Six Feet Up, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director at C++ Alliance. We provide accessible C++ programming education, helping learners gain foundational knowledge in computer architecture and software development to compete in the global marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

We needed QA and web development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Feet Up, Inc. has handled too many tasks to list. The team has mostly addressed ongoing issues, including bug fixes and new features. The new features include reports, user profiles, and lots of miscellaneous things.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had three teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc.

How did you come to work with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

I wasn’t involved in the original selection; it predated my arrival, but from my experience so far they strike a perfect balance of technical knowledge and ability with positive social interactions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2024, and we still have ongoing work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve completed a lot of tickets, and the needed stuff has been done.

How did Six Feet Up, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Six Feet Up, Inc.’s project management is good. The team delivers on time and responds well to our needs. We mostly communicated through Slack.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Feet Up, Inc. is very detail-oriented, friendly, and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CEO of a Business Management Platform

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

All-in-one business management platform for coaches  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Code review
• Fix an issue we were having with a third party API

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Improve performance of Cronofy, SES notifications and Stripe
Top priorities:
● #1 Investigate issues with scheduling tool - Cronofy
○ Cronofy implementation verification or core product issue
● #2 Investigate issues with Stripe promo codes not working as expected
○ Implementation issue with subscriptions and coach services. Affiliate and coach promo codes set up
● #3 AWS issues
○ Event Bridge Scheduler
○ Investigate SES notifications
● Capture additional issues as identified during evaluation

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Improved performance of scheduler

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

They are efficient, straightforward, and organized.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their culture, partnership, and positive attitude. Amazing team to work with, not only talented but kind hearted, understanding, and straight-forward. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Managing Director of a real estate company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Real Estate Consulting and Valuation

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Six Feet Up, Inc. to accomplish?

• Initially, our main goal was to secure and stabilize our internal Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The application — written using Python and Node.js and hosted on the Google Cloud Platform — handles contracts, evaluations, employee assignments, and other essential tasks:

1. Upgrade the core framework of the application
2. Implement testing for 85% of the application
3. Add new user-requested features
4. Fix existing bugs and handle other maintenance issues
5. Deploy all these updates to a production environment, ensuring a seamless transition

• After the upgrade, we transitioned to smaller, ad-hoc projects to meet our evolving business needs.

SOLUTION

How did you find Six Feet Up, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Six Feet Up, Inc. over others?

• Referred to me
• Technical Expertise

How many teammates from Six Feet Up, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work was multifaceted. Upon meeting Six Feet Up, it became apparent that the Six Feet Up team had the expertise to navigate, upgrade and maintain our EPR system — a complex app which had been built over years and sometimes lacked best practices and documentation. Six Feet Up provided development and deployment services — initially containerizing the application’s services, and then creating a repeatable Terraform deployment plan. 

This infrastructure improvement made it possible for us to have a failover environment and to test new features in staging environments. The Six Feet Up team also implemented features that address users’ needs and simplify the day-to-day management of the application. Key deliverables included: 

1. Core Framework Upgrade: Upgrade the Pyramid framework from version 1.7 to version 1.10. 2. 
2. Testing: Develop and implement tests to cover 85% of the application. 
3. New Features: Implement additional functionalities such as the ability for employees to add office locations and improve access control for Google Drive folders. 
4. Deployment Plan: Create and implement a repeatable Terraform deployment plan for rolling out these updates. 
5. Bug Fixes and Maintenance: Resolve existing bugs and maintenance issues in the application. 

Overall, I appreciate Six Feet Up’s adaptability in the scope of work. The team has been flexible in scaling up or down based on our budget constraints and needs, which has been extremely helpful.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's hard to quantify, but Six Feet Up’s work in stabilizing and securing the backend has been invaluable. We have peace of mind knowing that we can recover quickly in case of a catastrophe. Additionally, Six Feet Up accomplished all of our goals and key objectives. They helped us not only improve the robustness and reliability of our application, but these improvements also ensure that we continue to have a competitive edge in our industry:

1. Framework Upgrade: Successfully upgraded to Pyramid version 1.10, ensuring we're working with the latest and most secure version of the framework. 
2. Coverage: Achieved an 85% test coverage, thereby minimizing the risks of undetected issues or bugs in the application. 
3. New Features: Successfully added features that allow employees to add office locations and improved access control mechanisms for Google Drive folders, thus enhancing user experience and productivity. 
4. Staging and Failover: Developed a failover environment and can now test new features in a staging environment before they go live. This has significantly reduced the risks associated with rolling out new features and updates. 
5. Operational Efficiency: Day-to-day management of the application has been simplified, making it easier for staff to focus on strategic tasks rather than getting bogged down by operational inefficiencies.

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

he project management has been effective with regular status updates, and the team is proactive in identifying changes in timelines. When Carol stepped in to re-resource the project, it was a game-changer in making sure we stayed on track. Overall, Six Feet Up has been excellent at bridging the gap between developer speak and our business needs. They ask the right questions and circle back quickly if they needs clarification, which I find extremely helpful.

What was your primary form of communication with Six Feet Up, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

After interviewing and discussions with the team, it was evident that Six Feet Up had the necessary skill set to meet our requirements. Six Feet Up, Inc.’s level of communication and flexibility in scaling the support we needed really stands out to me. We recently moved to maintenance mode, which has been a business advantage for us. We couldn't achieve this level of flexibility with an in-house developer.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Six Feet Up, Inc. could have done differently?

Initially, it felt like progress was slow. However, Carol intervened to ensure the project was adequately resourced, which turned things around for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CIO of a top 10 Accounting and Professional Services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Six Feet Up, Inc.?

We needed help evaluating Plone to determine if it would meet our CMS needs.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online and worked our network of other professionals to find Six Feet Up. Stellar reputation. Highly regarded. Easy decision.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They consulted with our Web and Solutions team to guide us through Plone and to answer all our questions. They helped us implement a test environment and held our hand through a series of dumb questions. Helped us from making unnecessary mistakes in our early stages.

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

We worked with two. Both very strong and know their craft!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Would definitely hire them again!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective.

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

We were amazed by the depth of their knowledge and expertise related to Python and Plone.

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

None.