Ardan Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the web services lead for application services for a device that allows users to acquire a satellite and have a Wi-Fi hotspot for satellite and calling services. My team is responsible for running all the services that run out of the device itself, such as managing users, the functionality of the unit, and writing cloud services that augment the capabilities of the entity itself.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardan Labs?

We hired Ardan Labs for staffing services. We had a specific project that we didn’t have developers to work on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking for a way to run embedded web services on the unit itself. The existing solutions that we used for other applications weren’t suitable. The team settled on Golang as the language, but we had no experience with that in-house.

Engaging with Ardan Labs involved utilizing their development knowledge of Golang to establish a well-organized project. When hardware and other associated work took a bit longer, we had to taper slightly to make sure everything would land at the same time.

What is the team composition?

At the peak time, we worked with five of their developers. We typically start with around two or three, depending on the length and ramp-up speed. Currently, we’re working with two.

How did you come to work with Ardan Labs?

I wasn’t directly involved in the selection process.

How much have you invested with them?

I’d say north of $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Ardan Labs began in January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team delivers high-quality code. For code review, we track metrics regarding how many times we have to turf their code and have them redo it. That is a very low number. There are never more than one or two back-and-forth reviews. That is considering an ‘A’ in our books. Test coverage is also relatively high. Anecdotally-speaking, they’ve been excellent. Ardan Labs is full of top-rate performers that are skilled at what they do.

How did Ardan Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Up until recently, we had a full-time product manager for the project. I was also involved in different capacities during the development. During the full-time phase, everything ran smoothly. There were instances where I had to work on other projects, so I didn’t pay the full attention that this one deserved. It did start to wane a little due to a few factors. Dealing with the finer points of integrating with other teams takes time. It’s also hard to always have someone driving everything to completion. Some unique circumstances involved getting buy-in from other teams and individuals that were difficult to communicate with at times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at Ardan Labs exhibits tremendous expertise. They don’t need to be coached on what works or what’s a reasonable solution. They’re very much thought leaders in that area. If they get a reasonably vague description, it still gets done. As long as they have an outline of the proper criteria, their team comes up with a great solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they’ve done an exceptional job. We’re only ended the engagement because the project is starting to wrap up and we have budgetary issues. The extra strength isn’t needed anymore. I wouldn’t change anything about Ardan Labs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Focus on giving Ardan Labs clear criteria about what you want out of the system and features. Worry less about prescribing exact solutions because I find that they do just as well. Their team is smart and capable enough to come up with a great solution; they only need to understand what problem they’re solving. Defining the problem clearly is key to having success with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former CTO of Kairos, a company that offers tools to developers that provide facial recognition and emotion analysis services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardan Labs?

We’d transitioned to Golang, but we wanted to make sure we were following best practices. We needed a partner to review all of our code and products then provide recommendations on how to improve and what to do next.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ardan Labs reviewed our architecture and did a technical audit of our systems, from end to end. They ran a two-day on-site workshop where experts in Golang, deep machine learning, and general software engineering sat with our team to discuss what we’d done up to that point. They then took about two weeks to review all that information and our source code to develop a comprehensive report about our system.

They presented their findings, highlighting areas for improvement as well as strengths. The report outlined how we could reach our goals and also had strategies to remediate some of the issues that Ardan Labs had seen with our code. We were able to ask questions, and they patiently answered everything and walked us through the report.

After that, we came up with a roadmap for how and when to work on the issues they found. We then made plans to have them provide staff augmentation in Golang. They worked alongside our internal staff, and we were able to rely on their expertise whenever we ran into any problems.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact but also interacted with the founders and two senior engineers.

How did you come to work with Ardan Labs?

When our internal team was learning Golang, we referenced articles that had been written by Ardan Labs. Once we began looking for a partner, we realized they were located nearby, so we met with them. It went well, and they’re some of the only Golang experts in the country, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from May–October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ardan Labs enabled us to launch an on-premise version of our API that was hosted in the cloud. They built the installer that lets us install the software on a client’s site and the re-enroller that reinstalls all of the images in our system after an upgrade. Without those tools, we wouldn’t be able to launch the on-premise product, which is a large part of our revenue.

How did Ardan Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

In my 25 years of IT experience, I haven’t worked with an agency as organized as Ardan Labs. They flawlessly managed their projects, communication, and billing, making my job much easier. We had regular meetings, and they proactively sought ways to improve.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quality is astounding. They went above and beyond what we asked, working in line with best practices. Everything had test cases, was well documented and well structured, and ran smoothly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re expensive, but you get what you pay for. You pay a bit more upfront, but they don’t have to redo anything, and everything works.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They aren’t a flashy business that tries to show you how amazing they are, so you may be underwhelmed when you first talk to them. However, they do phenomenal work and are one of the best dev partners I’ve ever had.