Front-End Web Dev for IT Services Project
- Web Development
- Less than $10,000
- Feb. - Mar. 2017
- Quality
- 4.5
- Schedule
- 4.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"If there was something that wasn’t completely worked out, they mentioned it, they saw it, and they talked about it."
- Other industries
- Hilversum, Netherlands
- 11-50 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Fooz provided frontend design on a split agency partnership basis. Deliverables included all designs, wireframes, and graphical impressions. The platform they designed involves managing textile orders.
Fooz conducted thorough testing on multiple browsers and devices to eliminate all bugs. The team was proactive about addressing issues before they became problems. They eschewed stodgy professionalism in favor of developing personal relationships, but still maintained critical communication skills.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the owner of a Dutch Internet company. We develop the backend of web applications.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Fooz?
Sometimes we need extra help for frontend design, and that is where Fooz helps us out. We didn’t have the capacity ourselves to develop the frontend. I met Michał [Kaźmierczak], the CEO of Fooz, and we created all of the designs, wireframes, and graphical impressions, but we didn't have the frontend developers to work on the project at that time. They offered their help, and they did a great job.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Fooz tried to work with the things we use normally. We use Bootstrap in our projects for frontend developing, so they used Bootstrap. We also used some Agile software to keep track of the progress, bugs, and feedback that we have, and Fooz adjusted really well and fine to what we would like. The second project they did for us was not a big project, and it only took them about eight working days to develop the frontend.
The product Fooz helped us with is for an app a sports agency uses for their ERP system. They use UNIT4, which is quite a well-known resource management system in The Netherlands. What they do is sell shirts and whole equipment for teams. When an order is placed, a lot of things have to come together — financial data and all of the requirements of printing and adjusting to clothes, etc. Right now they don't have a system where they can work together with the customer, and what we are developing is a web application that allows the employees of the company and the customers to work together on the order. They share the design of the shirts, approve it, and fill in all of the printing options. That creates an estimate for the price of the whole order, which is validated by someone else. They then send their delivery address and their invoice address and everything like that to eventually get the order right to implement in the resource system. What Fooz did was create all of the design that allows the customers and employees of the company we work for to work together and make that happen.
How did you come to work with Fooz?
Michał and I are connected in the same business group but in our own countries, Poland and The Netherlands, respectively. He sent me an email that said, “Does it also suck when you don't have enough frontend developing power to develop projects?” That message was spot-on and exactly the position I was in: at the time, I didn't have a frontend developer that could develop this project, but I had backend developers ready to work on it. I thought that was funny, so I contacted Michał, and he was traveling through Europe, so he came to our office. I thought, “Yeah. This seems like a really nice guy with good ideas for design.” So we gave the design to Fooz, and it was nice working with them.
How much have you invested with Fooz?
We’ve done two projects now, and I think we’ve spent €2,500 ($2,700).
What is the status of this engagement?
I think we started working together on the first project in February 2017. It was a template that we wanted to change, and they did the design work for that. The second project was the one that I'm talking about right now, and that was in March 2017. They’ve completed everything, and we do have three frontend developers ourselves. If we don't have enough capacity in our own company, I will gladly use Fooz again.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
It’s hard to share any statistics, but I was really pleased with their work. They understood our project and were quickly up to speed. I also liked that they tested the project really well in different browsers and on different devices, so there were only a few bugs. They were also quick to resolve those issues, and they were quite ahead on everything, so if there was something that wasn’t completely worked out, they mentioned it, they saw it, and they talked about it.
How did Fooz perform from a project management standpoint?
Michał was basically a project manager, because we spoke about the functionality within the screens and about how it should work and be intuitive for the user. I think only one frontend developer worked on it. Basically, the team was one project manager and one developer, so two in total.
We had a fixed-price deal for this project, but I think they worked a little bit more on the project than estimated upfront, and the delivery was on time. We didn't have a really sharp deadline, but they delivered the project when they said they would, and our feedback was implemented quickly too. Only a few days later they already had worked on the feedback as well. That was really nice.
Fooz works quite well from a project management standpoint. Michał was on holiday during the project, so he gave the project lead to a project manager called Anna. At first we didn’t have much communication, but when I contacted Anna about their timetable and schedule the communication was picked up. It was only a small project, so not much communication was needed, but the communication was good when certain screens were done or certain things were checked and we could review it ourselves.
We made all the wireframes for every page. We used a digital tracker for our feedback according to our own Agile scrum program that we use to develop. Mainly, we had wireframes and graphic impressions sent. At the beginning of the project, we had a small project documentation, and next to that we wrote down all of our feedback in the digital tracker, and they used the status to update us when things were ready.
What did you find most impressive about Fooz?
I think the commitment of Michał as a person is the most impressive thing about Fooz. They are not a very big company right now, but they are really involved with their clients. Even if the project is smaller, they try to adapt and get to know the client well. They’re not too business-like. They’re personal, and I like that because I think that if a company is a little personal with a project, the quality of the product and the communication are a lot better.
Are there any areas Fooz could improve?
I can’t think of any ways Fooz could improve right now. I liked everything. It was really nice.
RATINGS
-
Quality
4.5Service & Deliverables
"<p>Things can always be better, but the quality of what they delivered was really nice. </p> "
-
Schedule
4.0On time / deadlines
"<p>The communication wasn’t great in the beginning, but they later picked that up and communicated more.</p> "
-
Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"<p>I think the money that Fooz needed to create what they did was really good.</p> "
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"<p>If Michał is personally involved, he really gets to know the business, and I'm sure he can handle a lot of different projects for a lot of different clients.</p>
