Southleft

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Publications of American Composers Forum

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

American Composers Forum supports and advocates for living composers through direct funding to artists, industry leadership, and storytelling.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Create a WordPress multi-site for all three organizational websites
• Migrate innova.mu from Drupal to WordPress and design new custom multisite theme
• Transition icareifyoulisten.com to new custom multisite theme

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Online Search

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Southleft was engaged to develop a WordPress multisite and custom theme for all three of our organizational websites. One website required a complete rebuild to transition from Drupal to WordPress, and another existing WordPress site needed custom modifications to the new mutlisite theme. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Developed a modern, user-friendly, and efficient web presence for two org websites that creates better brand cohesion while still maintaining the unique identity of each site. 
• Efficient development of multisite theme that allowed us to redesign two websites on a nonprofit budget
• Consistency and ease of navigation between sites on the backend allows for more efficient updates and maintenance by staff

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

Southleft was incredibly communicative throughout the process with regular check-ins via Zoom and Slack. All post-launch bug fixes were addressed efficiently and quickly, and all questions throughout the process were answered clearly and promptly.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Even though Southleft manages multiple projects and clients simultaneously, the care and attention we received often made us feel like we were their only priority. Their knowledgeable and skilled developers made it explicitly clear that we were in good hands and that everything on our wish list was possible, even with a limited budget. 

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

None -- this was an outstanding experience, and I would recommend Southleft to anyone undergoing a website project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Marketing Manager of Somewear Labs

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Somewear is a critical communications platform empowering the world’s most important organizations to communicate and coordinate during dynamic operations, providing a level of reliability, security, and efficient situational awareness that was previously unattainable.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Website redesign + development
• Continued maintenance + site improvements

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Proven track record

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Southleft helped us bring our website redesign to fruition; they breathed new life into it and helped us elevate our brand. We needed a reliable CMS, that Marketing could easily manage, with a higher degree of customization than an off-the-shelf website builder. Our internal design team handed off the completed designs and Southleft helped us develop a custom WordPress website with reusable components and customized functionality. 

Additionally, they helped integrate our Shopify storefront to enable a seamless checkout experience; a critical part of the project. Upon completing the project, we worked with Southleft to continue maintaining our website and making minor improvements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We successfully launched a redesigned website with reusable components that significantly elevated our brand and credibility. It was configured for Marketing to easily manage content, create new pages, and manage integrations. The integration of Shopify empowered our company to streamline ecommerce operations and improve the checkout experience.

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

The Southleft team went above and beyond and always communicated very clearly. Project management was very transparent about hours spent on certain tasks and if they were expecting to exceed the hours. 

When unforeseen complexities arose, prolonging development hours, the Southleft team was flexible and worked with our budget to find a common ground. Timelines were kept and if anything ever impacted the timeline, they made sure to communicate the reasons and proposed recommendations. They were always very quick to respond to any needs or critical issues, ensuring our website was always behaving as intended.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to overcome any development challenge. Whenever we had complex development needs, the Southleft team proposed multiple options and their advantages or disadvantages, allowing us to make informed decisions.

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

There were two minor instances where we exceeded the estimated number of hours significantly, which required an additional, unforeseen investment. I think Southleft could've further researched the complexities of the assigned tasks to identify and understand the potential risks and taken them into account when estimating hours. If there are too many unknowns or risks, then we may have approached the task/project differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product of Stesso

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Learning Platform for DIY Home Improvement

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Complete Front End build out of MVP

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

This project entailed building out the remaining front end work on a web app MVP. General tasks included building component systems, generating and implementing styles, ironing out the responsive resolution system, facilitating QA, and building out landing pages.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site was usable and testable by all involved after their work wrapped.

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

Ben, Nick, TJ, and team were wonderful to work with and with their way of collaborating really benefitted our small startup. They seamlessly onboarded and jumped right into tasks while utilizing our existing tools/workflow and we were very impressed by their detailed approach and ability to work out a path forward in a tight deadline. Everything was delivered on time and within budget.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

Email or Messaging App

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

They understood the product and the necessary jobs to be done right off the bat

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

No, we truly enjoyed working with everyone on the team and would absolutely recommend their firm for development projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Marketing Manager of a manufacturing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturer of industrial systems and solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Website discovery

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

SouthLeft conducted website discovery phase. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Site audit/analyisis
• Competitive analysis
• Stakeholder surveys/interviews/brainstorming summary
• Site map, user flows
• Usability recommendations

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

Very responsive. Weekly status meetings followed by email. Regular messaging and chats. Worked well with a global team across multiple time zones. 

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

SouthLeft has a great understanding of the people side of projects. Of course they can do the technology--but Southleft provided excellent project management and an understanding of the reality of business processes and the people involved. 

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

• While Figma is a great tool, it is disorienting when used for presentations. All the zooming in and out and panning all around is nauseating. Our stakeholders are more comfortable with standard linear presentation format, such as Powerpoint, PDF, etc.
• For brainstorming, our participants struggled using Figma.
• Moreover, Figma isn't printable, which is necessary. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Assistant Editor of New Books Network

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

New Books Network is the world's largest academic podcasting network. Our mission is public education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Website redesign
• Advanced search functionality

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

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

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

SouthLeft helped us completely redesign our website. We had a vague outline of what we wanted, and SouthLeft helped with design, implementation, and creating tools like new account types, costumizable pages, and improved search.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The key metric was satisfaction with the new website.They did everything that we asked and more.

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

SouthLeft was extremely responsive. They completed tasks in a timely manner and always kept us updated.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Not only were they extremely responsive, but they never gave up when they encountered an issue. Working with Southleft was an absolute delight.

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

Southleft has an incredible work culture. I can't think of anything they could have done differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Inclusive web design engineer and educator of Sara Soueidan.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Front-end web development and training

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Set up the back-end infrastructure for team packages
• Enable enrollees to track progress through course chapters

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Previous work together

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Mutual trust

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Back-end infrastructure to enable team training for companies 
• Front-end code for marking course chapters as complete

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Customers can successfully purchase licenses for their teams 
• Customers can easily track progress through the course

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

The team was very timely, often delivering even before the deadline and always being responsive. They were very reliable, and that was of utmost importance to me especially during initial sales launches.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The fact that the team members chosen to work on the project were a great fit for the project's needs. And, equally important, they are all very good people to work with.

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

I can't think of any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Brand Director of G&A

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Experience design and creative strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Align formatting on our website to ensure outside plugins work successfully.

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We had an issue with integrating Paycom into our existing website design, and needed a solution that extended beyond just embedding an iFrame into the page. Southleft was able to determine how to integrate the functionality while maintaining our overall look and feel.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We know we were successful because the website looks the way that we had always intended it to, without losing Paycom functionality.

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

Extremely efficient and organized delivery. Very responsive and positive team dynamic overall.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They express a real willingness to partner and solve creative problems efficiently.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Cura Freight

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We broker freight.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improve our React codebase
• Improve the visual aesthetics of our application
• Improve velocity

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

Referral

Why did you select Southleft over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We are having them assist us with decoupling components from a large React application, and placing those components into a stand-alone Storybook project. They are also helping us with providing consistency to the design, and improving UX to existing pages.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Each section of work comes with clearly defined deliverables, a timeframe, and budget. Success is measured by those deliverables being met within the timeframe and budget.

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

So far, all projects have been delivered on time and within budget. Needs are being responded to via email and virtual meetings.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The level of detail they have gone through to understand our needs, and circling back to make sure their solutions are meeting those needs. They also communicate very clearly and are responsive to our feedback.

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

So far we have no feedback to give about this.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Producer of Big Medium

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Design, Front-end development, and organizational and product strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build web components

SOLUTION

How did you find Southleft?

We've worked with Southleft for years and years.

Why did you select Southleft over others?

Existing relationship

How many teammates from Southleft were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

Production-ready components in the Web Components library, aligning with the headless components already built in Figma and built upon the agreed foundational architecture.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We delivered the components within the scheduled timeframe.

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

They're excellent! Kelsey makes work seem easy-- always on time and she communicates clearly along the way.

What was your primary form of communication with Southleft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We've worked together long enough that it's a breeze to pick up again on another project.

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

No.