Codingscape

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm one of the owners of Takedown Piracy. I'm also the COO and CMO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codingscape?

We needed to build automated systems that enabled us to automate daily tasks and reduce the hours required to perform them. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we invited Noel (Account Manager) to our site to explain the tasks we needed to automate and show how much time they consumed, giving her insight into our work. Noel looped in James (Senior Technical Consultant), and we had a couple of calls with him. I created screen-recorded videos of how we performed the tasks, and Codingscape built software that aided us in automating work and reducing the required time.

What is the team composition?

We worked initially with James and Noel. In the second phase of the project, we also worked with Lauren (Product Strategy, Launch & Learning Design).

How did you come to work with Codingscape?

We went to a tech meetup downtown, where we met a gentleman we thought we would work with initially. This gentleman introduced us to Codingscape, and it turned out that Noel, James, and I used to work together at a different company. I already knew Noel and James for their work ethic and ability, which made it an easy choice to go with Codingscape.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged Codingscape from February–June 2024. Although we don't have an active agreement with the team, we've started a list of projects we want to work with them in the future. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Codingscape's software helped us decrease the time required for specific tasks from 10–14 to 2–3 hours. We were so pleased with the team's work that we asked them to work on another piece of the project. 

I was impressed that James didn't just do what we asked him to, instead, he thought from an entrepreneurial approach and brought different points of view to the conversation, sharing different scenarios. He approached the project in a broader way and thought of aspects we hadn't thought of. James was a genius, and Noel was a stellar individual.

How did Codingscape perform from a project management standpoint?

Codingscape delivered work on time and communicated well with us through phone calls, email, and Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Codingscape's ability to change our workload from full days to a reasonable amount of time was priceless.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn't ask Codingscape anything to do differently. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I suggest listening to James because he is very knowledgeable. Be open and communicative about what you need and want so Codingscape can make it happen.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the lead web developer at Canyon Creative, a branding and marketing digital agency focused primarily on web development and SEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codingscape?

We were in a pickle while working on a major web development project, so we needed help as soon as possible. Thus, we engaged with Codingscape to see if they could help us with a few details for this project to get us out of an issue we were facing while trying to meet an important deadline.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codingscape helped us get through a difficult technical challenge for an end customer's web development project. Initially, we had a kick-off meeting to go over the issue we were facing. I talked to their CTO and mentioned what was going on. Then, we figured out a solution to the issue.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four teammates from Codingscape, including Jimmy (CTO) and Noel (Account Manager).

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly $10,000.

How did you come to work with Codingscape?

I already knew Jimmy from this industry, so I knew that he provided these services. Thus, I reached out to ask for his advice, and he brought his team. It was a direct connection.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project in February 2020. This was a two-week engagement; that's how urgent solving the issue was.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Codingscape was able to jump into the project very quickly to help us fix the issue, which was amazing.

How did Codingscape perform from a project management standpoint?

Codingscape's work met our expectations, considering the timeline and our budget. In fact, they were very conscious of our budget, so they used some of their junior developers to mitigate the cost a little bit. We worked by hourly rates, so we had a weekly fee to pay.

Something that was great about Codingscape was that they always checked in to tell us where we were. They also set some guardrails for the budget, so they constantly let us know and warned us about the spend. Given the short timeline, everything fell in line with our expectations.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Jimmy, as busy as he usually is, was able to engage with us quickly and figure out a solution as quickly as he could. We had an opening the same day at 3 p.m., and he was very hands-on. He even had some developers available to deploy the solution, which was great. Moreover, Noel was amazing, too.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really liked Codingscape's agility. Considering the number of things they're constantly working on and the fact that they have a lot of available talent, their ability to find a way to jump into the project quickly was very impressive to me.

Granted that I already knew Jimmy, it was impressive to me that they were very willing to work with a small company like ours, considering our budget and timeline. Others would agree that coming this late into a project with the deadline we were facing would be impossible. Still, they worked with us and helped us a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was nothing Codingscape could have improved on; they were running a very tight ship. Our relationship was short mainly due to the cost, so that was the reason we didn't pursue going further with them. We're a smaller company, and they're at an enterprise level. Thus, the budget burn rate was fast for us, although our budget spend wasn't on them. We simply weren't an ideal fit.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If I were to do this project all over again, I would bring them from the start. We didn't realize the severity of this project, and they had more of the technical knowledge we needed to face it. Thus, I recommend meeting with them from the get-go. They have the expertise and the level of knowledge to help you architect your project.

In the long run, bringing them into the project from the start will save you a lot of money because they'll be much more efficient. Just having a meeting with them is worth it so much because they'll point you in the right direction.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product + Innovation of Penny Ai Technology Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Penny AI specializes in increasing revenue for direct sales companies by offering a social sales enablement and learning platform to their field consultants and leaders around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To add a learning feature to the Penny app that aids field consultants with learning the skills necessary to accel at sales, marketing, social media, and relationship building.

SOLUTION

How did you find Codingscape?

• Referral
• Previous relationship with the founders

Why did you select Codingscape over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Past experience

How many teammates from Codingscape were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Codingscape was hired to provide product and technical support to build out and ensure the functionality of a learning system that provided short lessons, a short quiz at the end of each lesson, badges for lessons completed and was available on both mobile and desktop. Key deliverables included: 

• A review of product and technical discovery documents 
• A project roadmap broken into Milestones, Epics and User Stories 
• 9 core micro learning modules delivered in both mobile and browser-based environments 
• Additional refinement and iterations based on initial launch feedback

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A couple of outcomes of this project were: 

• An unbelievable 99% satisfaction rate among users who tried the learning modules. 
• An immediate 35% boost in additional usage within the rest of the application.

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

Codingscape's project management was top-notch. Their ongoing communication was fantastic and when they agreed to a deadline, they delivered before or on that deadline every time. They were incredibly thoughtful in what they were buidling and delivering, often suggesting alternative approaches and/or solutions to what was being proposed in order to create a better final product.

What was your primary form of communication with Codingscape?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Codingscape's honest and forthright nature wasn't something I had experienced with many technology consultancies. And everyone we interacted with were thoughtful, experienced and world-class in their specific field.

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

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of application development for a temporary electrical contractor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Codingscape?

We needed help developing an easy and intuitive ordering experience for our customers through a web app in a short timeframe.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codingscape partnered with our in-house development team to design and build a web application. Regarding the process, we spent around two months reviewing our requirements and what we absolutely had to have the app to accomplish. After that, we went through our basic design requirements, like color schemes and other elements, which we reviewed throughout the development process every time we laid out a design for a particular page.

After the team finished the main application, we spent six months tweaking and adding extra features, so we ended up doing five development iterations. The first piece we did with them went live around a year after the project’s start, and they provided the final deliverable 13 months after that.

Regarding the product’s features, we wanted a platform that could help us display a catalog of our services specific to the event we were attending. The team also added a new function that allowed us to pack items together and sell them as one package instead of individual items with expectations of the customer understanding what to order.

In terms of tools and technologies, the team used Storybook, Visual Studio Code, React, and SQL.

What was the team composition? 

Initially, Codingscape assigned eight people to our project, including a senior developer, two developers, a UX designer, and a project overhead who oversaw the whole project. Once Codingscape developed the main application and moved to create the extra features, we parred down the team to four members from their staff, which were two developers, a UX designer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Codingscape?

A former employee of our development team referred Codingscape to us. After looking around to find a good company, we chose Codingscape because they turned out to be the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $1 million with them for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this project, we worked together from July 2021–May 2023. However, they would mentor and assist us in providing ad hoc maintenance to the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before the release of the platform that Codingscape created for us, our online orders were about 28% of our orderings, and after the platform’s launch, that number changed to 95%. In addition, Codingscape accomplished our feature requests for the platform.

How did Codingscape perform from a project management standpoint?

Codingscape’s communication was great, and they delivered on time. We did go over budget, but that was because we changed our mind on a couple of things during the process, so I didn’t count that against them. Regarding tools, we used a Kanban product, Google Docs, and Microsoft Teams to communicate and share documentation, videos, and recorded meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project overhead that Codingspace assigned to us invested four hours every month to review the project and ensure everything was on track. In general, their whole team worked seamlessly and helped us determine fixes and workarounds to figure out how to address all of our requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I felt that communication was slightly off a couple of times, that the team wasn’t listening to my requests, and that they were making assumptions. However, Cordingspace corrected this quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to suggestions, clear in your communication, and prepared. The team won’t do everything for you, so you have to know what you want and be able to articulate it.