Creative69

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I provide services for mobile application and website development, as well as digital marketing, and work as a project manager for the 24Seven IT.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative69?

We needed developers to work on two websites for a client. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope involved two business websites with no e-commerce. They were two standard websites with 4–5 pages each, detailing the services offered. There was nothing distinctive in terms of technical elements. It was something I wanted to start with in order to get the relationship going and see if they were good in terms of quality.

They worked on the front- and backend of the sites using HTML, CSS, a bit of jQuery for the forms, and PHP. We also have a database on the websites, using MySQL.

What is the team composition? 

I coordinate with the founder of the company. He has a team of six or seven people that he works with.

How did you come to work with Creative69?

They have similar rates to other companies I’ve worked with. The price was a deciding factor, along with the relationship I had with Creative69 beforehand—one of the team is related to a good friend of mine.

How much have you invested with them?

I have paid around $2,700 [AUD] for the 2 websites.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in September 2017. We have an upcoming project for a mobile application that I’ve spoken to them about, which we will hopefully work on soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My job was to just deliver the project to the client. I don’t maintain the site, so I don’t have any information about its traffic or other metrics. Had there been a problem, the client would have called me and asked me to work on it, so I don’t think there have been any issues. I emphasized the level of quality I wanted and they delivered it.

How did Creative69 perform from a project management standpoint?

I was happy with the budget. In terms of working, they were happy to go through and review the work multiple times. Even if I asked them to repeat the same task several times, they didn’t complain. They wanted to make sure that they provided the best service possible to the client.

We mainly communicated over the phone. That allowed me to convey the message as easily as possible, while making it as easy as possible for them to understand what I want.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re happy to sit down and review an idea until it’s refined. It can be hard to work with people from the other side of the world as they often don’t really understand what the client wants. However, with this team, I didn’t have many issues with the communication at all.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve in terms of timelines. They could give two weeks more notice when quoting a project. However, it’s an IT project, so it goes up and down all the time—I can’t really blame them for it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have at least 2–3 meetings before assigning the project. Try and go over the requirements several times. I’ve seen other projects fail because the client wanted a lot more than what the original requirements were. It’s easier to have refined requirements to make sure everyone knows what is really required—what the timeframes are and what the budget is.