Attract Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product and operations for a design services company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Attract Group?

We wanted to outsource some of our software engineering work to deliver a big project for one of our US clients. The end customer was a startup business that had been operating on a clunky WordPress site until they managed to raise seed funding. 

My company had been working with them on UI/UX designs. For this project, our technical director was the original lead, but we then outsourced the React frontend development and Node.js-based work to Attract Group. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Attract Group has developed a React-based app with an API layer. The team handles the project management and QA tasks. We don’t have a fixed scope of time, so this is an ongoing engagement — we have a retainer agreement where their resources work with us closely. Overall, we use them as an extension of our team. 

In terms of functionality, the app allows end users to search for, configure, and select a new car. Then, they can undergo a full KYC checkout journey to subscribe to our end customer’s services. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, a QA specialist, a frontend architect, and a backend architect. 

How did you come to work with Attract Group?

We found Attract Group on Clutch. 

How much have you invested with them?

The investment has been $70,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started in January 2022, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done an initial launch for the project, and we’re improving from where we are right now. Our teams are working on optimizations and improvements. 

How did Attract Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Attract Group’s project management is great. In fact, I wish some of our project managers can perform as well as they do. In terms of tools, we mainly use Jira. Our members use Slack to communicate, and we share designs via Figma. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re diligent, while the other providers we’ve used have been a bit too relaxed. Their resources have kept us on track on many things, and that’s greatly appreciated. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve used Jira sooner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If the project is right for Attract Group, then go for it — I have no concerns about recommending them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We develop custom security solutions for SMEs and Government agencies using biometrics, biographics and sensor integration solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Attract Group?

Our customer required a streamlined approach to processing large volumes of video data and for generation of a histographic map of subjects across those videos

What were your goals for this project?

The platform had to allow for the identification of subjects across hundreds of thousands of videos without overwhelming the user with too much data

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I interviewed 10 developers, shortlisted the top three then asked the top three candidates to spend 8 hours developing a single page. The developers were graded on quality of deliverable and communicaiton/synergy.

AttractGroup came out on top because of not only their high quality, but their unique mix of highly intelligent programmers who asked the right questions/gave the right suggestions, but also because of their great project manager who was very proactive and delivered milestones which were accurate, logical and which gave me confidence in their ability to deliver the project

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They took the UI/UX design I provided to them tand identified errors in the design, created a milestones from that design, and delivered a Django frontend based on those milestones

What was the team composition?

Unlike when I hire freelancers, when I hire a s/w development company I prefer not to know how the company works. All that matters to me is that either:

1. there is a good project manager to ensure the project succeeds
2. there is a good programmer which I can communicate to (most programmers are terrible at expressing their ideas in a meaningful way)

Their PM was very good at making sure the milestones were delivered on time

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I liked the synergy their PM had with their lead s/w architect: The architect was a brilliant guy who would identify problems but the PM was a likeable guy who relayed those concerns in a less aggressive way than most programmers would do. I find this is all s/w consulting agencies need to do: have friendly people on the front and less social, but more experienced, coders in the background

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As I said before, there was one main PM and most of the communication was through him. All milestones and budgeting were done through spreadsheets. I especially liked that they matched the budget to the milestones.

As a Prime Contractor, I become very uncomfortable when my subcontractors give me vague quotes for seemingly no reason (ie. based on a 7 hour work week, lump sum fo travel/accomodation, etc.)

What did you find most impressive about this company?

In order of importance:

1. They went through every single wireframe and identified every single issue even before being paid. I thought this showed integrity.
2. That they went through every single wireframe and matched the milestones and thus the budget to those wireframes, thereby ensuring the quote was meaningful to me
3. the high quality of work

Are there any areas for improvement?

My scope was very limitted so I cannot comment on other areas like UI/UX design, API design, s/w development etc.