Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
We don't utilize formal metrics for evaluating Agilites' performance. As a general example, two years ago, one smoke test used to take our testing engineers two days to execute. Now, it takes Agilites' team less than one day to execute a smoke test. This tells us that they can do the work quickly and understand our system well. The more we work with Agilites, the better their performance becomes. These informal considerations are things which make us happy. Agilites has demonstrated a twofold performance increase over the last two years.
How did Agilites perform from a project management standpoint?
Agilites has a team lead who is a hands-on person in charge of test specs, while also executing them, and providing reports to us. He manages the work of another team member. We are quite comfortable with this arrangement. Our team lead acts as a single point of contact; she is quite organized, accurate, and clear in her communications. These are the main things we need from Agilites regarding project management.
Their work is a part of the software engineering process itself and not an actual project, so we don't have strict start and endpoints, but rather a continuous process of passing updated releases and bug fixes to Agilites' team. It's not a relationship which requires a dedicated project manager from the partner's side.
What did you find most impressive about Agilites?
It may not be unique, but we've liked the fact that Agilites can work as a continuation of our team. We treat them like our team members, sharing our corporate email, and working with the same servers and bug tracking systems. It's more convenient for us, and even though Agilites is located in a different country, it hasn't been an obstacle in our work.
Are there any areas Agilites could improve?
We have provided Agilites with feedback and improvement recommendations over the last two years. They were always flexible and ready to change their working style, making it more convenient for us. At this moment, there are no outstanding questions or improvement requests for Agilites' team.
Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Agilites?
I do not have any specific recommendations, but I can definitely recommend other companies that are interested in outsourcing the software testing function to work with Agilites.
Agilites delivered a finely engineered product at a reasonable price. They were honest, dependable, informative about the scope of developments and were very professional. Their QA knowledge was also very strong, and they exceeded engineering expectations.