Devabit

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

We’ve been able to expand our reach, as there were people who couldn’t access our classes because they only had an Android device. The app isn’t at the same level as our website, but at least it’s another avenue that we can get new users from.

Overall, our users are happy with the functionality of the app. There was a small issue, but that was mainly because we weren’t familiar with Android and didn’t think about it beforehand.

How did Devabit perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly used email and Jira to communicate. The project manager I initially worked with left the company in the middle of our project. The second person that came on wasn’t up to speed and as communicative as I would have liked compared to the original project manager. I was getting a little frustrated, but it wasn’t really Devabit’s fault. I let them know I was dissatisfied with the newer project manager and they assigned another one.

We’re currently in maintenance mode, so if there are any bugs or issues that come up, I let the new project manager know. She isn’t taking on any major tasks from us at this point, but she seems to be a lot more communicative and on top of things.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t really used too many other developers, but I had tried a freelance developer before. It was really helpful to have a dedicated project manager handling the work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When it came to the payment integration part of the project, I expected a little more expertise as I wasn’t familiar with Android at all. It seemed like they were also figuring it out at the same time. It would’ve been nice if they were a little more on top of that.

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

We did a focus group test to get some initial feedback, and they really liked the UI’s simplicity and intuitiveness. One person was very impressed by the functionality of the matching algorithm because of how much time it could save them. We also received other positive comments related to how the product would fare against others in the market.

How did Devabit perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done an excellent job in various areas, and they’ve been responsive to changes. This is a new product, so there have been many iterations. They contributed great ideas for product design, as well as UI. They also suggested features pertaining to the activity feed, which was the turning point where this became more of a social app.

Over the duration of the project, their estimations became more accurate, and they were fairly disciplined about meeting their deadlines. Communication between the project manager and myself was great, and I was able to interact with the team using JIRA. If they need feedback on a certain task, I’m always able to interact with them through that tool.

I was also very impressed with their ability to incorporate business requirements. They really understood the product, as well as the business goals and model. It was very apparent they were conscientious about the end product during development. It wasn’t just about translating requirements into lines of code, but rather how it was going to function as a whole. They brought up questions about the business rules whenver there were gaps, and followed widely accepted development standards. They took the initiative to design and implement the product in a certain way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing to me was the improvement they provided to the UI. There’s really a huge difference between what I handed to them, and what they’ve given back. It’s an entirely new product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are ways we could’ve better utilized JIRA’s capabilities to have better issue and requirement tracking. This didn’t impede our progress, but it would’ve given us more insight into things like velocity, the rate of bugs that are produced, and the defect resolution time with every iteration.

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

They're really open to using different tools. When we got started they said, “These are the tools that we use, but if you use something else, we're more than happy to use those tools.” They seem pretty flexible from that standpoint. I would say their code quality is good. I don't feel like I have to go through and refactor the codes. With our team developing over here, they understand the code.  Devabit does a good job of fitting it in. It's not so verbose that it's a pain, but it's not so concise that it's impossible to see what they're doing. It's at that right level.

I've been pretty happy so far. They've been really transparent with me. They check in code for the same repository that we do, working alongside other developers. That is actually a big jump, from having 1 person work on an app to having multiple people work on an app. They're quite responsive. Overall, I've been happy with Devabit.

How did Devabit perform from a project management standpoint?

They interface with our team and work with them directly. We hold weekly meetings and they join some of those meetings. We use Slack and GitHub. I think Devabit also uses Asana. They track their time in Toggl.

What did you find most impressive about Devabit?

Internally, I've been impressed with their code quality and their responsiveness. Every single design decision has been made by us and they've been able to follow the designs pretty well. They're quite responsive versus other development groups that I've worked with. They're pretty autonomous. They don't need to be hand held to the same extent as other dev companies I've worked with, so that's been good. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get my team up to the same standards. If I had known about Devabit, I probably would have used them and gotten rid of my own dev team. They're right on point.

Are there any areas Devabit could improve?

There's always room for improvement, but so far they've been doing well. They've been making reasonable suggestions on things that we should do differently. I might have to get back to you on that.