Exyte

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

RM: It’s a robust app. They did a phenomenal job for us.

BB: The app took a lot of critical development and they did a fine job. The app was absolutely essential to us to conduct the beta tests of our model, which we did successfully last year. They were with us as we made tweaks and changes to the beta tests based on responses. We finally got it to a stage where it’s ready to roll out. We’re in the process of fundraising. When it gets launched, we’ll take a look at starting the Android version.

Everybody says the app is cool. It’s an essential tool for us to line up higher educational institutions to deploy our app to their staff and students and as a means for us to demonstrate to venture capitalists and angel investors that we have a viable product and can scale quickly. That supports our need for additional capital.

How did Exyte perform from a project management standpoint?

RM: They were great. We had two phone calls per week. One call was for future planning and the other was based on feedback on the work that was completed. We used Trello and Slack. It was a seamless relationship.

BB: They were extremely responsive. We were impressed if we asked a question, we didn’t have to wait a day to get an answer. They interacted with our developer constantly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

RM: They were exceptionally easy to deal with. They were adamant about maintaining the Apple human interface guidelines; our app is perfect in that regard, which makes it easier to use. By adhering to those guidelines and doing it the correct way, we ended up with a better app. They have good attitudes and a good sense of humor, and their English is excellent. We had a great experience with Exyte.

Are there any areas they could improve?

BB: No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

BB: It’s the client’s responsibility to make sure they provide specific details, instructions, and use cases. Clearly outline the objectives and the goals.

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

We verify the success of the smart contract through unit testing, and to date, it has performed very well. As part of the contract, we also wanted our local engineer to build his skills in order to modify the smart contract in the future, and he’s progressing nicely. I’m very happy with how it’s worked out.

How did Exyte perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m currently acting as the project manager, and have found them to be very flexible and accommodating to our schedule. Yuriy, our local system engineer, and I have a weekly update to check in on project progress, development, and testing results.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Yuriy is very personable, with broad experience that he is happy to share. Even though there is a six-hour time difference between our office in New Zealand and Exyte’s office in Russia, it’s been very easy to contact him. He usually responds via email or Skype within a day of reaching out to him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any complaints. I think Yuriy is skilled enough to have completed the project within three or four weeks instead of months. However, we’ve had to draw out the project because we are a small business and don’t have the resources to focus solely on one project at a time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Nothing comes to mind. We’ve had exactly the type of engagement I was hoping for. They are flexible, professional, and knowledgeable.

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

We are happy with the quality of work. If the deliverables work, they are almost always bug-free. Exyte has expertise in developing mobile applications. Therefore, they give us feedback and suggestions on how to develop the IDE. Exyte brings a lot of recommendations for simplifying users’ interaction with the IDE. They developed using the Xcode and Android Studio environments, and they can tell us what a developer working with those tools would want.

How did Exyte perform from a project management standpoint?

We have four-week sprints and try to release a beta at the end of each phase. We are currently preparing a release. I discuss new features, sprints, and releases with Igor. I explain what we need for the next step, and they do it. We have our own Slack channel.

Igor, my partner, and I have a planning meeting every four weeks to discuss what features we want to include. We also include the developers from our internal team who work on the backend of the framework. We count what was achieved or not and analyze the reasons why a feature didn’t work or wasn’t implemented.

I’ve been satisfied with their work, and the management is great. I haven’t had to explain to everyone what needs to be done. Igor is my main contact and he clarifies details with the other members. The management and workflows are great.

Exyte will be the first group I contact should we need native mobile development in other languages to see whether they can find a subcontractor or whether they can do it themselves.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very fast, and the communication is also great. I am in Europe while they are in Russia so we have a common window of five hours in the winter, but this has not been a problem. We have very good communication, they are always online, and the time that they plan for features is always exact. Time estimates are almost exactly what they say in the beginning. Also, Exyte finds and manages designers that deliver great results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could enlarge their support team. Having more QA specialists could be great for us, but we are satisfied with everything we’ve done together.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I advise clients to listen to Exyte’s recommendations.