Diceus

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

Our project so far is going great. Even though we are in the really early in the project we haven’t hit any roadblocks yet, which is admirable. I imagine that if any come up in the future they will handle issues promptly.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We use JIRA Confluence Bitbucket for code repository in addition to Slack and Skype as our primary communication methods. We prefer not to use email in favor of more direct communication because of our limited overlap in the workday due to the time difference. This method works well for us since we can focus on summarizing the progress of the project in Slack and address any issues as soon as possible. There were some problems communicating due to the language barrier, but my daily Skype session with the project manager helps alleviate any miscommunication when I’m offline. Their team typically is offline after 11:00 a.m., but they will occasionally be available past that point. I also prepare thorough documentation to track and prioritize the work needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This type of project is new for me since the original system was constructed before my time at the company. Based on my personal research, I saw the necessity for constant and daily communication and to ensure that we can work as a unit even though we are in separate locations. That is the standard I’ve set from the start. It's been working well, but I don't have anything to compare it to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It is a little too early to tell, but so far the only suggestion I have is clearer communication in terms of the language barrier to eliminate added efforts transcribing.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would suggest communicating frequently with their team. We take advantage of the overlap in the work day and found that communicating via direct messaging tools like Slack work better than delayed communication like email.

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

We’ve presented it to two existing clients and four prospective clients so far. Everyone has remarked that it’s great that the refresh screen is uncluttered. They were able to build an interface that allows each of the individuals across the care spectrum to see what they need at the point of care rather than showing everybody everything. It’s a well-tailored screen that meets the needs of both existing and prospective clients.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Skype and they would share their desktop with me. Given that the project was only six weeks, there was no need for too much project management and external control. Our focus was on the technical and design sides. We had the right level of project management and oversight without me being burdened by multiple emails or phone calls from a project manager. It was very well handled.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to try to understand what we needed rather than set off to deliver what they thought we should have. I’ve worked in the industry for a long time and have found that a lot of companies try to shoehorn your needs into what they have to offer. Diceus didn’t do that. They tried to be very clear about our needs before getting started.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Almost immediately after we had finalized the project, they started to press me for further sales. I think you need to allow some time after a project ends before you start chasing additional sales.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Use Skype rather than emails. We had conversations rather than bouncing emails back and forth. I think a lot of clarity comes from a conversation rather than multiple emails that don't really clarify anything.

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

We’ve received good feedback for the work so far. We have the ability to check code and perform reviews from our side. So far, it looks like Diceus is doing a very good job. I have nothing bad to say about them, but I don’t have any metrics to share.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We're working with them on a daily basis and using some tools for project management. They're based in Ukraine, so we’ve had to adjust ourselves to their time zone, but they do great work. We had to take time to understand their culture and everything else, but they've been responsive and we can trust them. After we decide on the timeline and sprints, they work according to those. The performance has been pretty good—we're satisfied with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The response time is one of the most important factors for me, along with flexibility, even outside normal working hours. We're in the U.S., they're in Ukraine, and we also have a team in the Middle East, so we need to work across different global time zones. With Diceus, I haven’t felt that I needed to check their work every hour. They are responsible, they appreciate the work, and it’s important for them to maintain long-term engagements. Whenever we have had an issue, they solved it quickly.

We have only been working with them for less than a year, but they’ve done a good job so far. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re happy with the results up to now.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest problem in working with Ukrainian teams—and something we perceived with our previous company—is communication. Once we found a good way to communicate, we were able to solve most of our issues. It’s not easy to communicate in English—especially for companies in Russia or Ukraine—but we found that Diceus was able to understand us. We could involve their CEO in discussions around strategy.

The previous company we tried to work with was absolutely horrible. They didn’t understand us, even though they kept saying yes to us. This hasn’t happened with Diceus. It took us at least a month to get to know each other and understand their capabilities and pace, but I feel very comfortable working with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

U.S. companies working with providers from these countries should make sure that there is a close collaboration during the onboarding process, in order to ensure the partner understand what is being built. Things will work smoothly after a month or two, but the onboarding process takes time. If one person doesn’t understand the client well, it can affect the whole team. We have to be particular in selecting resources, perhaps through interviews. I found that Diceus’ team was able to understand us and that they found the right people.

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

The look and feel of the solution is very good. It exceeded my expectations from the very first session and they really captured what we wanted.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We wanted to do two-week sprints, but ultimately went with a more progressive approach. We got updates every two or three days and discussed what would happen next. We moved from a more formalized sprint process to more fluid, rolling development.

We used InVision to do the concept design work and Jira as the main development repository and milestone tool. We did most of our rewrites in a shared Google document and entered all the code into Bitbucket.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were good at conceptualizing visuals that matched our needs. I gave a very loose description of my ideas and they made them look amazing on a screen. I’m also really impressed by their project manager. This was his first financial job, so he read about all the basics of accounting on his own. He got an understanding of general ledgers, subledgers, debit and credit accounting, and looked into how VAT worked. I was completely amazed by his drive to understand the domain. He was phenomenal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication could have been better. After some inconsistencies in the code and problems with testing data on a large scale, we had to convince them to be more forthcoming. We pressured them for updates and finally reached the right level of interaction near the end. That was a bit of a hardship.

They also struggled with Xero and the API for our data culling. They took longer than they should have to get the tax calculations right in the app. If they had utilized Xero’s dedicated API team sooner, they would have saved time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you set the right level of communication for your project.