DockYard

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Mavrck, a software marketing technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DockYard?

We were trying to design an output test product offering for a customer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

 They delivered a clickable prototype. That included customer development, research, discovery, user interviews, and design.

We had a mockup already and we were trying to expand on the output test. The goal was to retest our assumptions and do more research discovery. Then they iterated on that design and delivered a more polished mockup.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people, including a project manager and a designer.

How did you come to work with DockYard?

One of my coworkers worked with DockYard in the past when he was with another company. We considered a few other firms, but what attracted me to DockYard was the testimonials they had, the sophistication of the brand, and how they described their products. The team we worked with was very impressive, and we really liked how they approached the project in the courting phase.   

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2019 and we wrapped up in October that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did a final presentation for our CEO and CTO, and both were tremendously impressed with the work that DockYard did. We were focused on making the UI/UX better than before, and the project received high marks across the board. We continued with suer testing afterwards, and the UX/UI was received very well too.

How did DockYard perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very communicative with the timeline upfront. We made some adjustments and they were very flexible with the initial planning. We stayed on schedule and they met all our expectations. We made changes during the project, but we still hit our timeline and the cost didn’t increase.

We used Excel for dates and deliverables. We used email, phone, and a lot of video chat. They also flew to visit us halfway through the project and at the end of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very impressed with the team. The designer was intelligent and great to work with. The output was very high quality and the communication was great. They built a relationship that was really strong. From the initial sales individual that we worked with to the account manager, it was a pleasure to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This might be unique to the project, but it’s still feedback—we don’t really have a measurable ROI because the product hasn’t been launched yet. A little more emphasis on that could have been helpful through the engagement, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their process. I did enjoy the research and how they managed the project. Leaning on them and trusting them to do what they do best worked out for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of software engineering at an automotive marketing website that helps local dealers list and aggregate their inventory for consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DockYard?

We decided to embark on a tech transformation that involved rewriting our platforms from scratch. We chose to use Elixir and needed an agency that specialized in the language.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DockYard worked 100% remotely, but there was a week when they spent time on-site for initial architecture discussions with our team. They moved across all of our different systems including helping us to design our database and implement the Elixir architecture that we chose as an umbrella application. Their team designed the code to be reusable following best practices. They also supported the implementation of our event reporting engine, which captures different user activities on the site anonymously. They also assisted with the implementation of our various AWS tools.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four engineers but also had access to their software architects.

How did you come to work with DockYard?

We researched which programming language and platform that we wanted to build our new system on. We found that DockYard was heavily involved in the Elixir community, which led us to their website. We emailed them to engage and their team was interested in our project.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of the year, we spent about $1.5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019 and wrapped up in April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted DockYard to be part of the team. We insisted that they were helping us to build our team culture and helping us learn Elixir and best practices. Their team excelled at those qualitative metrics.

Our team was receptive to them and learned from them. They also worked individually on smaller project teams. Internally, we had many different issues with gathering requirements.

We treated them as employees, working alongside our teams to push the whole ball forward. Their team was successful at integrating with our team and becoming respected experts in their different areas with our folks. It was enjoyable to work with them.

How did DockYard perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Slack and Zoom. We handled all of the project management but one person from their team worked a couple of hours a week. She was helpful in coordinating across their engineers and handled any paperwork that came up. Their team was open to feedback. They were open to discuss any wrinkles that cropped up, which we also relish on our team. Their team was open to making course corrections whether it was about product or personnel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely thorough in identifying the best way to implement something in code. Their team finds the most efficient way to implement a function. That always impressed me. Their ability to tackle any problem with a set of patterns that they used previously came quickly to them. It didn’t feel like their team was ever stumped, which struck me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were times in our project when we needed to complete a task, which required us to take a suboptimal path. Their team could be more receptive to that. My advice is to take a step back and understand what the client’s trying to accomplish at the moment. It could be helpful to relinquish the staunch approach to doing things the right way. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was noticeable late in the game.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront, honest, and transparent with what you want and you will maximize your investment. Their team’s willing to work with you on anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a software engineer at a health and wellness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire DockYard?

We needed software engineering staff to augment our team on a legacy software rewrite project in Elixir.

What were your goals for this project?

To rewrite our legacy software in order to provide a more seamless experience for the users, and to clean up the backend data model and customer-facing reports.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose them due to their location in the United States and our use of the Phoenix Framework, which was written by one of their team.

Describe the project in detail.

They provided an Elixir programmer to give us a much-needed lift during the development of our legacy software.

What was the team composition?

We were a small team, and we had one programmer from DockYard join our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The initial, small-scale launch took place at the end of 2018. The app is functioning as expected and we will continue to develop it and move clients off the old platform and onto the new one.

Our resource produced quality code along with proper tests. He wrote foundational test infrastructure code that allowed us to work with cloud services in production, and simulated cloud services in development and testing. He also proposed alternative implementations that ended up positively simplifying our architecture.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was wonderful. He worked remotely and I provided him with the necessary information about the work items. He understood the work quickly and wasn't shy about asking questions when clarification was needed, also working well with our in-house resources.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

If all of DockYard’s resources are of a similar caliber to the one we worked with, I can heartily recommend their services.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have no complaints or suggestions for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the project lead at POA Network. We are a public blockchain network and an Ethereum sidechain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DockYard?

In coordination with two other Elixir development shops, we relied on DockYard to develop elements of our new project called BlockScout, an open-sourced EVM blockchain explorer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

While the other agencies had other responsibilities, we tasked DockYard with building the architecture and designing the database for BlockScout using the Phoenix framework. The most prominent aspect was creating our indexer, which collects all of the metadata on the blockchain—the blocks and the transactions—and stores it in the Postgres database.

What is the team composition?

Our development team has ranged from 2–4 members depending on the stage of the project.

How did you come to work with DockYard?

We found them at an Elixir conference in Texas in February 2018. We discussed our needs, and the schedule aligned that we could work with Chris (Architectural Engineer, DockYard), who is the creator of the Phoenix framework. We believed that he and that team would be the best people possible to help build our application.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $400,000–$500,000 for DockYard’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in April 2018 and remains ongoing. We love working with DockYard, and we’ll keep them on board for the long term.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

DockYard’s involvement ensured that this project would be completed faster and better than what we could have accomplished without them or with a different development team. The internal developers that we have recently hired are very impressed with the code DockYard has supplied.

How did DockYard perform from a project management standpoint?

DockYard is a team we don't have to worry about. We communicate well using GitHub and Slack. They understand what they're in charge of, and they run with it. We've never had overlapping problems with the other teams. They understand the overall project and each task that's given to them. There is not much direction that needs to be given—they're very independent in their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall expertise in multiple areas of the project is notable. The other teams we work with go to DockYard if they have questions. They always seem to have all the answers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they're doing a fabulous job in all aspects of the business.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be cognizant of their independence. They understand, and they do their research. There isn’t much more we could provide them to do their tasks better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of engineering for a major metro system in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DockYard?

We had several big projects for revamping everything that has to do with our customer-facing technology. We knew that with this much work, we could use all the help we could get.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re working on a new website and software that powers predictions for train arrivals, digital signage, and SMS notification for service disruptions. Most of the work was around helping us implement an API that we make available to third-party developers so that they can build applications that help our riders find out where their vehicles are or get information about schedules and such.

Currently, we have an older version of the API and there are under 100 different applications that use it for either iOS or Android or some type of website. There were several implementations that were difficult to do and circumstances around how often the API could be used, as it is expensive to run. The new version of the API will address some of these concerns. With DockYard’s help, we’re wrapping it up and are about to put it out there for use.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with four dedicated engineers over the course of our engagement who essentially became part of our team.

How did you come to work with DockYard?

They are a pretty well-known company, so we reached out to them.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent more than $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them around December of last year and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The general feedback we have received has been positive and our team is happy with the development they have done.

How did DockYard perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re happy with the level of communication we’ve received so far. We mostly use Slack, phone calls through Google Hangouts, and we may meet in person but this is very infrequent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like their technical expertise; they’re knowledgeable in what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engineers that they had were all remote, which was a potential challenge. Our preference and a recommendation for them would be to try and get engineers who could work with our team onsite.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We provide software-as-a-service (SaaS) to the fitness industry. Our product delivers online booking, reservations, e-commerce, POS [point of sales] marketing tools and data analytics – the full business management platform. 

What is your position?

I'm the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with DockYard?

We are entering a marketplace that is crowded and highly competitive. We believe that we're going to make our mark by having a superior product, which has groundbreaking features that we developed on the back-end, but just as importantly, has a design that is the best in the industry; the best UI/UX [user interface/user experience] in a streamlined, sophisticated, mobile-friendly look and feel that we think it's going to bring our back-end features to life.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We are developing the back-end functionality in-house. It's in progress now. We are having DockYard do the front-end design for the product, and I think they're doing some great work for us. They're our exclusive designers, and we're open to expanding the project with them.

A lot of their advisory or strategic thinking is embedded in the process, which is one of the things I like so much about them. From the very beginning, they're just kind of end-to-end. I think they help us think through our product spec. As a design firm, they have a very strong focus on the end user. We can come to them with a vision of what the product has to do, but they're very disciplined about helping us think through various segments of users and the unique perspective of how each of those segments would use our application. To me, there's a lot of strategic thinking that's baked into the process, and there's a lot of value in that.

How did you come to choose DockYard?

I had worked with them previously at a different company.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative? 

We're in the tens of thousands with them now. We expect to be in the low six digits during the course of the work.

How long has the project been in process, and is there a timeline for the completion?

We started in March. We've had some deliverables with them already, but we continue to work with them. We see our relationship continuing for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

I think we'll have that in time, but it's a little early for that now. One of the most important measures for us is the number of steps a customer has to take to complete an action. In that case, we want that number to be as low as possible. So, it's not market quantified, but there is a quantifiable aspect to what we do with them. We look at how many steps are necessary using our competitors' software, and we want to reduce that while not overwhelming a customer with too much information on one page. I think they've been strong partners in helping us eliminate steps wherever necessary through their superior design expertise.

We've not run into any issues from a project management perspective. I'm not just satisfied in this area – I'm frankly impressed. I've never had a budget surprise with them. They have very strong project managers with great availability. They've never missed a deadline. They operate their business and manage their projects very tightly, with the philosophy of "no surprises to customers." We've used Basecamp and Slack as project management tools with them, which have enhanced the overall experience for us.

Is there anything that you'd consider unique about their practice that distinguishes them from other vendors? 

I think they're excellent communicators, and that's worked out really well. In my experience, that's definitely not always the case. We always know where they are in the process. They're very vocal when they need something from us to move forward. I think they apply pressure gently but firmly when they need something from us. They've actually been enjoyable to work with. Part of the reason we keep going to them is that there's just great chemistry with the team. They hire really well, and they have a strong culture that I see in every one of their employees I've ever interacted with.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider, or certain things you might do differently as the client if given the chance?

Sometimes, I have development work that they can't complete because they don't have a person who writes in that specific language, but I understand that they can't have everything. There's no particular area I can point to where I wish they were better.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

The closer our team works with them, the better the result. I've actually had some people camp out in their shop for days at a time and work closely with them, so there's nothing left to interpretation. I have an active team member on their sprints, and they're up there whiteboarding all day long, and doing what needs to be done. If someone can afford to do that, I think it really pays off.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an e-learning provider.

What is your position?

I was a senior software developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached DockYard?

We were working on an application for online learning, but we had a very small internal team and an enormous amount of work to tackle. We had decided beforehand that we wanted to use the Ember framework because our developers were very comfortable in Ember. We wanted to find a vendor that could come up to speed quickly on Ember. DockYard happened to be one of the best for doing Ember applications, so they were a natural choice. We wanted someone who was smart in doing Ember, and DockYard fit the bill very well.

In addition, we had an enormous amount of front-end design that we needed to do – visual as well as user interaction design – and DockYard provided those capabilities as well. So, we also used them for that aspect of the project.

We really had two independent projects working side by side. One track was focused mostly on digital design while the other track focused on implementation.

SOLUTION

Could you describe in detail the scope of their actual involvement?

They were pretty much driving the bus. They were doing a lot of the architectural analysis, which they would then divide up between their developers. One of the developers at DockYard was actually one of the core Ember team members and one of the major contributors to that framework. He's a natural leader, so it felt pretty natural to have him also lead our project. He was working with us to help understand what the problems were and how we could move forward, so that DockYard could develop the best solution. If it wasn't for DockYard, we would not have even gotten close to being able to deliver this particular project. They played every single role in the entire implementation process.

How did you come to choose DockYard as your partner?

A big part of our company is based in Boston, and we were looking for Boston-based vendors so they could be locally available to us, if need be. Our Boston colleagues are well connected to the tech community and had interacted with DockYard at various professional events. In talking with DockYard, we found them to be brilliant. That's one of the real strengths of DockYard. They regularly host Ember meetings in Boston and host an Ember conference every summer as well, so they're a major player in the development community in Boston and the East Coast. Their reputation is amazing in terms of the contributions they make to the community.

Can you provide a general cost estimate for the amount you've invested in their services?

I wasn't involved in the contract process, but I believe they were charging around $250 an hour. We had four developers working for six months.

Is the relationship with DockYard ongoing?

I no longer work at that particular company. I've since moved on, so I'm not exactly sure about the current status of the relationship. I believe the company is currently focused on moving things offshore, and they're mostly using DockYard as a means to jump-start that process. If the relationship were not continued, I certainly wouldn't put it on DockYard's performance but instead on internal changes within that company. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance and/or the overall success of your engagement with them?

Our QA [quality assurance] team told us that they have never seen software developed so free of issues and bugs, compared to other software development firms. DockYard is very bullish in terms of doing test-driven development, so there's not a single line of code that they write that they don't actually write a test for.

Generally, when we are looking at issues and defects, lots of times the defects are around the intersections between systems that are talking to us or feeding us data as well as systems that are consuming the data that we're generating, so we'll see a lot of bugs on the peripheries. In terms of the actual application itself, the QA team found very few actual defects and zero regressions. A lot of that was due to the test-driven development. It was really fascinating to be a part of a project where quality was such a driver in terms of actual development.

We didn't experience any problems with their project management. Our company was doing a lot of the project management internally to begin with, and it was pretty sloppy. DockYard stepped in and was able to prevent a lot of potential disasters in terms of bad project management. They even volunteered to work on nights and weekends at one point, when our project team was accepting more work than they should have. DockYard really came through for us on many of those fronts. Everything they said they would deliver has been done. They really went above and beyond to try to get us out of a morass that our own project team got us into. They were fantastic.

When working with DockYard, is there anything that you consider unique about their practice that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I think they are the premier RAILS and Ember agency anywhere. If you want to create an Ember application, there is no better team. DockYard is pretty amazing in terms of taking a problem and trying to figure out the best way to go forward. One of the neat things about them is that, if you go back in their history, they started out as two separate companies. There was one company that did just development and another company that did just design. They happened to be working in the same collaborative workspace, they were teaming on projects, and they decided to combine.

They can do everything. They do visual design and user experience design as well as development. They come from a background where they specialize in those specific areas, and now they've managed to merge to provide the complete package. To me, that's kind of rare, that a company can have such deep expertise in both design and development. You don't normally see that, so I think that's a special thing about them.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

I understand that DockYard struggles with how to market themselves and go after new opportunities. I think one of the challenges that DockYard has is trying to get out of that niche of just being really good with Ember. They need to frame what they do in a way that allows organizations that want to build apps to find them. Right now, their main source of new business is through referrals, conferences, and word of mouth. They need to go after organizations that don't yet know that they need to use DockYard. Once you've actually chosen DockYard, it's a pretty amazing ride.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

When DockYard offers to do the discovery phase, have them do it. The money that you spend in doing that will pay off in having a more cohesive road map going forward. It will save you money in the long run because DockYard is very good at doing requirements analysis.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Learnivore is a site that connects people to local instructors, classes, and friends in art, athletics, and academics.

What is your position?

I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached DockYard?

I used DockYard to build the application from scratch. I had nothing, but a general concept prior to going to them. I went to DockYard with a series of mockups, and told them what I wanted to build. I had decided that I wanted to use Ruby on Rails, which they have a lot of experience with, so it made sense to have them at the helm.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the actual scope of their involvement in detail?

They were responsible for the entire design and development of the custom application. I came to them with Pixel Perfect design, but I let them know that it was just a start, a way of communicating my vision. So, the site looks quite different from what I started with, because they did a full overhaul of the visual design.

They operated in sprints, and they had broken down the entire process accordingly. We did the full design first, and then sprinted it out. I believe each sprint was around three weeks, and it took about four months to get there. I haven’t used them for hosting, third-party systems integration or training.

I’m satisfied with the selection of Ruby on Rails as the technology to base this app on. They built it with an Ember.js, and the Ember has ended up being particularly helpful in terms of making us very agile going forward. Although I don’t maintain an ongoing relationship with them, they did help me find my in-house lead developer, and that was very helpful, too.

How did you come to choose DockYard as your partner?

I initially found them through a LinkedIn search. I presented my mockups and evaluated how people responded to that and what the bids were. I looked at DockYard and a couple other people in the Boston area who had good reputations as Rails developers. One of the reasons I chose DockYard was that they had worked on other marketplace sites. From my experience, handling the marketplace elements was going to be one of the biggest challenges, so I wanted someone who had experience doing that.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for the size of this engagement?

The first release was $200,000, and the second was $400,000.

When was the application launched?

It launched on June 6, [2014].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

For me, the value of their involvement was just how easy it was to get a new developer up and running. She was able to understand the code easily and was able to go in and continue developing. As far as the product goes, we had an awful lot of bugs for the first month after it went live.

We now have around 2,000 instructors, so frankly we still have a long way to go. They created an effective base platform, and now we’re just kind of iterating through to figure out how to make that platform more usable to our end users. We’ve had people who absolutely love our platform and some people who hate it, but I’m not sure that’s all their fault. It takes time to create a usable interface.

I had two major engagements with DockYard. I had the release in June, and then another release at the end of September, which was twice as big. Although the June release had some very serious bugs, the second release was so much better. I’m talking leaps and bounds. Their project management methodology was just a thousand times better. They managed themselves much better. They were on time, and it was very well tested. It was a much better process. I’d say we’ve established a very effective workflow now.

When working with DockYard, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

I felt that in working with them, I didn’t have just a developer and a designer, but actually product manager, too. They were very thoughtful and took the time to understand what my business problems were. I expected that I would need to be very involved in terms of the product management, but I really wasn’t. They really internalized that, which was wonderful.

I felt that they treated it very much as if they were stakeholders and owners, not as contractors, which was nice. It freed me up to focus on the marketing of my business, which is the hardest thing I have to do right now. It felt very much like a partnership. They communicated well, and they thought up some creative solutions for the UX [user experience].

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

I think taking advantage of their discovery session prior to the visual design was helpful because it clarified exactly what we were building. It was expensive, but I think it was worthwhile.