CodigoDelSur

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I used to work for an insurance tech B2B SaaS [software-as-a-service] company.

What is your position?

I was the CEO but have moved on. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

Our goal was to build our B2B SaaS product cost-effectively while maintaining high-quality code. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Codigo provided software engineering and project management. I found them from a friend's referral. We started work in May of 2016 but decided to put the work on hold in March of 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

They really care about the work they do and about the success of the project. They are very personable and excellent at communication. They also are heavily invested in the project's successful conclusion.

They have a truly professional team of top-notch engineers and a great process. I would highly recommend them and hope to work with them again in the future! 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a national appraisal and adjustment service located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am one of the appraisers of the company, overseeing our staff in the tri-state area. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We decided to take on an app-building project for one of our clients. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CodigoDelSur provided mostly app development for iOS and Android as well as building a landing page related to the apps, using Heroku. The goal of the application is to allow our client to capture photos related to the insurance claims being made, in an intuitive and easy-to-use way.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

I began a general search, looking at 5 to 10 United States-based developers. The quotes I received were fairly high, given that some of these companies typically dealt with much larger projects. I was referred to CodigoDelSur by one of the companies I contacted, who used them for outsourcing smaller projects and tasks. The company that recommended them was one of the top developers in the U.S., and I felt that this would be a strong indication of who CodigoDelSur was. After a bit of research, I found out that CodigoDelSur was the top developer in the European Union at that time, as well as in Latin America. I was impressed with some of the companies in CodigoDelSur's portfolio, which included Fortune 500 names. Our project wasn't anywhere near that level, so I was confident that CodigoDelSur would do a good job with it.

We were a bit reluctant to work with an overseas company at first because there may have been a language barrier. From our initial Skype meetings with CodigoDelSur, all of this was put to rest, and we've had a great working relationship during the past 6 to 8 weeks [as of October 2016].

How much have you invested with CodigoDelSur?

Our project with CodigoDelSur has an expected cost of between $50,000 and $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with CodigoDelSur in 2016 [in August]. The project is within its last stage. We're buttoning up a couple of details.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I've been extremely impressed, and can't say enough things about CodigoDelSur. Our project lead has been excellent, and very helpful throughout the process, making it easy to collaborate. The results have surpassed my expectations.

We've done all of our testing in-house, so the results are all anecdotal. We plan to track cycle times for completing assignments, but this isn't an indication of the app itself.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

CodigoDelSur has a short, 2-week sprint process. We can set up a meeting at the beginning of each one, going through what needed to be accomplished within that time, and communicated via email and Skype along the process. CodigoDelSur is also paid on a sprint basis. Other companies may be incentivized to drag the work along because there's more incentive to do so, but CodigoDelSur's concern within our project was to get the work done efficiently. Everyone was kept on task and involved, as opposed to receiving a product that we may not have been happy with at the end of an 8-week period and being overbilled. If anything, I extended the project with changes and ideas that I came up with along the way. CodigoDelSur tackled them with enthusiasm.

One of the reasons I've been so pleased is that I've been involved in the process from start to finish and know how hard CodigoDelSur has worked.

What did you find most impressive about CodigoDelSur?

CodigoDelSur's team has been very personable and professional. Our project lead is a young person in their mid-30s. It's been a joy working with CodigoDelSur, and we've had the feeling of collaborating with close friends. CodigoDelSur made me feel comfortable not only through how they carry themselves but also through their competency throughout the process. If we ever have additional work in the future, I won't even consider using anyone else.

Are there any areas CodigoDelSur could improve?

The only criticisms I have for the project are for myself. It was the first time I tackled such a project, and I couldn't foresee many elements that could have made the work more efficient on my end.

It is a bit difficult working with a remote team, but this was no fault of CodigoDelSur. Ultimately, it wouldn't have mattered if they were located in Washington or Uruguay.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with CodigoDelSur?

Clients should not only plan out and storyboard the project but also actively work through the steps in a tangible way, in order to foresee issues that might arrive and improvements that can be made. I was a bit too conceptual in approaching the work, instead of being more detailed, which could have eliminated certain issues that prolonged the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We builds apps to help people improve their healthy habits and assist in weight loss, improvement of overall health, decreased risk of disease, and more. With an easy-to-use interface, we provide users with personalized fitness, nutrition, and sleep coaching to help them achieve a healthier lifestyle.

I am the Director of Products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We needed a quality company that was able to jump right in and help us build our Android and iOS versions of our core product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope grew over time because of the growth and success of the app.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

They seemed friendly, very willing to get their hands dirty, and to jump right in and offer a competitive price.

How much have you invested with CodigoDelSur?

We have invested between $200,000 and $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It lasted from April 2014 to February 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The app is currently listed as #36 in the Top Grossing Health & Fitness Apps list from the Top 50 Health and Fitness Apps.

What did you find most impressive about CodigoDelSur?

Codigo has great communicators! Their team is very organized, and kept me up-to-date.

Are there any areas CodigoDelSur could improve?

Their work on Android wasn’t necessarily built to scale over time, so we ended up having to re-do a lot of it, but Android is tougher and so this was generally expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an online graphic design company which provides services to small businesses. We believe that designs should be affordable, so we've developed an online platform which minimizes the back-and-forth between clients and designers. By doing this, we've reduced costs for customers.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Operating Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We're constantly trying to improve and develop our platform, making it even easier to use for customers and improving the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] interaction. We believe that this is critical to what makes our company successful. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

CodigoDelSur is helping us improve our software platform. Right now, the majority of their effort is software development.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

I had known CodigoDelSur for a couple of years, and had worked with them in the past. I reached out to their company again more recently.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The approximate yearly cost for Codigo's services is $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working together for over a year. We have an ongoing relationship with CodigoDelSur and are planning to use them on an indefinite basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Since working with CodigoDelSur, we've launched 3 separate major modules for our software. The biggest metric for the success of the work was being able to do this.

The flow of our platform has doubled the capacity of each of our project managers, bringing revision time down by about 40%. Codigo handled the coding, not the actual UI/UX design, so it's hard to give them credit in this respect, but they executed their job well. There will always be bugs, so the work was by no means perfect, but we were satisfied.

We used to have an internal team and have worked with other offshore developers. CodigoDelSur is better than the teams I've worked with, including an American firm that is well respected.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

When working with an offshore agency, the cost includes developer time and project management. The project management from CodigoDelSur was overall good. At one point, one of the project managers had to leave for personal reasons in the middle of the project. The transition was very smooth. They've always taken the time to learn about the process and the project itself.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

Since we've been working with CodigoDelSur for a while, they've come to understand our business motives, so they're able to make the best decisions for our interests, without us having to go to them. We've saved a lot of time and energy in this way. Codigo has adjusted the team and the flow of the work on a case-by-case basis in order to meet our goals. Nine times out of ten, they made the right calls. The fact that Codigo can do this, makes them feel more like an internal team, as opposed to an offshore contractor.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

We've sometimes struggled with the time zone difference. We're based in New York, and CodigoDelSur is one hour ahead of us. Half of our team is working within the Pacific Time, with a 4-5-hour difference. It's not the fault of Codigo though, it's just coordination. They've tried to do a good job of arranging their hours in order to meet our schedule.

One of the things that I would look for with regard to Codigo is more development and operations expertise, specifically server configurations and having more expertise in choosing between technologies like Rackspace and Heroku, or configuring Amazon Web Services servers in terms of security requirements. Ultimately, I am looking for a turn-key approach, where Codigo would take care of all requirements and deliver a complete app.

A third issue is in terms of CodigoDelSur’s design skills. We haven't hired them for design, but their lack in this capability has shown for HTML-type projects. Codigo has a culture of coders, as opposed to one of designers. Everything on the web is focused on design and UX, so small details often require a designer's eye. There has been some back-and-forth on elements which weren't picture-perfect. As a design firm, we are very sensitive to this issue. I would say that this is Codigo's biggest area of improvement. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are what may be described as a mobile applications company. We are trying to solve a problem within the trucking industry.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Technology Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We needed a developer who could build our application.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

CodigoDelSur created Android and iOS implementations of a customer and driver app for our company. The driver app is aimed at truckers who haul around dirt, while the customer app is for the people on the job site who are contracting that service. The closest analog to our service is Uber, which posts a need across a network of readily-available people willing to provide the service. We identify the right person for the job through our ranking and identification system. The requests are communicated to the driver through our application.

CodigoDelSur's involvement with our company has been strictly for mobile app development.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

We were looking to offload some of my efforts, since we're running a lean shop in terms of development. Part of our solution requires a lot of full-stack server and mobile development. In order to increase our velocity, we were looking to bring on a partner that could assist with that development. We reached out to CodigoDelSur through Upwork. At that point, we had already done a good portion of the work for our Android customer application, as well as having built a smaller portion of the iOS version. There had been no work done for the driver portion.

Our process for selecting CodigoDelSur needed to be quick in order to reduce our liability. We considered both contracting the work and hiring internal developers in the beginning. Being in an early-stage startup, we preferred waiting for a couple of years until we could offer someone the guarantee of a long-term employment. Being able to pull talent on without the degree of commitment that comes with it, made us decide to hire a contractor. We considered a list of people, ranking them based on cost, ability to communicate, and ability to work within our time zone. We have been able to improve communication, since all parties were working within the same hours. There was never an occasion of losing a day's work because someone had a question during another partner's night time.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost of CodigoDelSurs's services has been between $45,000 and $50,000. Had we not made a pause in the development, the cost would be double so far. Much of the development has been based on our ability to resume the timeframe.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our contract with CodigoDelSur lasted from January of 2016 until June. We have recently paused our contract because we're focusing on a more manual solution which does not involve mobile applications. Our tech-based solution was created in order to feel-out the market and get an early read on how people want to interact with technology, as they perform jobs that typically require a lot of paper. As we came to push efforts into that and needed additional efforts to integrate the services that would be needed for the mobile application on the server side, we came to a one-month pause and hope to resume as soon as we can, in order for Codigo to pick up and assist us with server integrations on the mobile application side, as well as finishing out some of the features which we're trying to build into the customer application. We're trying to get the driver application launched first. CodigoDelSur finished 95% of what's needed on that front. As soon as the remaining 5% is built, we are going to take the driver application to market and get it tested by some beta drivers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I have managed teams in the past. Rather than having CodigoDelSur work according to sprint points and assessments for tracking their velocity, I became involved in their daily standups, which included anyone who was actively working on the team. Codigo assigned a project manager to ensure that the work was going smoothly and there were no blocks on it. Each day, I gauged their performance based on my previous experience. I don't have metrics beyond sprint point velocity, which is already hard to extrapolate into a quantifiable number.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

From my previous involvement with other offshore teams in terms of project management, I have found that developers will typically use platforms like Upwork to track their work, since they're not really business people. CodigoDelSur’s focus is to provide the talent, for which they charge a fee. Many times, the person seeking a product to be developed will need to be the product manager.

With my experience in the field, I didn't have to leverage or put many responsibilities on the project manager, like the card buildout for the tasks to be completed, which was largely done by myself. The cards were reviewed by Codigo's project manager. If there were any questions prior to the software developers receiving the tasks, Codigo got in touch with me to clarify some requirements.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

CodigoDelSur’s additional management capabilities would be a nice offering for clients who don't interface through a technical person, but I didn't use them very much. They could easily work with non-technical clients and do a fantastic job.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

Early into the contract, for the first 2-3 months, CodigoDelSur occasionally assigned a more senior developer for doing spot-checks. There was a good degree of confidence that came through that approach, and that developer did a good job. I think that senior developers tend to bring added perspective, even if they're not the main resources on the project. Codigo could do this a bit more, since it didn't continue throughout the entire project. I can only guess what someone with a bit more experience could offer to a project in general but, when there was a senior person working with us, I got the feeling of a more continuous technical insight, besides my daily standup meetings, when I had the opportunity to assist the team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our effort is to create technology aimed at better connecting citizens to probation, parole, and other re-entry services. Prisoners coming out of incarceration have access to a mobile app called Sprocket, while the probation and social services have a web-based tool for controlling the application.

Our business provides a service primarily for probation, but because of the reform movement happening in criminal justice, whereby incarceration periods are being reduced, many offenders are being diverted into community programs. The courts want to know if those in question are actually attending these programs. Our software is also a way of monitoring these programs. This said, our business model includes charging fees to probation offices, courts, or social service agencies which use the platform in order to monitor and guide the offender.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Executive Officer [CEO] and a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We needed help in developing our platform. We didn't want to have an internal group in the beginning because we wanted to create a minimum viable product fast. Rather than putting together an internal long-term team, we thought that it would be best to go to a third party.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

CodigoDelSur developed our mobile app and built the web-based dashboard for administrators.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

We interviewed a number of organizations which offered development, both domestic and offshore entities, in order to find who would give us the best services, on-time and on-budget, which were very limited factors for us.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost with CodigoDelSur will be in the 6-figure range.

What is the status of this engagement?

There are some tweaks that are being done at the moment in order to integrate the app into the web-based dashboard. I keep in touch with CodigoDelSur frequently. My co-founder, our Chief Operating Officer, has the most interactions with CodigoDelSur. Our relationship has been ongoing since July, 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our app is in its pilot phase. Our users seem to be very happy with it. There are a couple of issues which are more about how administrators are responding to certain issues. A tool is only as good as whoever wields it. The responses so far have been less about technical issues, and more about how the tool is being deployed by administrators. We're working with them in order to make them understand how to use it best.

The development process went way better that I'd expected. I have worked with offshore entities for decades, in a number of different industries and in different countries, from Eastern Europe to Asia and South America. This has been the best experience that I've had, both in terms of quality-of-work and also CodigoDelSur’s enthusiasm and dedication to the job.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

Given the tight timeframe and our limited funds, the services we received could have suffered. The quality of CodigoDelSur’s work was always extremely high. They've always been by our side and responded quickly. We work in the Pacific Daylight time zone, so the connection to Uruguay isn't too distant. The collaboration always worked fairly seamlessly. We never felt that they were on the other side of the globe, and there were no language issues. CodigoDelSur has very good English-speaking liaisons. There were no misunderstandings in terms of what we were requiring and what was accomplished by CodigoDelSur.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

Top to bottom, CodigoDelSur is very impressive. It seemed that, if there were any bumps on the road, their CEO and founder jumped in right away, instead of hiding behind the curtains. Codigo's project managers were also very strong and had a good command of English. The team responds quickly to any issues.

We finished the first build by December of 2015, and went into the pilot phase. There are always little tweaks which need to be done, which can be hard to address when working with an offshore company. The team which was working on the original project will usually be suspended after the release, and the additional costs will be small. Dedicating a new team to the work will be unlikely and the client won't always get the best service. I was surprised in Codigo's case. We asked for tweaks which they turned around quickly. Even though they may have had a different team, they were always on-board and turned things to us with really good quality. If I had to work with an offshore group again, I'd take CodigoDelSur in a second.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

CodigoDelSur has been fantastic, so it's hard to answer. I've worked with many offshore companies and always had the worry that, when I hung up the phone and left them to do the work, they wouldn't care very much, or even put the team onto a bigger project that would generate more revenue. We knew that we were a small startup business, but Codigo treated us with a lot of respect. I'm very positive about them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company has developed the technology for creating an animated emoji from a person's pictures. We make personalized emoticons from selfies, animating a person's face and turning it into a cartoon. When they communicate with someone, they can then use that image to convey approval and anything else that emoji are used for.

What is your position?

I am the president and co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We wanted to create an app that implemented our technology, both for Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Our technology is implemented through the app, having it serve as a frontend. Users can take a picture, select from any of the pictures they've already taken, and see the results. The backend, which is what actually creates emoji, was created by our company. CodigoDelSur's job was to create the Android and iOS versions of the app.

We wanted our app to be available in several languages. We wrote menus in English and had them translated by one of my colleagues in Chinese. CodigoDelSur translated them into Spanish, opening 3 big markets for us.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

We put out ads on guru.com. We found CodigoDelSur and went through an initial review. Things looked pretty good, so we decided to select them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost was $20,000, for both the Android and iOS versions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with CodigoDelSur in January of 2016. The work was completed in March. I would like to work with CodigoDelSur in the future, but our company is evolving, so we may start to do this development in-house, or opt out of the app space. Our plans are not determined yet, but if we ever need app work, we will choose CodigoDelSur once again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We made an online user-study with around 200 participants. People were generally happy with the app. They did point out some improvements to be made in terms of design and technology, but the overall satisfaction was good.

The ratings on the Play Store and the Apple Store have been between 4 and 5, which I find to be a good range.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

CodigoDelSur was a good company to work with. We had regular meetings through Skype, even though they're based in a different time zone.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

I found Codigo del Sur to be very professional. They wrote good-quality code, which will make it easy to maintain the apps. The quality of their code is definitely better than average for developers in the United States and around the globe.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

As a startup, we have very tight deadlines. It was no problem for me to prioritize and get things done, but this is more difficult to do with a contracted company. Their schedule and commitments are more diverse, so they won't be able to drop everything on the client's behalf. We needed to get the product ready for the Chinese New Year. We would have liked it if CodigoDelSur worked through weekends in order to get things done, but that is hard to do, given their other commitments. As we're expanding our startup, we are taking into account that contractors won't have the same level of urgency for a project as the people in the company. This is more of a highlight for the difference between a contractor and an employee, than a critique for CodigoDelSur.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an app development company focused strictly on iOS development for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. We have two branches: one is aimed at the consumer market, for which we have around 26 apps in the store, while the other is aimed at custom development for other companies. We have a team of five or six contractors working for clients.

What is your position?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

I needed help with iOS development. After doing some research, I found that their team had a good foundation for that. I needed help for both sides of my business.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I initially started our work on one project, and then I brought in CodigoDelSur for other projects.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

I found them online. CodigoDelSur had a good presence on elance.com. They had good referrals, so a lot of the research had been done for me. We went through a few interviews, and I decided to use them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The annual cost of their services was between $50,000-100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around three years ago. We're not working together at the moment because my company has been focusing more on consumer apps. I work with direct contractors, but if I get the chance, I'll contact CodigoDelSur again for sure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They provided good quality work. It's not the best I've seen, but it's definitely above average. I especially appreciate their project management and communication. CodigoDelSur offered consistently good results. Overall, I had a good experience with them.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

The people I worked with stood out in terms of communication, friendliness, and professionalism. They were conscientious and very consistent. I could talk to them every day and had a very professional experience.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

In development, it's always a matter of getting the best possible coders in order to have as little reworks as possible and eliminate quality issues. When I started working with CodigoDelSur, iOS was a newer technology. They're now much more mature, so I expect that they have even more qualified resources. I did have some connectivity problems with them in terms of communication channels.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a mobile app developer specializing in photo and video slideshow apps. We've been in business for three years.

What is your position?

I am one of the founders of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

We needed an extra developer on our team.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

CodigoDelSur worked on iOS development for us on a few projects. One of those was an app called Sharalike, which was an existing project at the time when they took over the development. On another project, they started the app development from scratch, proving to us that they could both work with existing code as well as start a project from scratch. We were assigned an iOS developer as well as a project manager for our work.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

We initially met them during a trip in Boston. We started talking about our needs and about their pricing. We decided to give them a try and ended up working with CodigoDelSur for more than a year.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

CodigoDelSur's pricing is $45 per hour. Their work is full-time.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them a year and two months ago. Our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They were just one of the developers in our team, so it's hard to measure their success exactly. From when we started to work with them until now, we've gained another million downloads on our app. It has been a success, of which CodigoDelSur was definitely a part.

How did CodigoDelSur perform from a project management standpoint?

Technologically speaking, they are good. Their English level is also good enough for us to work with them. Language barriers can be a pain with offshore developers. We've never met them face-to-face, except for their owner, whom I met in Boston. There was never a need for us to fly to Uruguay or to have one of their developers come here. I wish I could have done that, but we had neither the time nor the money and ultimately didn't need to.

What distinguishes CodigoDelSur from other providers?

They are a professional company. They've always made both a manager and a developer available for us to conference with. Having the developer as an active part of the team was great.

Is there anything CodigoDelSur could have improved or done differently?

They could be more flexible. At one point, we wanted to reduce the scope of the project, which CodigoDelSur had trouble doing because they had no other work which they could assign to our developer part-time. This meant that we had to work with them full-time or not at all.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a company founded around products for the active outdoor community. Our first product that we will be bringing to market is a destination discovery and organized activity app for outdoor enthusiasts.

What is your role at the company?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CodigoDelSur?

Codigo was approached as our first shot in overseas development in hopes of bringing a product to market following development. We wanted them to build our MVP [minimum viable product] from the ground up after being supplied with design and feature details.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope was large. The app had a wide variety of functionality, some of which was clearly defined, and others of which were pending expertise of a development team.

How did you come to work with CodigoDelSur?

At the time, we were looking at bringing on a domestic CTO. This individual had a past history with Codigo, and they came highly recommended.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We expected the MVP to cost between $20,000 and $30,000, with continued ongoing development if things went as planned.

What is the status of this engagement?

We put a hold on the project with Codigo summer of 2015. We decided to transition to another overseas team with lower rates when the project began to go significantly over budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The results were not exactly as expected at the fault of both parties – our and theirs. There were complications with communication that led to the problem of going over budget. Lack of a domestic CTO meant there were misunderstandings in expectations. We were on a very tight budget, and the inability to provide accurate estimates outside of two-week sprints made it difficult to plan from a budget standpoint. In the end, the project just got away from us, and we had to put it on hold.

How did CodigoDelSur perform?

CodigoDelSur performed well with very clearly defined tasks and expectations. Without very clearly defined details, the results were not exactly as expected and time and budget often went over.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

This is a hard question to answer as I think our issues stemmed from many small shortfalls on both sides coming together. I think that if you are a company with a very clear scope, an internal project manager or CTO, and the ability to track and review progress from a code standpoint, they could offer a great solution at a very reasonable price. We were too small and too early stage to provide that. We put the majority of this on them and expected that their experience would provide us with the answers to issues that were still open.