Bad Dinosaur

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Student Developer at the Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development, University of St Andrews.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bad Dinosaur, and what were your goals?

We run a 1:1 appointment system where students can meet with a tutor. The manual matching between tutors' availability, topic expertise and students was taking a substantial about of time for a member of admin to process every day. We wanted a more automated system that would save time for all stakeholders.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bad Dinosaur and what were the deciding factors?

Selected by personal recommendation. Experience in the area of designing software for similar purposes, willingness to collaborate to solve and cost were also factors.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

After initial consultation meetings where our quite specific needs were outlined, Kyle designed a web-based booking system, which would allow automated matching between tutors and students based on availability and tutor expertise in the topics we offer. We were allowed an initial period of testing before the service went live in early 2015.

In short, when a tutor registered on the system they selected the topics they were able to cover and at what level. They would then enter availability. When a student registered to book an appointment, they would view a list of available slots sorted by both time and most appropriate tutor match. The appointment was then booked with minimal input from admin.

After the appointment the tutor would then mark the student attended (or not) and mark what topics were covered. As the platform became embedded, the Team worked with us closely to meet feature requests and to problem solve any bugs that accrued. Meetings variously took place in person, or by phone or email. We were able to test and feedback on any feature requests before they were rolled out.

Further features of the platform included (but were not limited to):

1. ability to 'bulk upload' a list of course module codes which we used for reporting;
2. system flagging when maximum appointments had been reached;
3. capacity to select which 'rooms' were open for tutoring at any one time;
4. control over "working hours"; ability to 'approve' appointments before they were confirmed;
5. function to view booked appointments in multiple view (e.g. list vs calendar);
6. extensive reporting features.

The platform is a.NET web application, comprising a database on Microsoft SQL server, Twillo integration for text messaging functionality, and it is hosted on Microsoft Azure.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Kyle Whittington was our main contact in the early years of the project as Founder/ Managing Director/Developer. Subsequently, we dealt with Rosie and occasionally Russ.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Using this tool dramatically reduced staff time dealing with the logistics of our department's tuition offering. Our no show count saw a huge reduction and the extensive reporting features allowed us to identify hotspot areas where students were needing the most help.

In particular, the amount of email traffic and data input required to run our system dropped significantly. The staff time saved allowed us to focus our energies on other projects, while still maintaining a high quality service for our students.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Throughout our extensive time working with Kyle and Bad Dinosaur, we have been particularly struck by the client focused approach. Kyle was flexible, fast to respond and keen to work together to develop solutions to make Tutlings meet our requirements.

He would listen to our concerns and areas we wanted to improve even further and was always able to suggest sensible solutions to our problems that have worked well for us and for the software. Main communication tools included email, phone and in person meetings- the latter were primarily when large feature changes were requested and we wanted to 'workshop' through possible solutions.

Any communications with Bad Dinosaur were responded to in a timely fashion; the project was delivered on time and with plenty time allowed for testing at each stage of development

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Definitely the client-led approach; we felt involved throughout the whole process and were kept in the loop at all stages.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Having never worked specifically with another software developer, this is a hard question to answer.

But, in honesty, I felt that the majority of small "issues" that arose (where things didn't work the way we expected) were to do with holes in initial testing on OUR end, and sometimes to do with members of our team changing and bringing different approaches.

I felt that Bad Dinosaur dealt with these initial requests fairly and quickly, and were always open to subsequent feature requests as the project grew.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Research Fellow at Queen Margaret University, and one of my responsibilities is to manage and coordinate the development of the Social Connections Tool.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bad Dinosaur, and what were your goals?

We hired Bad Dinosaur to develop the Social Connections App for us. The Social Connections Tool is a practice-based participatory research tool aimed at gaining a better understanding of the relationships that matter most to communities as well as certain key characteristics of these relationships.

Prior to our collaboration with Bad Dinosaur, the Social Connections Tool was purely an offline endeavour, and we hired Bad Dinosaur to further the development and evolution of the tool and make it more accessible.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bad Dinosaur and what were the deciding factors?

While I wasn't involved in the selection process, I know that a number of companies were contacted and one of the driving factors behind the decision to go with Bad Dinosaur was the 'above-and-beyond' advice and support they provided to us, taking the time to explain different development routes and the implications of each. They genuinely care.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Not sure about the technologies used, but the scope of the work was essentially to design and translate the Social Connections methodology to the online world. This included the development of a traditional survey function, followed by the development of traditional social network analysis data collection methods through globally accessible visuals aimed at reducing respondent fatigue and easing respondents through what can often be a long survey process.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Off the top of my head, I can count at least six people who have worked with us, ranging from project managers to developers to designers. One of the reasons we really enjoy and appreciate working with Bad Dinosaur for is precisely the holistic service they provide, taking the time to explain implications and processes to us and always prioritising the interests of the Social Connections Tool.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We can only share a limited amount of information on this due to research ethics. Having said that, over the past two years we have employed the constantly evolving Social Connections Tool in no less than five separate research projects across a wide variety of contexts globally.

Bad Dinosaur have always provided us with quick and focused support in this process. The advent of public health measures in light of Coronavirus might be a great illustration of the quality and speed of their service: due to lockdown measures, we needed to develop a remote data collection capacity for the social connections app. This was done with the utmost efficiency and has allowed us to employ the Social Connections Tool in an even wider variety of research projects with larger research populations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We communicate in the first instance through Basecamp and our communications are received by all relevant members of the Bad Dinosaur team - this includes designers, developers and project managers. They always reply swiftly and comprehensively to our queries, and provide us with extra support to enable us to ensure that all our requirements are met.

We also arrange frequent face-to-face remote catch-ups where we discuss our broader plans for the app and draw upon their advice. They regularly go above and beyond their remit, providing us with extra support, working extra hours and looking for ways in which to support and facilitate the development of the Social Connections Tool.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have always delivered quality design and development on time. What we find most impressive and are most grateful for, however, goes above and beyond mere professional competence: they genuinely care about the Social Connections Tool and have noted on many occasions how they are personally invested in this product just like we are. We trust that they have the best interests of the tool at heart, and feel lucky to be working with them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Can't think of anything off the top of my head. It took us a little bit of time to get used to the workflow of app development, but this has more to do with our own limitations than anything on their part. In fact, as mentioned in the above answers, they have often gone above and beyond to help us understand how these things work and have put in development workflow terms our visions and ideas for the development of the app.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Featherbed Tales is a platform that creates children's digital picture books, with narrated recordings from loved ones who can’t be there at story-time. Parents, grandparents and others can record themselves reading a story through a simple guided process in a website based app. Your recording is then automatically added onto the pages of the digital children's picture book.

A child can look at the pictures and hear their loved one reading the story at the same time. There's no need to arrange a time for a call or video chat, the recorded stories will be there whenever your child wants to listen or maybe just when they need the reassurance of their loved one's voice.

I am a writer based in the Peak District in the UK, and the founder and owner of Featherbed Tales. I started writing stories when my children were tiny as a way of keeping sane during long nights of feeding, colic and tantrums. Much of my inspiration is drawn from the natural world around me which comes to life in my stories. I have a passion for engaging children's imagination and helping them to find joy in books through storytelling.

For many years I have shared my stories through community-based story-telling events and I’m now delighted to be bringing them to a wider audience. Previously I have worked in marketing consultancy, spanning business development, strategy, communications and market research. I have worked with clients in charities and private enterprises. Featherbed Tales draws on my experience and business skills and combines these with my joy of storytelling and a desire to connect children with their loved ones who can't be with them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bad Dinosaur, and what were your goals?

I got in touch with Bad Dinosaur to do the technical build of Featherbed Tales. The task was to build a Web App that would allow users to choose from a variety of books (that I have written) and record personalised audio, so when the child turns the pages of their e-book, the narrated audio will play, thereby allowing the narrator to read to the child in a virtual format.

Bad Dinosaur built the application. My ultimate goal was to have a fully functioning Web App, but it was important to build a strong MVP so that I could test out the viability of the product, and make any changes before committing to the full build. Bad Dinosaur really emphasised the importance of the MVP process and it worked very well for this project.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bad Dinosaur and what were the deciding factors?

I was referred to Bad Dinosaur by a friend who had built an app with them previously. They were happy with Bad Dinosaur, especially with their MVP (minimum viable product) approach to development.

I got in touch with Bad Dinosaur and they arranged a consultation and a workshop. The workshop for me was absolutely amazing. I have always been a supplier, so I have rarely been a client of anyone for anything, but I found this process truly amazing. We sat down, the four of us, for a few hours and talked through the various paths and ideas for the project. Everything was always transparent, consistent, and I could see immediately that their approach was exactly how I like to work.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

First there was a consultation, then a workshop (which I participated in). The team then did some storyboarding sessions, design sessions, and user stories writing together, which resulted in a proposal that detailed their recommendation, and the details about timings, costs, and outputs. I signed a work order for the first phase of the project, dates were scheduled in, and work commenced really quickly after that.

Bad Dinosaur start with the design sprints before they kick off development work. Progress is shared via weekly co-design sessions which are attended by the Product Designer, Development Lead and the Project Manager. As the word suggests it, these co-design sessions allow for a show and tell on what has been created so far, and for an opportunity for me to provide feedback.

Development work is delivered in sprints and outlined through user stories in the Product Backlog. This allows for full visibility of what the team is working on at any given time. The app is built for the web with .Net Framework and relational SQL database for storage.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Between four and five. The initial workshop was with Rosie (Head of Partnerships), Ian (Head of Product), and Elliot (Lead Designer). I would have weekly Zoom meetings with Ian, Elliot and Ellen (Project Manager) to discuss the various features and design details of the platform. Sometimes other team members would step in to lend a hand, test some features, and share their expertise.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

I’m very happy with the work completed -- it’s great to see Featherbed Tales as a real working platform, as opposed to a concept in my mind. Through the co-design sessions, Bad Dinosaur's approach, their insight and the expertise the team brought to the project, we have created a platform which significantly exceeded my initial vision for it.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Ellen is the Project Manager at the helm and she has been great at keeping me up to speed with progress. Bad Dinosaur have their own portal where I can see what production time I have remaining, see issues and fixes, and see what user stories have been completed. It is a good system for managing the build of the app.

All communications are done on Basecamp, the project management tool they use. It’s great to have everything in one place, and to be able to speak to everyone in the team rather than always going through an intermediary.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Bad Dinosaur provided passionate and talented designers, developers, and project manager. They combined this with a "make this happen attitude", ability to translate tech speak into meaningful language (for a non-techie) clearly defining how this impacted on objectives for the product, agreed deliverables, UX and future development and obviously cost.

The systems and way of working were effective, I always felt in control of the development, which was finely focused to achieve my priorities, and combined with a candid approach where frank exchanges were encouraged and listening was strong. This resulted in mutual trust, respect and an open relationship in which Bad Dinosaur had a clear understanding of the product vision at the heart of everything - and so were able to quickly identify directions and development which would impact this and say so.

This was all combined with a sense of humour, flexibility wherever possible, and genuine care for creating a really great product. Without doubt they went the extra mile on every journey. I would say they are rare indeed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The only area, I can identify for improvement was around testing of each release. This was partly lack of experience on my part, but Bad Dinosaur could have explained this better up front and managed expectations in a different way.

Since our review and feedback given around this, I am aware Bad Dinosaur have spent time enhancing this area - specifically more clarity on the testing QC/process plus they have further enhanced testing capability across browser/device compatibility for clients who wish to lean more heavily on the development team during the QC process as I did.

As expected from their general approach, I have continued to see learning, feedback and enhancements working as a continual and effective loop.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At pour, we make smartphone ordering accessible for pubs, bars, and restaurants of all sizes, through one consumer facing app. We started the business in 2019, are based in Edinburgh and have 2 employees. I'm the Co-Founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bad Dinosaur?

Our business is focused on using smartphone technology to improve the service experience in the hospitality industry, for venues and their customers. However, our founding team don't have technical app development skills and so we worked with Bad Dinosaur to fill this skill gap and build our clickable prototype.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to translate our wireframes and sketches into a clickable prototype that could then be turned into a working MVP. We needed to streamline our ideas into the core benefits and functionality of our product, so that we could build something affordable and useful, test it with customers and iterate from there.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by friends in the industry and we contacted them, as well as 4 others, before making an appointment. We found our shortlist through recommendation and Internet Search and held meetings with all considered parties before making an appointment. Bad Dinosaur were selected because they were passionate about us, our business and about helping us make our product the best it could be. We also liked the way they worked, focusing on getting an MVP ready quickly rather than bogging us down in expensive native builds from the beginning. And they were competitively priced.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We had sketches and wireframes for our app prepared. Bad Dinosaur were tasked with translating this into a workable user flow and for designing the key features and front end design of the app, producing a clickable prototype in Adobe XD that would then be used in pitches/meetings with customers.

What was the team composition?

We had 3 primary contacts in our team: New Business Development Software Engineer Designer The majority of our contact was with the designer who also acted as our project manager and he was absolutely fantastic to work with. He always came to meetings with new ideas and helped us improve our product significantly from our early sketches.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The output helped us engage directly with prospective customers and develop a warm pipeline of leads to continue conversations with as we move through development.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was very impressive. All work was completed on time and we were given regular updates. Basecamp was the project management tool of choice and worked well at sharing updates and delivering feedback to project work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How simple and fun they made everything. Tech is a complex environment but they helped us understand everything simply and ensured we were always informed before we made a decision. The quality of the team was also very strong - everyone involved always came to meetings with passion, energy and ideas for our product and how to help make it better. Their ways of working were flexible, and they were always willing to work around our slightly crazy schedule. Finally the quality of their output, the work was delivered to a high standard and the overall output exceeded our expectations at the beginning of the campaign.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As it relates to this project, there is very little I could suggest they improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Fanbase is a sports ticketing and subscriptions platform with the goal of uniting clubs and fans through digital technology. My position is Managing Director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bad Dinosaur?

We needed a reliable, cost-effective and innovative partner to help us design and develop the platform

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to develop the first version of Fanbase which delivered the core functionality of digital ticketing and fan data management.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After close to a year of sourcing globally through various platforms we found Bad Dinosaur on our doorstep. We met for a coffee and discussed the project in a lot of detail. It was the first time we felt like the project was going to be in good hands.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project goal was always to build version one of the platform. With minimal design and development effort to then test with some clubs. The main features were a user account area for clubs to create fixtures and tickets. A fan area to purchase tickets An administration area to invite clubs to join the platform.

What was the team composition?

The resources have varied throughout the build: Technical architecture consultancy Software development (front and back end)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work Bad Dinosaur completed gave us our platform. Without it, we'd maybe still have the idea in our heads. We're now able to sell our solution to clients and have a number of clubs onboarded already.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The lead developer took Project Management responsibility to start with before handing over to a PM later in the program when the platform had grown as well as Bad Dinosaur.

On the whole, everything has been within the budget and time boxes we set. We use Trello to manage user stories from our perspective and Video Calls to run through estimations, prioritization and decisions we need to talk through. Basecamp is used to keep email exchanges organised and internally developed software helps BD to manage the detail behind user stories in trello.

Principles and some working practices from Agile Scrum are used to incrementally build and test the software so we're always incrementally improving the technology and validating the new features and changes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We liked how they adapted to different demands and priorities. They also provided their strategic advice on how best to approach different user needs we were trying to deliver against. This is something other vendors overlooked and we're delighted with the strategic advice we've received from Bad Dinosaur.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think the one area we would encourage BD to bolster would be user interface design skills within the team. It's something we had to source externally but it's something that would add a lot to the offering in our opinion. Back end development, integrations, front end development have all been very strong.