Fueled

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We had them come to DC from New York for our kickoff meeting, and they brought 3 or 4 people and had some people on the phone as well. In the multi-hour session, they asked a lot of questions about our members, what we offer, and what problems we saw. They were really trying to understand the business problems we wanted to solve. We were incredibly impressed by the research they had done in advance and the questions they asked during the meeting. It showed they’d done a lot of work, but it also showed how quickly they acclimatized to the needs of our organization. We were very impressed, and the meeting went well.

The second deliverable was the concepts they developed for us. They developed 3 different concepts for an app we could potentially use as a minimum viable product [MVP]. We ultimately liked all 3 concepts, although we favored 1 as the clear leader for us to pursue. Their discovery process kept going through iterations of what that might work for us. In the end, if we’d felt that enough people would have downloaded the concept, we would have done it. We had no problems with the app concept, but we were concerned with how many people would actually use it, as we’re a niche organization.

At no point did I feel like they just told us about this app we had to develop and gave us a price tag. They really worked with us to figure out concepts that could be made into an app, and they didn’t limit themselves. They were very nimble in their thinking.

How did Fueled perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Slack as the team chatroom. We did weekly sprints, which were very Agile, and we had weekly check-in calls. At first, we started with Google Hangouts, but nobody in my office knows how to use that. We moved to another tool, but sometimes the screen would freeze, so we worked on that throughout the process. I wish I had asked in the beginning for a more formal management process.

What did you find most impressive about Fueled?

My impression, and what I heard from reference checks, is that they really excel at the conceptual portion, as well as their emphasis on a minimum viable product. Although we never quite got there, I know that they really stress being able to pick a concept, build an MVP, and then learn from that.

Are there any areas Fueled could improve?

My only complaint about them is that during the check-in calls, they sometimes had a lot of background noise, and sometimes I wasn’t sure about the point of the call. I didn’t really know where my team was supposed to come in and make a decision. That might be because we’re a formal group and needed more structure. We would have liked the weekly check-in calls to feel a little more on-point. I always hung up unsure about what they wanted. Other than that, my team really enjoyed the whole process. We felt like we really had great people thinking about our needs.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

In the nine months that it has been live, the app has been downloaded more than 150,000 times.

How did Fueled perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really good; they took ownership of everything. They managed everything. They don’t need much guidance and they’re very independent. They also take care of other elements of the app such as submission, and they do a very good job of it.

What did you find most impressive about Fueled?

They’re very diligent, they really care about UX and design. It’s very special and not many developers and designers think that well. It was a very good experience and we still work with them. I have nothing to say which isn’t good. Also, there are a lot of good programmers in their design component. We know a lot of good programmers but there are very few teams who design as well as Fueled.

Are there any areas Fueled could improve?

We hope it’s always faster but I think it’s part of any project. Things always take longer than we planned.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I wanted to make sure our original IT team helped build it so they could help manage it in the future. The partnership with Fueled was a real collaborative effort. They were patient in terms of working with us and understanding we had some strong ideas about the vision in terms of what we wanted. They were very creative in terms of giving different options. Fueled was really instrumental in helping us tailor the experience that we were looking for. They were a really strong partner in terms of helping us go back and forth on the drawing board, and boiling down what we were trying to do and then making sure it was the simplest, easiest way a customer could go about doing it.

What distinguishes Fueled from other providers?

When we were doing this, we had an extremely aggressive timeline with very limited resources to get it done. We literally ended up having daily calls every morning to make sure to drive it forward. They were great in terms of not just coordinating our project leader, but the design team members as well, from different areas throughout the business. They did a great job.

Is there anything Fueled could have improved or done differently?

We had some passionate discussions in terms of trying find the right approach. That was actually a really good thing. Everybody had strong ideas on what the best approach would be and how to do it. Fueled did a good job of letting us know if they thought we might be steering in the wrong direction, giving pushback when needed, but bringing that pushback and explaining the theory behind why the approach we might be going for might not be the best approach.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

The response for the design is phenomenal, extremely sleek, and opulent. People love the design, functionality, and simplicity. So I think we got what we were looking for.

User feedback from the app has been great, we had a few glitches but nothing major. We’re growing. Just yesterday, we got more than a thousand new users, so we’re growing quite quickly.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

I think that Fueled does a good job at development, design, and strategy. They understand a lot of different markets, and they’re able to help you find a good product market fit.

Their design talent was great, I think they’re good at finding the right approach. They understand that it’s more about finding a minimum viable product than giving the user a thousand different features that they get frustrated by and eventually stop using it. I think they’re great for startups. They’ll make sure the money you are spending isn’t going towards features or functionality that’s never going to be used.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

That’s a tough one because everybody plays a part. Our project was not typical because we lost more than two years, and we changed the scope of the work, and other problems popped up. It may have made more sense for us to have extra developers working on our side that could turn around little patches quicker, but that’s not a criticism of Fueled, it’s just the way the project turned out.