Long Term Resource Engagement for Boutique Technology Firm
- Custom Software Development
- $200,000 to $999,999
- June 2007 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 4.5
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"[T]he work that Software Planet Group did throughout the project was exceptional."
- Information technology
- San Francisco, California
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Software Planet Group supplements a freelance design team on various projects, working primarily on development, but providing advice on design. The most complex project was a school lunch management app.
The team demonstrates exceptional project management, assigning a specific person to keep the team on track. Software Planet Group has an internal training process for developers to learn new technologies. They work nights to match time zones and project deadlines.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the founder of Worklogistics, which specializes in freelance product design for a variety of companies. We have worked with Google, Sunrun, Change.org, and a host of other companies, providing both product design and outsourced software production.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet Group?
I have assigned Software Planet Group a wide variety of work, both my own projects and work for other clients. They serve primarily as a technical resource but they do help me refine my ideas and strategy from time to time.
SOLUTION
Please describe the scope of their involvement.
The most complex project we've worked on with Software Planet Group was called LunchMaster. It involved very complex logistics around school lunches for thousands of students every day. Parents could go online and choose between 15 different types of lunches every single day. The platform would filter out items which the kids were allergic to, and it conformed to regulatory requirements for anonymizing free lunches so that neither the school officials nor anyone else could see them as such. This created very complex backend billing requirements for us. Those bills could either go to the parents so that they could pay using a credit card, or go to the schools and be remitted on an invoicing basis.
The interface looked like a calendar, displaying all the food choices in a graphical way, for each weekday. Each selection came with a set of drinks and fruit. There were 2 kitchens, as well as 3 distribution points. Every meal needed to be made by the kitchens and loaded onto trucks, which had different routes. Everything needed to be kept straight by the software, which made it a very complex situation. I worked with 2 development teams in parallel, each of them working on different pages of the site simultaneously, with one-week iteration periods. We launched on time, even though not everything had been built. We had a hard deadline because of the schoolyear. We initially started the work with a different firm, bringing Software Planet Group in on an emergency basis. We started the work with them only 3 months before launch.
The team assigned from Software Planet Group for this project consisted of 4 developers, as well as a 3-person professional quality assurance team, which was bolted onto the project. Software Planet Group also provided part-time IT support for managing our server setup, backups, etc.
How did you come to work with Software Planet Group?
I put an ad out on Upwork, which was called oDesk at the time. A large number of people responded, making the decision difficult. I picked 3 candidates, which looked good, and went forward with a test.
One month into the work, I looked at the results and chose Software Planet Group based on them. We've developed an ongoing relationship since then.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
The total cost of Software Planet Group's services has been between $250,000 and $500,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
I have been working with Software Planet Group for 8-9 years.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
The client for our LunchMaster project was very inexperienced, running into financial problems and other difficulties. Despite this, the work that Software Planet Group did throughout the project was exceptional.
How did Software Planet Group perform from a project management standpoint?
We develop logistically-complex business applications, which are moving targets. Our LunchMaster client had been oversold on the timeline and budget of the project, which was not Software Planet Group's fault. They had no control over it. Software Planet Group provides hourly services, so they don't promise things that they won't be able to deliver because the ultimate goal of the project is not within their scope. Software Planet Group will work until completion, though.
In terms of overall productivity, it's hard to judge their team. Tasks that we thought would take a long time ended up being completed in a day or 2, while simpler items will take 1-2 weeks. Usually, this will be because of a deeper refactoring of the task. The governing factor in software productivity is product management. Developers are usually smart people, and if they've been doing it for a long time, they will usually be competent at their jobs. How well-factored the initial code was will affect how productive a developer will be, and this is dependent on how good the product manager was.
I paid for developers, but in addition to them, Software Planet Group assigned an internal project manager who made sure that the team was delivering. I took care of the actual day-to-day project management, creating detailed wireframes and specifications, and maintaining communication with the developers.
What distinguishes Software Planet Group from other providers?
Software Planet Group has an internal training process, which I find to be unusual and impressive about their company. I am based out of San Francisco, which is where many leading software solutions are developed. Software Planet Group is up on the techniques used by the best firms. Another indication of quality is how up-to-date Software Planet Group is on current best practices in the industry.
Is there anything Software Planet Group could have improved or done differently?
Software Planet Group has a large stable of developers and will usually assign whomever is free to new projects. During one project, a developer basically started inventing requirements and going off-target. To some degree, this was my own fault for not being clear. Things of this nature happened, but they were dealt with by Software Planet Group. It's normal for some issues to go off the rails. Nothing systemic ever occurred.
When working with an offshore team, it's important to have clear specifications of the work being done. Without this, they will get poor results. The bonus for this is largely on the client. Software Planet Group will do what they're told to do, but if that is sloppy and vague, there will likely be a sloppy, ill-defined project to deal-with going forward. High-definition wireframes will improve the output, clarifying the client's own thoughts. There will usually be a 10-hour time difference when working with Software Planet Group, so the team will work during night-time for the client. If they're not given clear instructions, they won't deliver the intended work.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
-
Cost
4.5Value / within estimates
"Working with individual developers will be much cheaper, but they don't offer the same service. Software Planet Group backs up the work through IT support and other services."
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
