What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
What makes Blue Label Labs a great company to partner with, is their use of the agile methodology, which enables them to deliver quickly. Within five months, we had a fully functioning iOS app that was leveraged by a major florist in the Detroit market, and we are now in pilot with one of the largest privately-owned grocery chains in the United States.
The quality of their output is outstanding. Our company engaged a third-party cybersecurity provider to scan for security risks. They ran vulnerability assessments, as well as a manual penetration test. When the results were returned, there were only low priority issues that were quickly remediated by Blue Label Labs.
How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project managers are some of the best I’ve worked with. They are detail-oriented, quick to adapt to changing priorities, and an overall pleasure to work with.
At this point in our project, we have daily stand-up calls and hour-long planning calls twice a week. If we’re planning out a new phase, we’ll have in-person meetings, as needed. They use slack and email for written communication, and are quick to respond during weekends and off-hours, when needed.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re outstanding. Not only do they understand who we are as a company, but they’re willing to challenge our ideas. We have many years of IT experience within our own team, so we are probably not the easiest customer to deal with, since we really have an in-depth grasp of the development lifecycle.
Often, we come into a situation with something already designed and ask them to implement. However, Blue Label Labs will take the time to understand the problem to solve, push back as needed, and propose new ways of thinking about a problem. We then collaboratively come up with the optimal end solution.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The only thing I can think of is that, at times, there has been a bit of an underestimation of the complexity of what we were trying to accomplish. This has resulted in estimates that needed to be revised after we got into the details of the situation.
In that sense, it would benefit them to be more mindful about their estimates, from a time, cost, and bandwidth perspective.
During those cases, we discussed the concerns with their senior leadership and worked through the details to find the best solution.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If something isn’t working, speak up and have a conversation with the senior leadership team. They are always happy to make things right.
Based on early success in the beta-testing stages, the partner is pleased with the final product and impressed with the quality of the team. Through the use of project management tools and regular communication, they were able to stick to estimated timelines. They were especially skilled in design.