Dev.Pro

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a real-time analytics software and services company for the airline industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dev.Pro?

They provided custom software development. We had a situation where we needed to start developing an application that would provide a front end for our services. We were staffing up our organization and didn’t want to wait for everyone to get onboard. We also had to make some technology decisions. We knew we wanted an application that would be compatible with Windows and iOS.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first real service that Dev.Pro helped us with what thinking through what technology to use. They completely understood what we were trying to do and they walked us through the pros and cons of each option, as well as a wider set of variables than I’d been thinking of: what technologies would enable dual-platform deployment, and what technology base would be more relevant to the people we would eventually hire in the Seattle market.

This part of the engagement went very quickly. We had to make a call and get going, and within two weeks, we’d thought through these issues. They used their experience going through this process previously to help us get started fast.

We ended up building the application in Xamarin, a C-based technology that allowed us to compile it for iOS and Windows. After making our decision, Microsoft ended up buying Xamarin, which confirmed that it would be a well—supported technology, and especially in the Seattle area.

Our application is used in the cockpit by pilots to receive information from outside the airplane. It’s very expensive to transmit data this way, so we did a lot of joint thinking with Dev.Pro about how to be efficient in sending the data from the ground to the air and vice versa.

There was a set of third-party algorithms that we were going to feed into the application output. We pull a large amount of real-time data streams from actual airlines and the aircrafts themselves, but we also pull from airlines’ back offices and independent data like the FAA (weather, etc.). All the data needs were taken care of in writing the specification.

The other services they provided through the process were UI design. We had twice weekly meetings, with one of those being focused on the new UI and UX design and the other meeting was focused on development and DevOps implementation.

We signed on with Dev.Pro to develop version one of our application and decided to take it from there; the hand off process was seamless, and they stayed around for consulting until we had our feet underneath us. They were also involved in cybersecurity to the degree that we had to agree on communication protocols and code quality. For each code review, we had to ensure that they were following best practices.

What is the team composition?

The project kicked off with their CTO, who helped us think through the technology selection and deep architectural items. Once we were clear of that stage we worked with a program manager and a UI designer. We don’t use 100% of the designers time, but every time we needed something he was there. There was also 2–3 DevOps resources and an account manager.

How did you come to work with Dev.Pro?

I’m long-time associates with the owner, and when we needed help, we looked to him and a number of other firms. At the end of the day, we liked Dev.Pro’s flexibility and tempo. They asked good technical questions as well, showing us that they thought deeply about what our goals were.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $1–$2 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2019–March 2020.

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

According to paying airline customers doing trials, the usability of the app is very high. They’re delighted with the functionality as well. Another highlight is the modern design and aesthetic of the UI.

They met expectations from a development point of view and exceeded them regarding the design and ease of collaboration. We’re very happy with what we received.

How did Dev.Pro perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a couple of different portals, including Microsoft Teams as a shared workspace.

We didn’t have any surprises on the budget; where we ran into some hiccups was on the design and functionality, but those were inevitable and as much on us as anything. There were missing parts of the specifications that we assumed we didn’t have to identify or articulate at the outset. We clarified those points thanks to really good teamwork and got rolling again with 10% of the original schedule.

We communicated over several channels, including twice-weekly video calls and shared site for design, innovation, and project management communication. All this was augmented between email between the key players. We encouraged their folks to go directly to the key resources on our team. Looking back, Slack would have been a useful tool, and we didn’t align our Jira instances as we should have. We weren’t quite sure how to fully integrate with them, and there was a bit of caution on our side, but they were very flexible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re ability to, relatively quickly, understand what you’re trying to get done and then help you think through the best way to do that before you start coding. We really benefited from this process. Their genuine understanding of what we were trying to do first led us to think about things we’d previously thought didn’t need to be clarified. This meant that, when we started coding, everything was on the right track. Their perspective is very helping in getting things going on the right foot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During turnover on the project management side, they did a good job of bringing people in and training them, but there was a fair bit of it. The environment in Ukraine is very challenging here, and we had a good system of handoffs, but we wanted to make sure nothing got in the way of the program being successful. Their senior folks don’t change, though; the CTO we started with was there throughout the whole project. There are some roles, however, that you don’t want to see turnover in, like the program manager or the lead developer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand that going slow through the first month or two and exploring the product will be beneficial. Rushing through this first portion will cause you to miss the benefit of working with Dev.Pro. They’re the ones who will be doing and testing the work, so having them understand what is supposed to be done is just smart thinking.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the directors of engineering at SalesLoft, a SaaS company that sells sales software.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dev.Pro?

We wanted to augment our internal team with a group that would complete custom software development for us in Outlook 365. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dev.Pro provides us with business analysis, design, testing, and development services. Initially, we only had Dev.Pro working on a one-off project to add a plug-in for Outlook Connect in Outlook 365. 

Since then, we’ve expanded their scope and they’re now working on the rest of our application — they’ve become an extension of our internal engineering team. Dev.Pro now does product development and some application maintenance; they build software for us and deliver new features for our system. 

This past winter, the Dev.Pro team built a framework system for Cadence, one of our main product features, so salespeople can come in and start from a previously successful Cadence template and then customize it as needed. Salespeople use it to have a structured contact system for their potential customers — it’s very helpful for them to have a template to start with. 

Additionally, they’ve assisted with design work. We created our logo in-house, but they design layouts, colors, and user flows for the system. Per our contract, they also offer us project management services.

What is the team composition?

In 2017, we started with a team of five that has since grown to 32, but my main point of contact is Pavel (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Dev.Pro?

Dev.Pro was recommended to us by someone we had worked with before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested under $10 million in the last five years. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I have been working directly with the Dev.Pro contracting team since March 2017 and the relationship is ongoing. 

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

We produce three features a quarter that are very big, and we have 20 different teams across the U.S., Mexico, and Ukraine that work together on them. We’ve been able to count on the team at Dev.Pro to exceed and outperform our other teams and deliver for us. 

How did Dev.Pro perform from a project management standpoint?

Dev.Pro has excellent project management. They raise blockers and risks very early and always work closely with us to execute creative solutions. Additionally, we use email, Slack, and Zoom to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The best part of working with Dev.Pro is how much they care about the work that they’re doing. When we hired them, they very quickly proved that they’re not a stereotypical outsourcing team — they care about the work and they understand the reasons why we’re doing what we are doing. 

They make good judgment calls on their own without having to depend on us. Dev.Pro continues to show great ownership of everything that they've worked on. We don't look at them as outsourcing partners, we look at them as our team based in Ukraine.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always a couple of issues related to individual performance, but Dev.Pro’s management team handles it quickly by either replacing the individual or helping them improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise customers to really trust them — the more that customers trust Dev.Pro, the more they will rise to the occasion. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Inveniam, and we’re in the business of verifying the documentation of private and non-traditional investment assets, as well as building trustworthy pricing. We also do complex calculations to understand the investors’ responsibilities and benefits from owning these instruments.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dev.Pro?

The company was looking to fill the technological and development gap our previous CTO left behind, so we engaged with Dev.Pro for their software development services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

To maintain control and ownership of the technology stack that was left behind, Dev.Pro was able to work from the source code, so we can continue benefiting from all the work that we previously put into designing it. Since the success of the initial project, we’ve retained their team to become our primary development shop, building and managing our core products with our software architects. 

We use Node.js to operate on the AWS platform — so it’s essentially a microservice architecture using SNS and SQS enterprise service bus for communication. Other than that, we use Amazon’s RDS for PostgresSQL as our database in the backend, and we make heavy use of blockchain technologies.

What is the team composition?

As of now, we’re engaged with up to 63 Dev.Pro engineers to make up our development arm.

How much have you invested with them?

The ballpark figure of our investment so far is around $10 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2017.

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

Right now, our completion rate is above 95%, which is awfully good for software engineering. The productivity for each person has moved to 14 stories accomplished per month, and it’s been steadily increasing as more people get familiar with the project.

Other than that, the volume and predictability of their work have been outstanding. The turnover rate is consistently below 20%, so we’re retaining people and doing twice as good a job compared to the average in Ukraine.

How did Dev.Pro perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve established procedures for production support. We have a DevOps team that monitors our system and can respond to certain levels of needs 24/7. If we have to get developers involved, we try to keep our request within Ukraine’s working hours — but if there’s a serious production issue, we can escalate out of the DevOps process right into the developers.

I have a delivery manager in Ukraine, and I usually communicate with her through Skype, Telegram, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their engineering capabilities, and compliance with the process and documentation. Despite the challenge of not having access to the developers who wrote the code, they were able to successfully deliver the initial product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

All their senior developers communicate clearly, but as you get down to the more junior developers, sometimes the language barrier can be an issue. I would suggest investing in communication development, but other than that I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest being respectful of the team. They are excellent engineers and developers, so allow them to be as smart as they are to help you with important work — you’ll be surprised at what a great job they could do for you.