Coderus

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the development manager at X-on and the company specialises in cloud telecoms for the NHS.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Coderus?

A new android voip deskphone came onto the market and we wanted to create an android app that sat on the phone to enhance our telecommucation service.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase the sale of this type of andrpoi voip phone by adding the extra features unique to our phone system.

SOLUTION

How did you select Coderus?

We looked around for local app development companies and Coderus was top of that list. They came highly recommended and have a good profile in the local community.

Describe the project in detail.

This new type of android voip phone had an integrated camera which was what we wanted to take advantage of so our users could conduct video calls. We wanted an adroid app that could detect a user was on a phone call and offer them extra functionality like switching that phone call to a video session. We had no wireframes but gave Coderus an initial requirements document to work with.

What was the team composition?

I think we had 3 people from Coderus working on this project. A project maager and 2 developers. This didn't change during the prokect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The application worked as expected and we had a few improvements planned before taking it to market. Unfortunately other priorities took over and it was never used in a production environment.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between us and Coderus was very effective. It defintiely helped that we were local and regular face to face meetings enabled good communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was very impressed by the specific app knowledge. Coderus had a great company culture that was clear for us to see.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very happy with the work Coderus did for us. Perhaps if we extended the project and went live with the work we may have some improvements but overall we were very happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Special School for pupils with Social Emotional Mental Health. I am the Engagement For Learning Lead.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Coderus?

Coderus worked with us for over a year to develop an anti- bullying app, to support young people to report bullying at school.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to generate enough interest to promote this app in all schools in the country. This even got the attention of HRH Prince William who loved the idea that an app such as SABA would help to give young people a voice. The school was very lucky to work with the Diana Awards also and this collaboration was useful to identify areas for Coderus to work with.

SOLUTION

How did you select Coderus?

Coderus approached us when they saw our pupils on BBC look east, talking about a prize they had won in London. A competition ran by the Diana Awards.

Describe the project in detail.

Pupils worked for many weeks with Coderus to develop the App and design a logo with students from One College. At each critical point the pupils were invited to HQ look at each stage of the app and for their approval.

What was the team composition?

Fay was the person supporting the pupils with their ideas and the go between with the other parties.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The app was an amazing project and if we had had the money and opportunity to run with it, could’ve been a game-changer.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Coderus were an amazing company to work with, we as a school could not of asked for more support when asked for.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Coderus is the way they involved our pupils at each stage of the project, invited them in to HQ to see how the operational side of things worked and supported the pupils on their journey outside of the app too, ie functions to London Facebook.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with the project at all times.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communications manager of a professional sailing team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coderus?

They helped us with all the data mining for a tactical app we were working on for our boats. The app helps us know the boat’s position on the course to be more competitive during races.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They supported our data team in developing the app. The solution needed to be simple, as the onboard tactician would only have short periods of time in which they could examine the app to get a better understanding of the course before making a decision.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Mark (Founder & CEO) and Nick (Head of Marketing, PR, and Business Development). Outside of them, there were three engineers working with us, with one working with us full-time. The engineers working on the project changed suddenly partway through the project.

How did you come to work with Coderus?

One of our sponsors in a previous event connected us with them. After working with them through the sponsoring organization on a previous project, we worked directly with them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s hard to say specifically, but I’d estimate somewhere between £250,000–£500,000 (approximately $343,800–$687,600).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April 2018–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The engagement was really successful. The product delivered was exactly what we wanted. The only frustrations were related to staffing changes due to COVID-19, but in the end, it didn’t affect the final product. We’ve kept in touch with Mark and are looking forward to continuing the partnership moving forward.

How did Coderus perform from a project management standpoint?

Generally speaking, communication was good. However, there were times where it was hard to get in contact with Mark. We mostly encountered these difficulties during a time where their entire firm was regrouping, so I don’t really fault them for this. In the end, they were able to resolve any internal issues and deliver everything on time. Their timeliness was helped by the race being delayed, though.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their passion for helping us reach our goals through their work is spectacular. Their team is incredibly smart and can really deliver technically.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Clearer guidelines on project progress would have been helpful. Additionally, they didn’t contribute much to the marketing end of the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be proactive in communicating with them regularly. Make sure everyone knows the plan so that if there are any changes, you can stay a step ahead of them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of an organization that manufactures speakers and headphones.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coderus?

We wanted to augment our software development capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coderus works with multiple technologies to develop companion mobile applications for our active speakers and headphones. The apps they develop permit users to set up and configure their products to match their performance expectations.

Coderus collaborates with us to assess the severity of any issues that might arise and to ensure that those issues are resolved without impacting our customers. They also provide suggestions on how we could improve things moving forward.

What is the team composition?

We work with several people on their team. Specifically, we mostly work with Mark (Founder & CEO) and Mike (Operations Manager). We also work with many of their developers across different projects.

How did you come to work with Coderus?

We found Coderus through happenstance. One of our tech leads met Mark at a trade show and spoke to him about the challenges we were facing. Their ability to work with different toolsets and technologies was one of the reasons we selected them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent several million pounds.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Coderus in January 2015, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We assess success throughout the relationship in multiple ways. One of them is the quality of the deliverables, namely the number of bugs reported per version. 

Coderus has given us the flexibility to scale our software development resources up and down, based on demand. Without the development done on their side, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve some of the successes we’ve had with our products.

How did Coderus perform from a project management standpoint?

Coderus doesn’t use any specific project management tools. As far as I'm aware, the bulk of their work is done through agile software development processes. They use story point estimations and tools like Excel to project when things need to be delivered.

They have been able to meet quite difficult timelines, going above and beyond to ensure that they deliver on time. Moreover, they’re flexible about how many people are put on the project for that purpose.

We have a history of good communication and project management with them. Whenever there is an issue, Coderus is responsive in ensuring that it is resolved in a meaningful way. Even when there’s the odd blip in terms of communication or project management, they are receptive to our feedback and do all they can to resolve it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re a particularly high-maintenance partner. We have high expectations, and Coderus is one of the partners that consistently meets them. We stay with Coderus because of the quality of their work and our collaborative relationship. It’s very hard for us to find partners that understand us as well as Coderus does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As projects have become more complicated, we’ve seen the need for having clear roles and responsibilities, and for having people capable of fulfilling the role of a technical lead. There have been bottlenecks — Mike’s ability to understand the scopes of some projects has been somewhat limited by his bandwidth and capacity. Getting those aspects would probably do Coderus some good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Sr Direcotr of Engineering, responsible for delivering headphone products - from concept, design, prototype to final production oversee.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Coderus?

We hire Coderus to develop our Headphone App.

What were your goals for this project?

This app uses BTLE technologies to enable and control certain functions of the headphone, and also customise settings for each headphone. It can also perform firmware update for the headphones. It also serves as a portal for customer engagement.

SOLUTION

How did you select Coderus?

We have been working with Coderus for many years and found they are very professional and able to deliver the "said" goods on time, and on quality.

Describe the project in detail.

The design of the app was done internally (graphics etc, layout), and Coderus help realise the implementation. This app is for iOS and Android. Coderus also help set some message exchange protocols during the development of the BTLE link

What was the team composition?

3 SW engineers, 1 project manager, 4 SQA members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We consistently get 4 stars plus on the App store, and coderus help us to deploy something trully amazing. We love it, and our customers love it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Coderus was very engaging and willing to help solve challenges. We ran 2 weekly calls between the teams, and also across 3 time zones.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Coderus is very professional. From sales engagement to engineering development. they are also very open about source code (sharing with customer) - nothing hidden.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could be a little more affordable. But, I would say, it's worth the money

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of the engagement, I was the software architect on the headphones team at Bowers & Wilkins. I was responsible for managing the relationship with Coderus, as well as the development activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coderus?

We didn't have enough software engineers on staff, so we needed some assistance in developing and updating iOS and Android apps, as well as desktop apps for our headphone suite.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The main deliverables were mobile apps for both iOS and Android, and desktop apps for Microsoft Windows and macOS. The desktop apps were for updates and recovery, like if a process was accidentally interrupted and something didn't apply successfully, then they have the opportunity to use the desktop app to recover it via USB. The mobile apps were a little bit more extensive; they allowed users to configure different parameters and personalize the headphones. 

It was a pretty collaborative relationship — we worked directly with them on defining the way that the apps talked to the headphones via Bluetooth and we co-developed that protocol together. The design for the app was done in-house and we communicated all those assets to them as they needed them. 

What is the team composition?

They had around 4–5 people working on our project, including the development and QA team. We didn’t have a project manager, so Mark (CEO) took on that responsibility. 

How did you come to work with Coderus?

Bowers & Wilkins had a long-standing relationship with Coderus that started well before I showed up. They were on retainer for a number of years. Around the time that I came into the picture, we just started a headphones division and needed extra help, so we took advantage of our existing relationship with Coderus. 

How much have you invested with them?

The yearly retainer that we had them on was around £500,000 (approximately $696,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from October 2018–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work that they did was always very high quality, and so we didn't really have to closely monitor their output and we didn’t have metrics. When they sent their output to us, it was obvious if it worked or not — every time that they would release new app updates to us, the progress was clear and measurable. As long as they were making progress, we were happy. 

How did Coderus perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very communicative. We communicated pretty well via email and Slack, and then we had weekly sync-up calls. We met up a few times at our office in Taipei, which was the nexus of our headphone development, as well as their headquarters in the UK.

Mark was pretty proactive about pinging people directly if there was something that his team needed in order to move forward, and the lead developers were really responsible, as well — they were a collaborative team and I enjoyed engaging with them.

The only times that they ever missed any deadlines were when we were late giving them something they needed from us. I have nothing bad to say about them in terms of deadlines. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When I first met with the team, I was really impressed when they walked me through their methodology of development, as well as the tools and processes they used to produce high-quality work. Their commitment to quality and engineering rigor was highly impressive — it was surprising to me because I've worked with a number of consulting firms and Coderus wasn’t cut from the same cloth as everybody else, which was a good thing.

They were also cost-effective given the amount of work that they did and the number of teammates they had working on our project. The cost of their services was significantly more economical than it would have been if we hired a firm in Silicon Valley — the cost would have been astronomically higher, so I think that the value of Coderus’ work was pretty great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve. When we were late, they couldn’t have magically delivered certain things, so I can’t say they were lacking in any way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is don’t be afraid to engage directly with the developers or with Mark to make sure that everyone's on the same page. They're a small team and there's not a lot of hierarchy, so it's pretty effective and sensible to engage directly with the people that are working on the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the IT Manager, and general head of technology at Seven Resourcing. We have 4 sites across 3 continents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a lot of monotonous jobs around our CRM (data entry, checklisting etc.), and identified the need to automate where possible. I asked Coderus if they could build me a foundation of code, upon which my team could build out automations and workflows.

SOLUTION

How did you select Coderus and what were the deciding factors?

I've dealt with other programming companies before, who made us reliant on their continual service. I spoke with Mark, and he made it clear that that isn't how Coderus operates, and that they would be giving me the full code after the project was completed.

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

This one was a small project, mainly simplifying processes such as a 3 step authentication process. Coderus built out and tested the scripts, annotated them for me, then walked me through them. I asked Coderus to stick to http requests where possible, so most of the code in Windows Batch. My sticking point was being able to breakdown and integrate the code myself, after our project - which I have been able to do.

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

I scoped the project with the Technical CEO Mark, then worked personally with just one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've integrated the code into 4 workflows in the past few months, and estimated time saving is 1 hour per day of admin work - which was wholly prone to human error given the tedious nature of the work. One of these workflows has worked so well that I've had renewed interest from my directors, and they're asking for more now.

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

We communicated mostly between calls, emails and google meetings. My developer Blake was dedicated to my project, so I could get a hold of him whenever I wanted an update.

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

Coderus made every part of the process quick and easy for us, unlike the other developers we've worked with. They're very easy to communicate and work with, I'm not shunned for bigger projects and they worked how I asked them to.

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

I'm happy with the work Coderus did for me, and wouldn't change anything they did on this project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Product Owner of Bosch

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Bosch Lawn & Garden is an innovative, customer driven and rapidly growing business worldwide. Our market leading premium products are renowned for advances in user experience that makes effortless gardening a reality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Coderus to accomplish?

• Mobile App Feature Delivery
• UX Design

SOLUTION

How did you find Coderus?

Referral

Why did you select Coderus over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing first our budget

What was the size of Coderus’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Delivery of specified requirements from product backlog of features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Delivery of Requirements

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Provided input to our own PM efforts.
• Delivered requirements to agreed timelines.

What was your primary form of communication with Coderus?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their flexibility to our requirements was impressive.

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

N/A