. We thought that the app would be iOS-centric.

There weren't many complaints on the Help section. Here and there, there were some things that came up but they were not Android-specific issues, such as one person’s issue not getting through the “age-gate.” That’s not an issue with the app—that’s present in all apps related to this one. We’ll have to see, but so far there have not been any problems.

How did Fuzz perform from a project management standpoint?

Respondent 2: Communication was mostly done through our JIRA instance; most members of Fuzz's team were given access to it. HipChat was used to communicate on-the-fly around tasks and bugs. We set up a weekly call with Fuzz in order to work out details. I was in direct contact with their project manager, whom I could call for any issues.

We were given weekly builds which we could check. The frequency increased towards the end, with daily builds which went through Fuzz's QA, as well as our own.

There was a lot of back-and-forth around how native Android elements should be approached, and we had some disagreements with Fuzz on this topic.

The developers from Fuzz worked almost exclusively out of their office, but they did visit us on-site once or twice, for an initial scope meeting, as well as for a UI/business requirements review which we put together and discussed with the team when we identified some misunderstandings. We described every screen of the site and how it would be translated into the app, offering a clearer picture of what the product would be at the end.

What did you find most impressive about Fuzz?

Respondent 2: Fuzz was responsive in terms of discussing requests, but we have had some back-and-forth around what the app's requirements were. Some elements were fluctuating on-the-fly.

Are there any areas Fuzz could improve?

Respondent 2: Now that we're working on phase two, our developers have been reviewing Fuzz's code. There's been some trouble managing the code base, so if we had to do it all over again, we would ask Fuzz to make more ample documentation, in order to make it easier for us to maintain the app and add features to it. Other than this, I don't have any negative feedback for Fuzz.

Respondent 1: It was the typical miscommunication which comes at no direct fault of any one party. There were some assumptions made which were looked over, but there's nothing that would keep us from working with Fuzz in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We manage and deploy enterprise applications on wearable devices. 

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am director of business development. I was director of design when we started working with Fuzz.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Fuzz?

When we worked with Fuzz we were building our SDK [software development kit], which we still have in-house, but we're not leveraging it as much. They were providing essential feedback for us throughout that process. We were looking for a company that could leverage our SDK while developing applications for us.

Please describe the scope of their work.

They were primarily a contractor development shop for us.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Fuzz?

Our engineers and CEO performed due diligence on five to seven other dev shops. Fuzz was picked out of several other candidates. One reason we chose them was their proximity, which was an added benefit. Also, their personnel are really a pleasure to work with, and they're good at maintaining relationships. Seeing some of the quality of their previous work also helped us make a decision.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

It's probably between $10,000 and $50,000

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

Primarily the metric for us was speed of development. They worked at a good pace and met their deadlines.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. I am satisfied with their performance.

Is there anything unique or special about Fuzz that really makes them stand out?

They were incredibly responsive. We were able to develop the project under a certain set of specifications and adapt them throughout the tenure of the engagement. They were dynamic and accommodating of any request we made. It was quite smooth to work with them. Their team consisted of three engineers – a senior Android engineer and two junior Android developers – and a project manager. They were very good to work with. Another great point was that they were very passionate about wearables. There are very few developers out there that have experience working with wearable apps and that actively seek out those projects.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No. It was smooth sailing.

BACKGROUND

What is your position within the company?

I am the Digital Brand Development Director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your main business objective for undertaking the project with Fuzz Productions?

To develop an iPhone App that could be used, that could be sold to our clients.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Fuzz Productions to work with?

We sent out a Request for Proposal and got some information back from them. We reviewed all the proposals; they had a good track record and were also able to meet our budget.

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

We developed an iPhone app that is a city guide for Fashion Week in New York, Milan, Paris, and London. Essentially, we gather information about where to shop, where to eat, and where to go between the shows. It involved a large database of content that needed to be inputted into the app.

Was Fuzz Productions primarily responsible for both the design and development, or did you have an in-house design team that they worked with?

They were responsible for design and development; however, they worked very closely with our in-house art team.

How long ago was the project completed?

The project is still ongoing because we have contracted them to do some updates to the App. We started the project with them in probably June 2011 and March and August of 2012.

Can you give me a general cost estimate for the project?

Actually, I think it was around $50,000 to start, and we have spent other money since then, but that’s about it.

Is it just available for iPhone?

Yes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How happy are you with the results of the project?

We are very happy.

When working with Fuzz Productions, was there anything unique about them compared to other companies or developers you may have worked with?

What really filled the bill for them is that someone who had previously worked at our company went to work there. So we knew what we were going to get as far as customer service.

Is there any area that you think Fuzz Productions could improve?

I don’t think so.

BACKGROUND

Can you give me a brief description of your company?

We focus on business apps. We make a software platform that is used by businesses to build mobile apps. It is different from other platforms in that it allows people to build mobile apps without doing any coding, or if we want to, to do very minimal coding themselves. People can build apps much faster and at a much lower cost than they normally would be able to using a traditional software development approach. 

What is your position within the company?

I am the Marketing Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your main business goal going into the project?

We wanted to completely redo our website. Someone had put it together internally, and it was kind of a rudimentary site. It needed a different look, feel, and flow, as well as help us with lead generation.

It just wasn’t up to the brand you were trying to convey?

That’s right. It was branding as well as functionality. But across the board, we wanted to completely upgrade it.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Fuzz Productions to work with?

I can’t answer that, because I started on the day that the company signed the contract. There were a couple of other people who were involved in the selection process. I went out on my second day on the job to meet with them.

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

We wanted them to come up with the design. They listened to us talk about what we wanted the site to do, and we gave them samples of sites that we liked. They came up with design ideas, and then they went off and built the website. It was a pretty full project.

How long ago was the project completed?

About two months ago.

What would be a general cost estimate for the project?

It was under $50,000.

Do you know what technologies were used?

It’s built on WordPress. Beyond that, I am not sure what they used.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How happy are you with the results of this project?

We are very, very happy. We have gotten a lot of good feedback about the look and feel, and we are just really pleased with the way the website meets the needs of people coming to our site. We can see that they are behaving and using the website exactly as we would want them to. Our site traffic has increased two and a half times since the month before we started the project until now. We could see we are getting web traffic from all over the world, and the way that people are interacting with the site is not only what we want, but it’s very consistent.

Compared to other developers you have worked with in the past, is there anything unique that you found about Fuzz Productions?

I don’t think so. I can say positive things; they have a really good sense of design and the look and feel of our website. They also have a good sense of what it takes to look modern, up to date, and attractive. They are very aware of what is going on in the world of websites and what other companies are doing. That was one of the things that we liked about them.

Do you think there is anything they can improve or do slightly better?

I think some of the estimates on what amount of time various phases were going to take. I thought initially some of them were very optimistic, and it turned out that they were a little bit optimistic. They could have been a little more realistic, but some of their time estimates were not as accurate as they could have been.

BACKGROUND

Can you briefly describe your company?

We are a two-person startup company based out of Asheville, N.C.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your goals for the project?

We wished to develop a mobile gaming application that we had planned out for a few months. The application gives locations around an given area, then turns the area into an interactive treasure hunt. We needed a top-quality developer to make our dreams a reality.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the project?

We approached Fuzz Productions with an idea. After hearing the idea, Fuzz Productions was involved in every step until the application was completed. They met with me many times to solidify our overall strategy and approach. After the vision was set, Fuzz drew up the wire frames, designed the visual appearance, and completed the backend coding.

What technologies were used?

The application was developed for iPhone. Fuzz Productions also added custom functionality that ventured outside of the iOS SDK. The application is integrated with Facebook and Twitter. Fuzz also produced on online content management system that allows us to manage the locations database in the application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What is unique about Fuzz Productions?

Fuzz Productions is extremely client focused and sensitive to our needs. They felt more like our partners than service providers. When we wanted to add Facebook and Twitter functionality, Fuzz Productions took the time to meet with us and discuss our entire social media strategy. Fuzz Production would also routinely inform us about industry best practices to keep our app competitive.

Are there any aspects that could be improved?

Estimating the costs for developing the custom functionality were a bit off, but Fuzz Productions kept in constant contact about billable hours. Despite this, the project still finished within the high end of the initial estimate for the overall project.