BlueFletch

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

It took four to six weeks to develop and launch the app. We weren’t tracking their work in a specific way. We were looking at wireframes, coding, and general usability.

How did BlueFletch perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, their team is excellent. They’re a buttoned-up team, managing everything. Their team held us accountable for our deadlines and dependences while staying flexible to changing realities. They also added strategic visions and ideas to improve the application.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The rigor at which they operate is somewhat unique for a firm of their size. A lot of companies cobbled together their project management, but BlueFletch remained professional with that. They have the approach of a larger development firm.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As for things they could’ve done differently, there’s nothing that’s jumping out at me. There were the normal gaps that come with back-and-forth collaborations, but they managed all of that effectively. They’re good partners that remained involved with the design agency we were working with and us. I don’t have anything negative to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and share that with them. They appreciate what you’re trying to achieve, looking beyond requirements. Their team strives to understand your business. Be upfront with sharing your goals and objectives. Let them bring ideas and insights to the table as a partner.

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

I’m from a startup background, so I appreciated the way they handled consultancy in an agile fashion. We were able to continuously evaluate our goals and progress on a weekly basis. For instance, our ultimate goals were to get all the current devices and new fleets under proper management. We’ve been able to track that on a weekly basis.  

How did BlueFletch perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a highly technical team. Brett (Founding Partner, BlueFletch) is able to serve as a point person for projects, slipping into project management and engineering roles as necessary. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They weren’t afraid to make mistakes to guide them to the right solutions. Sometimes, if you don’t break things, then it’ll take too long to effectively find an answer. They were willing to touch all parts of our service: Android development, networks, Wi-Fi, external vendors.

If they made a mistake in any of these areas during agile development, they could quickly fix it. This basically sped up the entire process. They got through tasks so quickly that we expanded their responsibilities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a very good job, overcoming challenges quickly. It did take them a little while to come up to speed on our networks and processes, so a bit more prep time could’ve been beneficial.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Using the agile process, you’ll get daily or weekly builds of your software from them. This allows you to shape products that they’re building along the way. To do this most effectively, I’d assign a technical lead on our end to communicate with them about the logistics of the development.

That will help you challenge them throughout the process and become more involved than we were able to be. They were able to deliver amazing work anyway, though. It’s still important for the transfer of knowledge to occur throughout the process.

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

The Android version is still in development, but the project has been highly successful. More operational groups use it than we anticipated; we now have 11 operational groups using the app across the globe, with several more groups who want to utilize it. It has been very valuable to the frontline operation. We just finished phase 2A and have begun working on phase 2B.

How did BlueFletch perform from a project management standpoint?

We keep a list of lessons learned and celebrate our successes as they happen. When any issues come up, their team is very open and amenable to addressing any of our concerns. They deliver on time. When we needed them to work 12–14-hour days to hit our date, they did it. They’re just a good partner.

We were really impressed with our first project manager. She was one of the best project managers I’ve ever worked with. The manager we work with now is also good and attends a weekly meeting with team stakeholders.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Although they’re a small company of 30–40 people, they’re a good partner. They’re very amenable and don’t try to nickel and dime us. They’re a very young, smart, and talented team. Whenever they have issues to address, they’re easy to talk to. They’re not combative. They’re open to constructive feedback and criticism.

We appreciate that they do what they need to in order to deliver everything on time. Since their team is local, it’s very easy to collaborate with them. Even though we’ll say they don’t have to come on-site for a meeting, they still come and do a face-to-face. They’re good and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

My mobile QA tester is finding defects that I think their QA tester should find. They’re supposed to be performing full functional QA testing, this is being addressed with them. 

I recently had to remind them again to use certain terms in lieu of others because when we get into meetings, people who aren’t part of our core project team will get confused.

Everything else I’ve addressed with them, they’ve taken immediate corrective action. There’s nothing else on our radar that I can think of that we need them to improve upon.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Once you give them the work, they hit the ground running. They’re a great partner. They’ve always been willing to do whatever we need, going beyond what they were contractually obligated to do. My advice to anyone that is thinking about hiring them would be to make sure to clearly communicate your expectations, especially if you don’t want them to make any assumptions, even on the smallest details, especially if you have complex legacy and internal-only applications. In the very beginning, they made too many assumptions; therefore, we faced a few preventable challenges and were headed down the wrong path for the tech solution and design. However, after discussing a few times, we were able to successfully overcome these challenges.