STX Next

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a startup for financial markets and information. We're building our new platform from scratch.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next

At the time, we were essentially building our business from scratch. It was a fairly holistic problem; we needed to hire developers to build a data entry system. Initially, we hired two software development houses to collaborate on our project. It was an interesting dynamic because they both used slightly different practices. I'd worked with the other team previously, but STX Next was new to us. As we got closer to finishing the MVP, we decided to only move forward with STX Next. We had them manage the project on their own.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next built the architecture of the underlying technology for our entire business. The full stack developers usually use Python and Node. They programmed the frontend website using either Angular or React, as well. Our product is a series of backend Mongo databases. Each one works with slightly different types of metrics. They built a form entry with spreadsheet uploading capability and a calculation engine that computes complex financial market math.

A critical part of our system is the data scraping engine. It connects to APIs from external vendors including trace APIs from Condor. The system feeds information into a data service that uses ElasticSearch. It sends queries back and forth from the frontend in the form of a REST API.

What is the team composition? 

We started working with their top developer, who is exceptionally talented by any measure. The second resource we added was a bit weaker. They didn't work out, but STX Next assigned us a much more senior resource. Our first tester resigned, but we plan to hire a new one.

About six weeks ago, I took on a business analyst who's now performing the product owner role. Since then, we’ve hired another two developers with mid-level experience. We plan to add another one when our lead developer leaves at the end of the month.

​How did you come to work with STX Next?

We found them through a recommendation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our collaboration with STX Next in July 2017, and we’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

STX Next completed everything we asked them to do. It’s a bit too early to assess how reliable of a solution they’ve developed. I don’t have the technical background to review its functionality using proper terms. A year ago, we started using the MongoDB database which wasn’t the right solution for us. This wasn’t STX Next’s decision, though; they just worked with it after the fact.

STX Next provides a comprehensive set of skills and resources, which is helpful for a project like ours. They have a strong business model and employ skilled and professional developers. The team can provide anything a client might need, from programmers, designers and testers to product owners and business analysts.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

STX Next pairs their teams with a business analyst. They prefer scrum to Kanban, at least for our website. Rather than having the developers test the product themselves or using an automated method, they manually have it tested externally.

Initially, a couple of STX Next’s contract developers worked under my internal business analyst. This paired team collaborated with my other developers. They essentially complied with directions and tried not to rock the boat. The developers from STX Next seem much happier with the new approach and have been more productive and efficient.

Regular status updates clearly indicate what’s being accomplished on a weekly basis. We’re currently running a standard project together using Jira as an organizational tool. Our communication via Google Hangouts and Slack has been excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Unlike other firms I’ve worked with, they don't get hung up on theoretical concepts or on building beautiful code at the expensive of actual accomplishments. I want to see how they cope with some of the new problems we’ve given them before I’ll have a concrete answer, though.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The way they work now is a bit different than before. I felt like I had to hassle them so they’d provide us with good teams. They became quite responsive after I did so and hired new resources to meet my needs.

They’re a tightly-managed business. This is impressive for the owner, but also means they lack the spare capacity to react to urgent issues quickly. This dilemma comes with a trade-off. STX Next would be much less valuable if they had a spare person perpetually waiting around to join in on the work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They work best when given projects with clear goals to work towards. When they’re given control of all aspects of a project, from product design to testing and development, clients should assess the resources they assign.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a fintech startup company enabling payday loans to employees. We provide mobile apps to companies that allow their employees to manage their loans. Through the mobile apps, users can request loans, and companies can manage and approve or deny those loans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We wanted to start things quickly. We had a product manager and product analyst in-house, but we didn’t have a CTO or in-house IT team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was considering Python as the base language for our application, which is why STX Next came up on my radar. The desktop version uses the Python Django framework, and the app was built for Android since our customer primarily uses Android phones.

We have an internal product team. We built some low-fidelity wireframes for both backend and mobile apps, but we also asked STX Next to propose a new design and build high-fidelity wireframe of the mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of eight people from STX Next, including five developers, two QA resources, and a product owner. At the moment, we are only using three developers totaling six resources.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We went to a couple of companies including STX Next and requested their feedback, proposals, and offers. STX Next was able to start quickly and could provide a full team solution for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with STX Next in late October 2017. The infrastructure of the system is mostly complete and went for alpha testing with live clients at the end of April 2018. The project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched a beta release of the product, so we only have a couple of companies onboard and seven companies still in testing mode.

The mobile app was slightly challenging at the beginning as we opted for a relatively new language, React Native, but the backend development went smoothly.

STX Next focused a lot on QA, so we didn’t encounter many bugs in their work. Some of those were misunderstandings, given that we come from different cultures. The issues were minimal compared to some of our previous projects as we have communication with the product owner almost daily. There have been setbacks at some points, but we are satisfied with their work in general.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a huge setback at the beginning as the product owner assigned to us suddenly quit his job. However, our service delivery manager was very responsive and immediately attended to this issue and amazingly, they managed to get another person for the project in such a short time. We’ve been working with her so far, and she has been a wonderful addition to the team.

We don’t engage them with clear-cut requirements like typical scope-based projects. We work together more like an internal team, so we engage agile methodology and define our sprint goal based on ever-changing business requirements. In terms of sprint achievements, we are stabilizing but I believe that we can still do better.

We collaborate with the help of tools like JIRA, Confluence, GitHub, Slack, and Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

STX Next’s approach has been very different from other companies. Previously, we worked on a time and materials basis with requirements being set up front. With STX Next, we wanted a fully dedicated team, and they assigned one to us. I haven’t experienced any problems with this approach as we communicate regularly, and they have a service delivery manager who has been in contact with us in case of any issues. STX Next is certainly a Python powerhouse.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They do not differentiate between junior and senior developer costs. Hence, it may not be cost-efficient for projects that consist of more trivial tasks.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They are a great company to work together with especially if you know what to expect in managing a dedicated team and how they work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Ricky Kaare: Unity is a global game engine developer.

Diego Campos: We’re a 1,500-developer software company, with most of us based in the U.S. and Copenhagen, Denmark.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

RK: We had some internal systems being used for maintaining our development organization. Some of those needed to be modernized or have new versions created. We needed to still keep the old versions running while we were building the new generation of tools. STX Next came into play when we wanted to focus on building our new tools, while outsourcing the maintenance of the old tools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DC: Our product is older and open-source, so they came into play for the maintenance of it. It’s still operational and has an active user base. They’ve been working on a continuous integration tool for the past months. The whole stack is based on Python. They’re maintaining the server code and some of the machine code where we run test builds for our software. They also performed code reviews.

Our main development team is working on the new version, while STX Next is exclusively maintaining the older version.

What is the team composition?

DC: We’ve had a few changes of personnel since the beginning. We currently have two Python software developers whom we communicate with every day. We also interact with their boss, who coordinates the team.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

RK: The decision was made before we were onboarded to the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

DC: We started working with them in October 2017, when we had a different team.

RK: We onboarded the current developers in January and February of 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

DC: We’re satisfied with the team we have now. They became productive much faster than I expected, given that there was a lot to catch up on. They quickly knew exactly what they were doing, investigating and learning new items by themselves.

Overall, they’re highly qualified technically. They know what they’re doing in terms of Python and its services. Python is one of their key proficiencies.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

DC: I’m happy with their approach to managing the work. The actual project management is still happening on our side. I coordinate the project, helping them figure out which tasks are more important. They’re taking on more responsibility as we go, and after they have enough experience, we want them to take over the management. The engagement is still mostly local for now.

We had them working in the Kanban system, keeping a list of the most important tasks that they finish on their own time. I’m happy with their velocity. It hasn’t taken too long to do one particular thing or another, but I can’t really talk about scheduling or commitments. We communicate with the developers through video chat for standup meetings or through Slack messaging. They also use our task boards. We have catch-up meetings once every two weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DC: We’ve seen an infinite-percent improvement, considering that we didn’t have anything in place before.

I was impressed with how quickly they were able to familiarize themselves with the project and learn how to move around in it. It’s quite a messy, old bit of code. I’m also happy with their way of doing code reviews, and with their Python code in general. It’s clearly being written by people with a level of expertise in that language.

RK: Their work has also helped us focus on important projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

DC: We’re currently happy with how things are going. They’re well on-track to get to where we want to be and I wouldn’t say that there’s anything we need to change.

We didn’t have a proper QA process defined around our work in the beginning. We had some trouble getting started, but the same would have happened if we were writing the software instead of them. That problem is solved now.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

DC: Clients need to give them as much freedom as they need. Some people have preferred processes and preferred ways to do things but they seem to be covering all our needs.

RK: In general, when working with external teams, it’s important to set aside the necessary time to bring them in-sync with the rest of the team. In our case, we had status calls in the morning and kept a chat channel open for questions and dialogue.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run an organization called SuttaCentral, a small nonprofit that hosts Buddhist scriptures. We have analytic and translation tools to help present and convey the texts in a straightforward and dignified way that makes them available to everyone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We’ve had a website since 2005, and our internal dev team recently began rebuilding it. We created all the templates and details, but we realized we needed more help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We explained our goals and plans to STX then they did the backend in Python and database in ArangoDB. We keep basic data in JSON files to feed into ArangoDB and use a translation software for the texts.

We built the site in Polymer, which is relatively unknown, but it lets us leverage the web components and build our Progressive Web App (PWA). That was one of our most important criteria because a PWA means we don’t have to build independent apps. It also allows our users, who are mostly in developing countries and use mobile devices, to run the site while offline.

What is the team composition?

STX provided two programmers, a tester, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We found them on Clutch. STX dealt with the kinds of technologies we use, and they seemed to be a reasonable price, so we got in touch. From the beginning, they were friendly, welcoming, and willing to listen to us. A lot of companies just want to do things their way, but STX was happy to personalize the project according to our needs and plans.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2017–March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People like the site—it’s received a lot of positive feedback. As with every large project that uses cutting-edge technology, it has a few bugs, but we’ve worked closely with customers to fix them.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

They implemented an agile methodology, which was helpful. They listened to what we wanted and developed a plan accordingly. We modified the process as the project proceeded, which showed that they were paying attention to our progress. We used Jira and Slack to communicate and had daily meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly professional and talented. Their process for reviewing code and team management were much better than any other firm we’ve worked with. We learned a lot from STX; we’d never done a project like this, so they taught us useful techniques and methodologies.

We could tell that STX cared about our project and wanted to do their best—it wasn’t like working with a big, faceless corporation. They weren’t afraid to make suggestions to improve the product, so it really felt like we were a team. We got along well and looked forward to our daily meetings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We were looking to outsource our IT development. We had been using an in-house team for the past four years, but we needed to scale up our efforts.

The cryptocurrency market fluctuates highly, making it hard to guess what will happen next. We saw such a period near the end of 2017, and increased our team size dramatically to keep up with demand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next is our company’s outsourced IT department. They specialize exclusively in Python, which is the language we use for our platform. They’ve also provided cloud-infrastructure DevOps services, frontend development services, and quality assurance.

What is the team composition?

They have provided resources for all aspects of the software development lifecycle, including developers, project managers, and QA testers. We started with a team of 5 people, and increased to 15 after three months. We now have 10 developers, two QA testers, a project manager, a Scrum Master, and a DevOps specialist. We also have a key account representative on their side.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

I was overwhelmed by our lack of resources and the amount of work to be done. I found STX Next after looking for software houses on Google. They were close to my location, so I visited their office. I found that their senior- and junior-level developers had good experience in Python. After a few meetings, we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with STX Next in September 2017. The project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Previously, our system could only serve 300 concurrent users. STX Next did extensive work that increased that number to 5,000. This was immediately reflected in our revenue, increasing it tenfold.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

They always responded quickly to our scaling needs, and provided us the correct resources. They’ve managed the project internally using Jira and other tracking tools. They also utilize some state-of-the-art software development tools outside of infrastructural components. We use Telegram for communication, which is my choice. We usually call each other with WhatsApp, but we use Google Hangouts and email as well. We have also visited them in Poland.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had worked with a local company before, but their quality of service and responsiveness were nowhere near what we’ve gotten from STX Next. It’s been a completely different experience.

They behave as a part of our company. They own projects, show responsibility over the work, and deliver the best possible results. STX Next stands out by acting as an internal IT department.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The cost could be lower.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Software development is an open-ended task, so the customer needs to focus on maximizing the benefits of a partnership. STX Next also offers this kind of involvement. I didn’t have the time to give them a lot of information about our project in the beginning. I simply gave them the code, and they constantly pushed me for more information after that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I’m the CTO and co-founder of a software product firm. We make compliance software for the financial industry to handle a number of functions: know your customer, anti-money laundering, and enhanced due diligence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We were looking to expand our technical capacity quickly to handle client demands, to avoid the lead time the typical hiring process has. We initially outsourced the integration of several data providers and the build-out of the Python framework used to do so. This lent itself to outsourcing as we could provide clear specifications for the integrations. Later in our engagement, the team worked on the core product, working on features with our on-site development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next worked on various data integration and other projects relating to our software products. We would provide specifications for data integrations, including how these sources were to be queried and how the resulting data should be displayed and then send. When disparity was found between what the external providers produced and what specifications stated they would identify possible alterations and verify it with our PM team. We worked with them to establish the types of data we wanted to use to ensure that we were working towards the same expectations.

Some of the more complicated integrations included writing non-trivial data processing pipelines, data cleansing, full-text indexing for which STX build a framework for handling integrations consistently, which highlighted some good product and architectural understanding from the dev team and some great management from the more senior developers.

After trialling them with the integrations project we included them in development of other aspects of the product including frontend work with AngularJS and ReactJS, adding new functionality or updating existing work.

We have a tech and QA team here, so we tried to include STX as much as possible in meetings when appropriate. It’s difficult to come up with a perfect specification, but what really helped was making communication as easy as possible and including them in our normal communication channels.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around six developers and one QA in total. We started off with two developers (one senior and one junior) to integrate them with our team, who both ended up being really effective. We then increased this to four developers and one QA. We didn’t have any STX Project/Product Managers/Owners but rather kept that in-house.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We did quite a lot of research searching various outsourcing sites such as Upwork among others eventually we found STX.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2017 and finished our work this past Wednesday.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any specific metrics on hand but the STX developers were integral to the success of projects we have had with two of our biggest clients.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

In-house product managers and developers interacted directly with the STX developers on a daily basis, they were included in our internal Slack channel, we communicated with them via Google Hangouts, included them in our GitHub organization from which we were handling task management. This seemed to work well and didn’t require much change to the standard in-house approach.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality and experience of some of the developers were invaluable. I was impressed how much they can act as a force multiplier to both the STX and the in-house development teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As mentioned above, it was impressive how much team composition in terms of senior and junior developers can change the dynamics and productivity, there is probably some efficiency gains to be made there.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you are considering a team consisting of more than 2/3 of developers consider a manager as well. We choose not to which required non-trivial organization on our side which will be exacerbated by for instance timezone differences.

Initially, we got the team over for a week which really helped build the relationship so I’d suggest doing this if you're going to be working with them for any length of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at a small agency called Fluid within the global firm Wunderman. We do all the digital and marketing work for South Africa’s largest telecommunications company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We needed to rebuild a website that was built by another agency using Python and Django. We don’t offer Python ourselves. Our long-term plan is to redevelop the site in a technology we work in and we needed Python development specialists.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re developing the entire website taking over existing sites. They have full control over the source code, developing new features and fixing bugs. They do continuous deployments every second week to release those fixes and new enhancements.

The website is a beast. They’ve dealt with various tricky challenges, including things that go wrong on the live side that they have to debug. They aim to have the new website done by September of this year but I foresee at least another 12 months of work.

What is the team composition?

We work with two account managers, a scrum master, a lead developer, and other developers including a QA.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

Someone else at Wunderman referred me to them. He may have gotten their details from another office of ours because I believe they work for Wunderman in other countries. We work with a few other companies who know technologies that we don’t do. They were likely indexed or listed as the supplier of choice when he referred them to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We're paying roughly $25,000 a month so we’ve spent about $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and it's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve heard feedback from the client that these guys are better programmers than the previous company. From my personal perspective, they’re very thorough. This client is high pressure. Everything is urgent. They’ll be on vacation but asking when they can see something. Even with that pressure, STX won’t pass something if they haven't quality assured it and are happy with the output themselves. I really appreciate that.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is good and frequent. We meet with the entire development team every day. We have a daily stand-up using Google Hangouts, Skype, or another video technology. We speak to the scrum master every other day. I also have a weekly call with the account managers to check on the status and health of the relationship. We talk about any issues or improvements he can suggest. We always know where we stand with them.

We use Atlassian tools including Jira, Hipchat, and Bitbucket. All bugs and announcements get assigned a ticket through Jira. We use Hipchat to communicate and that is linked to the tickets. Everything is managed and we all have access to the same systems.

Working and enforcing the agile way has worked really well. We're not working with a project manager per se but, with the scrum master and just the general communication, I think they're very thorough.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way of working. Everybody tends to be agile, have scrum masters, and those kinds of things. But they're the first company I've worked with to actually enforce the process. They’re working via the proper agile methodology. They insisted that we have a scrum master on the project. We have someone who checks in every week on the relationship and wants to know if there are any problems they need to solve. They really maintain the relationship and work professionally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only negative that's come out from a client perspective is that we’d like to see better turnaround time. We tend to spend a lot of time on certain issues. That being said, we also know that this website is very complicated in the way that it was built. When they got the code to begin with, they did a review. The quality of the code that they received was a -13.8 of 10. The website is in really bad shape. As they develop, they continuously try to improve, stabilize, and reflect the code. In their defense, that’s why it takes time. But if they could deliver a little bit faster, that would always be appreciated.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No real advice. They were very good, easily on-boarded, and really just a pleasure to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a global network of studios providing visual effects for movies. We have locations in Los Angeles, Toronto, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Vancouver, Beijing, and Shanghai where we produce visual effects for feature films, commercials, and visual effects. I’m the global head of pipeline, which is a specific type of software development department in the visual effects realm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We are a small team of 5–10 developers, and sometimes have needs which we can’t provide. We were looking to outsource some development work, and needed experienced Python developers who could help us build a tool. This was our first experience with outsourcing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next worked on an in-house, proprietary tool. We provided them with user stories, mockups, and some specific technical requirements in regards to style and the highly-flexible architecture of the underlying framework. They came up with a well-structured plan, made suggestions around our architecture, and provided extensive user testing.

They utilized the PySide framework to build a UI based on our requirements, which were specific to visual effects. The entire tool was written in Python.

The first iteration didn’t take very long to complete, and consisted of recoding existing functionalities as well as adding new ones. This included the UI that STX Next built, which is something we haven’t had before. We’ve discussed undertaking a second phase and extending the functionalities.

What is the team composition?

We had a 5-week project for which we used 3 resources from their team, including a lead developer and a tester.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

I approached the problem looking for reliable groups who could deliver more than just freelance developers. We wanted to build an ongoing relationship with a company so that we could go to them regularly with issues. I asked a couple of ex-colleagues in the industry, but information about outsourcing work is not very open, since the software we build has to be highly-integrated into proprietary tools.

I researched numerous places on the internet and came across Clutch, which proved to be very helpful. We approached 3 companies from that site, got a couple quotes, and had some discussions regarding scope. We took some time figuring out who we wanted to hire, and eventually found STX Next to be the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the project was between €16,000–€25,000 [U.S. $19,000–$30,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in mid-July 2017, and concluded the project in the third week of August.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We previously had a command-line interface, but the new one is nicer to use because the user experience is much better. The important factor for us was that the architecture be flexible, and the plug-in-based system STX Next came up with has helped extend functionalities even further in the future. In our work, we have quite high demand around the application systems used for different shows. We’ve used the platform in very different ways, and have been able to dispose of the old tool.

We’ve used the tool for some high-level shows across different locations, including Los Angeles, Toronto, and Frankfurt. The tool does the job much better than the one we had before, and has saved us a lot of time.

We found the architecture to be so good that we’ve started extracting it into libraries which we can use with other in-house tools. This ultimately means we’re getting more worth for our money due to STX Next’s contribution. We’ve had a couple of technical requirements which called for the tool to be highly flexible, but I hadn’t really thought of reusing the code. It was a pleasant surprise.  

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

The project length was 5 weeks, and we kept it short because it was our first time working with an outsourced company. We wanted to work through an Agile process in order to come up with something we could hopefully use. Requirements in the visual effects area can be quite specific, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t spend too much money on the first try. We were ultimately happy with STX Next, and plan to do more work with them in the future.

Communication was one of the things they handled specifically well. They were always quick to respond, even when we didn’t communicate everything we wanted very well. They always reached out to ask questions, and then went back to work.

There was a time difference between us of about 6 hours, but it worked out well. We had a 2-hour overlap, and we also have a German office, which made it a bit easier.

We had a main communication tool in order to keep the process formal, but they also reached out to us on Skype for quick questions or decisions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was surprised with how well the collaboration worked.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We demanded a couple of things, but not everything we should have, which was a problem on our side.

For example, we should’ve tried to integrate it into our existing in-house environment earlier in the process. The testing was done in week 4, and it should have been done in weeks 2 or 3. We should’ve used STX Next more as an in-house team instead of giving them small bits of work, and then waiting for the results. Again, this has more to do with how I approached the process. Their team asked for information and showed us their progress on a weekly basis, but we should've actually attempted to get the code into our system, given the small issues which came up later.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Everything depends on the kind of relationship the client is looking for. In our case, it wasn’t a matter of the internal team being completely clueless on the technical end. We actually have developers who know what they’re doing. Generally, we know programming, and only used STX Next as an extended workforce. The model worked quite well, but I’m unsure how it would work for someone with no technical personnel in-house.  

We were able to write down user stories and create a mockup for the UI. Much of the conceptual work was done on our end. If there is an in-house technical department on the client’s end, they should definitely be more involved from the beginning. It helps a lot.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an agency that mainly converts traffic from retail stores online for purposes of lead generation and branding. I’m the CEO and one of three founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX?

We have an in-house development team that works exclusively in Python. We wanted to build a  new product—an auction platform where manufacturers or retailers sell products for purposes of market research—and release it quickly. We didn’t have the in-house capacity to make it work in the timeframe we wanted to. We decided to outsource the project fully to get an MVP out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided functional specifications and mockups to our designer. Over the course of 5–6 weeks, STX did the whole frontend and backend development up to the MVP.

It’s a B2C product with an admin panel in the back where we steer and control the whole thing. There’s user registration and sign-up, Stripe integration, and a complex algorithm that chooses the auction winner and calculates the current price in the auction. The backend technology was Django and Python and the frontend is Angular 2.

We continued working with them until one week after launch, at which point we took the project completely in-house for further development and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We had a stable team of six: two backend, two frontend, one QA, and one proxy product owner.

How did you come to work with STX?

I searched online for Python development houses. I used Clutch to compare agencies and narrowed it down to four companies. In the end, we selected STX to do the project for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October–November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It has good traction. In terms of users and stability of the platform, we’re happy with how things are going. The productivity was equal compared to what we do in-house.

How did STX perform from a project management standpoint?

We used JIRA and they shared the source code with us through our systems. We use Bitbucket to host source code that the team directly developed in our repository. We were always able to see what was happening as they progressed.

Some milestones were missed, but it wasn’t clear how realistic those targets were given the quick turnaround time. Everyone involved was aware that the target was definitely moving and it was about getting an MVP ready with as much functionality as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The whole team was interested in getting the product out. They weren’t some nameless people developing some software, but rather an extension of the team. They were very self-contained. They did most of the things themselves and contacted me if there was a need or they were blocked.

I was also pleasantly surprised how proficient they were in English and how easy it was to communicate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You don’t just get an extra team member; you buy a whole team. That’s what works best. You need a whole team working remotely as well. There’s a spirit that develops, people work together there, and it’s not just somebody in another country that expands your team. That would be the best format to have the whole team.

Don’t go into it expecting low prices. Costs are going up, but not at the same levels as in the West—especially in Switzerland—but they’re approaching costs here. Nevertheless, you have a lot of capacity available and it’s very good capacity.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the former operations manager at TBSeen, and currently act as the managing director. We are a retail platform for shoppers that provides curated deals from over 650 U.K. retailers. Our team searches for the best available discounts, vouchers, and cash-back incentives for our users to save money. Kate Thornton directs our outsourced team of two celebrity providers in the U.K. who provide fashion and style content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

Our initial website development took place in London, which isn’t the cheapest place to build a completely new platform that has many technical requirements. I decided to look at different offshore options after the MVP was developed.

We were looking for development teams that had the right qualifications and experience with both Python and Agile methodologies. Effective product ownership was an area in which previous providers were lacking, so it was important that the new team have this quality as well.

We needed to save money, maintain quality, and increase productivity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next used the previous MVP build along with Python, Django, and SQL to build our platform on Amazon Web Services.

They brilliantly worked to understand and take ownership of the platform in order to maintain it. We ended up having a productive 30-day process of exchange and knowledge gathering. They used prior knowledge and support from others to find an effective solution for every issue. 

Once they were running it, we set out to improve the product, gather data, and further understand how users were engaging with the first iteration. We developed a product road map for enhancement, then STX Next used strategic thinking to help push the product into a better proposition for customers.

We’ve also been working on improving the backend technology to make the process smoother and more reliable. We added new features to the site during this development.

We built a series of six fairly complicated APIs on the platform. Each API is plugged into a network that’s running marketing transactions for U.K. brands trying to generate leads. We then pool all this data into one central standardization on our site to present to our customers. We are able to track these purchases all the way to the final sale, which required a fairly complex tracking and interpretation system that works with every affiliate network.

We also have a CMS that allows us to run a magazine and blog on our site. We have a management system that we use to publish our deals, as well as a system to curate and manage deals we think are suitable for customers.

We also have a browser extension that acts as a reminder to pick up a voucher during checkout.

What is the team dynamic?

There were two backend Python developers that also helped with the data side of things. We have one content person, one QA, and a part-time UX specialist who we use to update user experience features. We also have a full-time proxy product owner and a partially full-time scrum master. It’s a comprehensive team.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

An agency recommended them to us, so we flew out to see how they operate. It was refreshing to see an Agile team in separate units working on different projects. Depending on the requirement, they always had a scrum master and either a product owner or a proxy product owner. They had the Python skill sets we needed, as well as the right staff size.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £300,000 [$392,499].

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since January 2016, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Data from insights we've tracked with our customers, along with feature performance before and after implementation, are what drives our development. We understand what the engagement levels are of any specific feature before we launch a new one. We’re very user sensitive. We use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, and we also have all the sales tracking going on in the background.

Everything we do is to improve business, efficiency, and to increase the number of users on the platform. The team is very goal-oriented and makes sure to track all changes. We run a series of weekly charts that monitor everything to ensure understanding of functionality so we can react appropriately.

We run analysis on our efficiencies, including how many front and backend features we’re working on every week, how many have been released, and what type they are. Sometimes it can be misleading depending on the size of the feature, but for the most part, we have a good grasp of maintained speed, work, and velocity.

We have to be a little obsessed about making sure we’re doing everything from a data perspective so that improvements are accurate. We work to find solutions to failures, but also to make successful areas even better.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re done remarkably well, and the development pace has been excellent. We’ve been able to release features basically every week, which is great. We’ve been successful in starting with smaller items then working up to larger ones during very fast one-week sprint cycles.

We started off with a full-time scrum master, but we’ve reduced their time since the team became self-sufficient. The scrum master also runs the backlog to make sure the team is communicating correctly and planning efficiently. Their role is very important, and the team thrives by having someone who rigorously drives their thinking and is constantly looking at ways to improve our workflow.

The project management role is completely intertwined with the product owner. STX Next is the only agency I’ve worked with that actually has any sense of product ownership. We have a full-time proxy product owner that concentrates purely on product and researches how it can be better. They work directly with our team and the scrum master to make sure everything we’re achieving is heading in the right direction.

Knowing that progress is being made without having to constantly supervise it helps us as a business, and also boosts our confidence in their team. It’s very reassuring to know there are people driving the team and making sure they’re as efficient as they can be.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We quickly developed a real sense of partnership instead of a vendor-type relationship. I’m very open about our business goals and transparent about how I want this to perform. We give them all that information and work together to try and reach the same target, which has been really beneficial. They’ve really enjoyed the process of being a part of our team.

I massively value their opinion because of their insight and talent. They really listen to us so they can understand our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We knew the handover process was going to be challenging, but they’ve handled it really well. They’re very open minded. It’s vital that both teams communicate as often as possible, but sometimes, we fall short on our side. This ultimately causes us to lose sight of communication. However, we recently started increasing the frequency of our communication, and we also take trips to Poland for face-to-face contact.