Code Parachute

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an independent contractor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CodeParachute?

I had a project with a nonprofit organization. One of my associates wrote three books with 2,500 photos from the Civil War era. It’s a valuable collection, so we wanted to make them available online.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CodeParachute has built the WordPress website from scratch. One of the books has 12 sections and 250 chapters, so they’ve designed the layout to make it intuitive and logical so users aren’t overwhelmed. They’ve also tagged, named, and captioned all the images appropriately to create a search function that allows people to search photos and topics of interest. Additionally, CodeParachute has built other features to make the site relevant and interesting. For example, they’ve created a section called “This Week in History” with a different feature every day and another section for students' and teachers’ topics of interest.

We’ve entered a contract with them for ongoing support and maintenance, and they coordinate with a third party for hosting.

What is the team composition?

We’ve primarily dealt with two teammates: one works on the backend and one on the frontend. They also have a team of 3–4 people behind the scenes supporting them.

How did you come to work with CodeParachute?

A well-respected outsourcing company manager referred them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our conversations in March 2022, and our relationship is ongoing. We plan to launch the site in January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done extraordinary work and performed really well. We currently don’t have measures related to consumer acceptance because we haven’t launched the website. However, we’ve shown it to a few people, and the feedback has been exceptional.

How did CodeParachute perform from a project management standpoint?

Given the scope of work and the progress they’ve made, CodeParachute has exceeded our expectations. We communicate through Google Meet or Zoom, depending on who sets up the meeting. For project management work, we’ve used Google Sheets to keep it simple and manageable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, we’ve been impressed with their energy, passion, and commitment. They listen to what we try to achieve and work with us to develop solutions that bring our intentions to life. CodeParachute doesn’t deliver standard websites; they dig into what you want and go the extra mile to make things happen. For example, we needed to integrate Lightroom Classic for the photos, and they actually found a plug-in to manipulate WordPress and accomplish what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to articulate what you want and encourage them to find solutions. They’ll keep responding and fine-tuning until you end up with something great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an organization that builds websites for small businesses and provides online marketing support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CodeParachute?

I was looking for a good developer based in North America.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CodeParachute is our development partner. Typically, when we make a sale on a website, we’re engaged with CodeParachute from the very beginning, working out the quote and what’s involved in building the website.

Then, I work as the project manager, and they carry out the development work for the client using WordPress. Depending on the project, they can start with a WordPress theme or build from scratch. 

For example, they’ve helped us update a real estate site from one of our long-time customers. The team included Intenet Data Exchange (IDX) which is pulled directly from the customer’s supplier. They’ve also built a shopping cart site for another customer.

What is the team composition?

I only work directly with the owner, and then he works with his people beyond that.

How did you come to work with CodeParachute?

I started working with the owner before he formed CodeParachute.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $20,000 last year alone. We’ve spent at least $40,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

CodeParachute has great communication skills and writes clean code. I measure the team’s success based on project completion and whether my clients are happy with the results. The client whose shopping cart CodeParachute built has said their sales have increased.

Additionally, our real estate client is busier than our other real estate clients whose site CodeParachute didn’t build. With a country-wide real estate inventory shortage, the fact that this client’s business hasn’t slowed down is a testament to their visibility, which is a testament to the quality of CodeParachute’s work.

How did CodeParachute perform from a project management standpoint?

CodeParachute stays on budget, meets deadlines, and communicates. We use Teamwork for project management and communicate through Zoom meetings and Facebook Messenger. CodeParachute also uses Slack within their team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with CodeParachute’s knowledge of what can and can’t be done and the fact that they work on the code to make sure it’s as fast as possible. They can create anything my customers can imagine.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We need to streamline how we talk, and we’re in the process of doing that. We use different systems, so we’re trying to find a better way for both of us. That’s not something that impacts our clients, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend knowing what you want, being clear on it, and keeping to your timeline. For example, if you have two days to review something, stay with the schedule. I have clients who take a long time to give feedback, which slows down the whole process, so I would advise being fast and efficient with feedback.