Quratic Lab

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Company Director of Champion's Choice Ltd

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Champion's Choice is an online sports betting company licensed by the UK Gambling Commission

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Zweidevs to accomplish?

• Create a website
• Create an application for both iOS and Android

SOLUTION

How did you find Zweidevs?

upwork

Why did you select Zweidevs over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Zweidevs were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Develop a online website for Champion's Choice, an online pool-betting operator based in the UK. Key deliverables included: 

• React native application 
• React (responsive) website 
• Ruby back-end 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Getting our software ready to be launched in the UK market , i.e. approved on the App store, Play store as well as having our website domain verified on the UK Gambling Commission website. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team was very structured. We had a PM assigned to the project as well as a QA lead who made sure no features were being launched without proper testing. The team organizes all tasks on a trello board and time sheet to ensure visibility for the client. Team is also available outside local office hours to cater to the difference in time zone with Europe. 

What was your primary form of communication with Zweidevs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Zweidev is dedicated to the project and achieving the client's objectives.  

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

On some aspects communications could have been improved when a resource would leave their team to be replaced by another. However, this did not represent a major issue for us. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an Edtech company providing cyber safety education to kids in grades 1 to 8 through our teaching resources and game-based learning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Zweidevs to develop our teacher and parent portals. This required several front-end and back-end resources to be allocated to our project. Zweidevs provided a development team that includes technical project managers, dev ops engineers, backend engineers, data scientist, front-end engineer, and quality assurance engineers.

SOLUTION

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

We chose this vendor because of their co-founder's (Ali) clear understanding of our needs on our initial call.

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

We used react and python, and we are using AWS services.

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

We had a project manager, a front-end, a back-end, a scrum master, and a QA developer. We then brought on a data scientist who is essential to completing the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team is overall happy with the work that Zweidevs provided to us. We are still finalizing this project and waiting to go live so I can provide more measurable metrics later.

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

Zweidevs's adapted our communication tools, such as Slack and Jira, and Google, which made the collaboration much easier.

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

Ali one of the co-founders scoped the project really well, and they pointed out the areas that we had missed thinking about.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of Dots, where we build automation and analytics for online communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Abdul and his team helped us with full-stack development on our React + Node stack. On the frontend, they helped implement new user-facing features, including React and CSS work. On the backend, Abdul and team helped us create serverless functions in Node JS to provide automation features to our customers.

SOLUTION

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

We interviewed several possible contractors through Upwork and ended up selecting Abdul and team at Zweidevs. We felt they were able to communicate the best and understand our needs across both the frontend and backend of our stack.

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

On the frontend, we had Abdul and team work on several new features. We would typically scope out a feature at a high level, break it into tickets (using Shortcut.com) with Abdul, and then he would implement the feature in our React application. He also used Redux, Antd, and Tailwind CSS for frontend work.

One of the features he built here was a welcome message sequence builder, as well as many modules on our settings page. On the backend, we used Node JS running in an AWS Lambda serverless environment. One of the features Abdul and team built here was a survey response tool that would send messages in Slack.

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

Abdul himself primarily worked with us as the principal full-stack developer. On a couple of occasions, one of his team members chipped in.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Abdul and team successfully added multiple features per week and helped us deliver value for our customers. We were able to finish important features (such as a community moderation tool) that led to us converting 3 new customers as well.

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

We did daily standups with Abdul where we would review upcoming tickets in Shortcut. As questions came up, Abdul and team would send us messages over Slack. We also reviewed and managed code on Github.

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

Abdul and his team were extremely versatile. Abdul was able to work in many different software environments across the stack. This included our serverless backend (which is quite unusual), as well as working with the Slack API and even writing complex SQL queries.

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

Due to our timezone difference (Abdul and his team were in Pakistan, we were in the Bay Area), there were a couple of instances where communication could have been quicker.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the co-founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Zweidevs to collect a large amount of data and to develop several custom algorithms to process this code and make decisions based on the data.

SOLUTION

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

We research a lot of companies online and from about six possible companies we selected Zweidevs for this project. There were several deciding factors for us in selecting them. Price we not the primary determining factor but they came in about the middle of the responses we received. They were very responsive to questions we had and worked with us through the selection process to answer questions we had about their background and timeline.

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

1. We had purchased an API to to a company that supplied financial data and needed them to collect specific data for 50 different companies.
2. We needed a way to change which companies data was collected on each day
3. We needed the data complied in a number of different ways and then analyzed
4. We needed an endpoint that would then provide the results of this processed data to our in-house developer for further action. The primary technologies used were Python and Mongo.

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

We worked with Muhammad Abdullah and Abdul Rehman. Muhammad worked closely with us on determining the project scope and deadlines as well as testing the various phases of the project. Adbul was the lead programmer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very happy with the end result which provided exactly what we were looking for.

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

We worked closely with Muhammad on the scope and deliverable for the project. He also did a lot of testing on each phase of the project. Adbul was the lead developer. Our primary means of communication was skype for messaging and Zoom for video conferences.

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

When you are looking for a developer, Pakistan may not be the first country you think of. We had once used a developer in Pakistan for a small project and the results were so good that when Zweidevs responded to our request for proposal, we figured we would give them a chance to make their case. Their English is very good, their company structure is good and they have the necessary coding skills to compete with developers we have used from the US to Russia.

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

We were happy with the process. The time change was challenging at times as they were closing while we were coming online. For key phases though they were willing to work on our schedule and may days we had Zoom calls with them once their work day had ended. You just need to keep this difference in mind and plan accordingly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of financial data firm. We're building a news/data platform for active retail investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Zweidevs to build out a proof-of-concept for some core platform features. Our goal was a functioning site that laid the groundwork for further development. They met that goal.

SOLUTION

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

We used UpWork, posted a job, and shortlisted some vendors based on experience, price, and estimated time. Zweidevs came out on top after some internal calculus.

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

I provided an overview document during the bid phase followed by more detailed documents for each feature/section. Key product features were streaming quotes, news/blog, and chat box. Technologies included reactjs, mongoDB, AWS, sendgrid, and polygon.io.

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

Abdul, the project manager, was our main point of contact. He had 3 developers working under him on this project. Only occasionally did I interface directly with the developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Zweidevs met our expectations. They were consistently professional and flexible and delivered a product that provides us with a high-quality base from which to move forward. There aren't any specific metrics to share because we haven't moved to the customer acquisition phase yet.

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

We had a standing weekly meeting to review the prior week's activity and discuss what would be tackled next. Zweidevs was always willing to hold additional meetings, even on short notice. In addition, they were also available over UpWork chat.

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

They were professional, and they provided quality work at a reasonable price.

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

There were no major deficiencies. As with any project, there were some errors and miscommunication, but they were always quick to acknowledge the problem and fix it ASAP.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a technical start-up based in the UK. We work in the world of smart heating and IoT developing our own products. We're a team of 10 people but were looking for external software support as we focus primarily on hardware creation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Zweidevs to accelerate our product development and create a flexible web-based dashboard for engineers and managers to be able to view the data output from our devices and respond to their maintenance needs.

SOLUTION

How did you select Zweidevs and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online and hired through an online platform following a series of introductory calls. We selected them due to the competitive price, excellent communication skills, and good technical knowledge.

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

We utilised a milestone based approach to develop a modular AWS cloud dashboard. This includes the full AWS backend linked to a custom designed front-end that is responsive in nature.

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

We worked primarily with two senior contacts, Ali and Abdul which made communication easy as we could rely on them to communicate any issues or discuss in detail with the rest of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are extremely happy with Zweidevs output and the speed of development. The look and feel of the interface matches our brand and we're looking forward to launching it to customers.

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

We communicate regularly via both Skype and video calls for milestone sign-off demonstrations. The use of both IM and fixed calls works well as it means we have a formal structure but can also resolve quick queries instantly despite any time differences.

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

The level of communication skills were extremely useful and impressive especially working with a remote team. They always provide a clear breakdown of work and meet expectations.

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

They have worked closely with our internal tech team and have always made any amends based on our internal best practise, so no.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a company specializing in providing digital tools for the monitoring and treatment of particular medical conditions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were launching a new service that required certain bespoke functionality that our internal development team was unable to achieve in the required timeframe. We therefore hired Zweidevs to build on our basic foundation, and develop for us a working, testable MVP ready for the next phase.

SOLUTION

How did you select Zweidevs and what were the deciding factors?

Zweidevs came to our attention during an extensive search for suitable candidates. Their track record, as well as experience in the relevant fields and technologies, matched our requirements very well.

Their communication was clear and precise from the outset, they were responsive to our requests as well as sensitive to the particular issues relating to our business.

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

Zweidevs built a full-stack MVP with MERN, using a number of uncommon 3rd-party integrations that our solution required. Following several initial consultations, Zweidevs took some time to get familiarized with our initial codebase.

The then provided us with a comprehensive breakdown of all the work to be done, with estimated time and costs to be agreed upon each week. Each set of deliverables was targeted for completion by the end of every week, and were accompanied by a code review and feedback session on the Friday before the green light was given to start the next stage.

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

We were assigned on back-end and two front-end engineers for our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Initially there were some instances where the application interface was not quite as we had envisaged, but this was not a significant issue and was resolved rapidly.

The entire development timeline progressed remarkably quickly and we were impressed by the organisation and efficiency with which the deliverables were accomplished.

We even decided to extend the collaboration beyond the initial scope of the project, and may well do so again in the future. The project is currently in alpha-testing phase and we are reviewing how take it forward in the next step.

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

Communication was done through Google Meets and whatsapp, and was both frequent and flexible. Someone from the team was always available when we had questions or wished to raise a particular issue, and internal communication between members of the Zweidevs team also seemed good.

The development processes followed a gitflow workflow and was privately housed on GitHub, where it is easy to track and audit changes in near-real time. Likewise it enabled us to test the latest iteration on our end, upload feedback, and request bug requests at any point during the development timeline.

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

We are most impressed by Zweidevs energy and desire to finish tasks while maintaining high standards. They were happy to tackle challenges head-on and were clear about potential issues beforehand, so that we could plan effectively and eliminate any unwelcome surprises. Overall, the process was very smooth.

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

While the code quality was very high and they were able to accomplish all the objectives set out, there were a couple of times when their quality control overlooked minor bugs that left an important piece of functionality not working, to be discovered later on our end. However this was infrequent and in each case they were prompt to act and fix the issue.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager of a SaaS model business — we collect feedback from community members and provide real-time data to police agencies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zweidevs?

We wanted to hire a team that would bring our vision to life. We wanted metrics, analytics, and in-depth analysis to track every officer and their interaction within their communities — we wanted everything to be done in real-time. We weren’t concerned with our entire website, but we were more concerned with having a working MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t come from a technology background, and we just recently hired our own CTO. Our company is still learning more. When we hired Zweidevs, our team laid out our plan, roadmap, what we were looking for, and what our vision was. We told them how we wanted to filter the feedback. We also provided them with in-depth documentation so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings. Once we finalized our agreement within 3–4 weeks, they already had at least half of our prototype out.

Zweidevs does everything — the product’s full-stack, frontend, backend, landing page, and design. We provide them the content, texts, and images, but other than that, they provide a turnkey solution. They handle every task that we give them. 

As we grow and learn new things from our market, we will give those ideas to them. They will brainstorm and get back to us. They will then develop the whole technology system. Our team is continuing to work with them as we grow. We’re going to keep working with them for tech support and soon we’ll have our in-house CTO take over the project.

What is the team composition?

We work with Abdul (Co-Founder) and he has four people assigned to the project. In total, there are five people but Adbul is our main contact and go-to person.

How did you come to work with Zweidevs?

We found them on Upwork and we were interviewing 4–5 agencies a week at that time. Eventually, we narrowed the number of agencies to 4–5. We took note of everything, including their experiences. There were other agencies with more experience than Zweidevs but we felt that they could accomplish the job.

When I initially spoke with Adbul, he understood what we were looking for. I spoke with other companies that may also have been great, but Abdul went a step further to understand what we wanted. We gave him the roadmap of what we wanted even before he gave us a quote or a price. We told him that we’re a startup and he may have to teach us about features, too. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’re north of $150,000 for the cost. We’re getting ready to raise funds next month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The agreement was launched in June 2020 and we’re still working with them. We’ve been working nonstop for the last six months. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched the product and we’re still fairly new. Within the first month and a half, we’re already launched with four agencies from different states. So far, we’ve got a case study back from one of the agencies that we’ve been working with since September.

Our end users have been happy with the product and the feedback. They feel like they’re starting to slowly rebuild the trust and become more transparent with the community.

Zweidevs is pretty good with tech support and I don’t have any complaints. Since we’re a startup, I don’t have anything to compare to. I like our personal experience and it has been positive. I couldn’t ask for anything better if we were to do it all over. I will hire them again and I’ll refer them to my friends.

How did Zweidevs perform from a project management standpoint?

When we assign something that they can’t do, they will tell us up front whether it’s possible or not. We initially emailed them what we were looking for and what steps we wanted. They’re able to follow every single step, execute every objective we have, and deliver a full product.

So far, we’re impressed with how fast they move and we’re happy with them. They’re engaged and involved with us — every week or every 10 days we’ll get feedback through a Zoom or Google Meet call. They will then show us the backend and ask us what changes we have — there isn’t a lot of back and forth. We know their progress during every step.

Abdul is easy to work with. He is very attentive to our calls. Whenever we need something, he will respond to our texts immediately. Everything is fixed within hours and he makes us feel comfortable to ask questions.

Time has always been a barrier whenever we’re outsourcing but since we’re located in different countries, we can’t resolve that. When it’s 2:00 PM here, I won’t take a demo from the agency because that’s my downtime. When it's midnight by their time, Adbul is up to answer our calls, which speaks volumes. We typically communicate through mainly WhatsApp and we use Google Meet on an as-needed basis.

I’ll text Abdul when I need something, send him a screenshot, and ask him to look it up. Once it's resolved, we’ll jump on a call. Since we’re implementing a new roadmap, when he finishes everything the backend and development, we’ll have a Zoom or Google Meet meeting. He’ll walk me through how it works. Once our founders and I agree on the task, Abdul will then push it through.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on the five people I spoke with, they make us feel comfortable. They understand our problem, our vision, and what we want. They’re able to correct what’s not working and they will give us an in-depth reason why.

Adbul makes everything understandable so I can take it back to our founders. He will implement anything he can. He’s able to guide us and understand what we need, that's why they’re able to accomplish our goals. There were only 1–2 things they couldn’t do, and those were on us not understanding how the backend worked.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Looking back, we’ve come a pretty long way in six months, unlike some companies that can take two years to do the work. I could say that he can expand his team to make things run faster but that seems like trying to make something out of nothing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide Zweidevs with a roadmap of what you want and when you want it. An initial misunderstanding between us happened when we didn’t give them the documentation. We didn’t specify that we needed a feature done before proceeding to something next. He proceeded to do different features and combine them together then.

Be more organized and formal. This is something we learned 4–5 months into the relationship. That’s on us, but I think they could’ve come out and said that we should’ve had a formalized plan. Since we’ve started to implement a plan, we’ve been hitting everything we need. We can ask them to do a feature in two weeks and in just 9–10 days we can test, debug, and launch it. So, my advice is to have an organized timeline and detail step by step.