How did you select this vendor?
We've worked with several development companies from the U.S. and India that we found on Guru, Upwork, and similar platforms. Generally, we tested them on smaller projects first before starting a long working relationship. AppSierra was the only provider that maintained a professional approach, met the deadlines, and exceeded our goals. In fact, most other companies abandoned projects in the middle of development because they lacked the right skill set, never finished the contracted work, charged higher prices that they originally quoted, didn’t meet our specifications, or even lied to us after missing deadlines by months.
Describe the project in detail.
Because we have an existing confidentiality agreement, I can’t provide specifics. In short, AppSierra took over a single website project that was late by a full year and didn’t meet our specifications. They redid the whole site and improved it. Due to our experience with AppSierra, we're now working on a large network of sites as well as apps and SEO.
The company owner for whom I'm managing this project requested a full-time developer and three to four weekly Skype meetings. During each meeting, the owner supervises the work, and we go through additional brainstorming and goal changes. AppSierra has been incredibly flexible, providing us with structure despite the huge time difference and the additional difficulties this style of work creates. The company owner has the final word on all design and functionality decisions and participates in our Skype meetings. I’m acting as the U.S. project manager, as well as the additional developer, troubleshooter, designer, and mediator between tech people and the client.
AppSierra provides resources as needed based on each task’s scope. One developer is assigned to our project exclusively. An AppSierra manager also provides regular quality control and sorts out the logistics.
What was the team composition?
AppSierra structured the project using Jira. We provided documentation and continuous feedback. The client's side consisted of a single person with executive decision-making capabilities, two assistants, and myself as the project manager. AppSierra assigned several people to different projects based on their skill sets and provided the primary project coordinator to ensure all of our needs were met and the right people were working on each task.
AppSierra Solutions created an innovative solution that has received a lot of positive feedback. The platform successfully hosts 250 users within a project group. Throughout the project, their team communicated effectively resulting in a positive collaboration.