CSHARK

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide a solution for Tissue Engineering researchers throughout the world. The solution consists of a high-end 3D bio-printer capable of handling a wide range of biomaterials and BioInks, consumables and a software solution for designing the desired print. I am the Software Architect in charge of the software solution at our company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CSHARK?

The world of bioprinting is in constant evolution and we must always stay ahead of the curve to provide our partners the best software solution they can have. In order to be able to offer the best quality, we needed to increase our internal software development team and were looking to extend it with experts in C# .NET development who could join and integrate a team. In addition, the swiss market lacked the resource we needed so we were looking for nearshore companies which could provide such experts.

What were your goals for this project?

Since we were looking for people integrating in the existing team, one of the key goal was the flexibility and ability to work in an Agile methodology. The other goals were a deep knowledge in C# .NET and the ability of not just coding, but also developing new concepts and thinking outside of the box.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

One of our collaborator had a previous very positive experience with a development team lead by a CSHARK employee. We also had contact with a few other similar companies. We did multiple calls and discussions with each of the companies, but CSHARK came out of the top for their reactivity and impressive track record. A one-month introductory project sealed the deal, as the developers of CSHARK showed expert knowledge in C# .NET, Software Development and were a pleasure to work with.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

By integrating the software development team, the developers from CSHARK quickly entered the workflow of 2 weeks sprint with self-organization between developers and product owner. The on-going project consists of back-end and front-end implementation of a wide-range of topics (such as graphical interface, SQL database, algorithmic generation or modelling engine), over a series of 2-weeks sprints which are themselves part of 2 months milestone dedicated to a specific topic.

What was the team composition?

The project team is composed of 3 well-rounded developers (2 from CSHARK and one internal) and a software architect with a dual project manager/developer role. The team is self-organized, with a product owner ensuring that the project is going in the correct direction. In addition to the core project team, multiple others are involved for Q&A and user testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The knowledge brought by CSHARK boosted the development rate and quality to an extremely high-level. The code quality increased drastically by reaching an 80% code coverage in just a few months of work, while the amount of feature implemented more than than doubled since the arrival of the CSHARK development team. Throughout the different internal reviews that we often have, an unanimous feeling of wonder at the development has been expressed.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management is done on the principle of self-organization, meaning that the developers and software architect sit together to decide which tasks to attribute to who. The tasks are derived from the list of features defined by the product owner. Since the start of the project, the collaboration resulted in deadlines being always met. The communication and collaboration was done effortlessly through Microsoft Teams and Gitlab as the repository and CI/CD.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about CSHARK is their ability to react quickly and efficiently. When requirements changed, the developers were quick to adapt and implement the changes, and the managers were also quick to propose solutions to project management challenges.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In term of improvement on CSHARK sides, there is practically none. They always have been helpful and reactive when minor issues happened. On our side, it showcased the importance of starting with a short one-month period evaluation to feel both the skills but also the personal fit of both sides.