Fulcrum

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

Fulcrum had to build the custom UI largely from the ground up and they did a very good job. We’ve had generally good feedback from our users. Nothing has gone wrong that I can attribute to Fulcrum; just the usual learnings as you go through the launch process. There is an odd bug, but it happens. 

The previous agency we worked with had virtually no QA process whereas Fulcrum has a really tight QA process and 90% of bugs are picked up and fixed before they roll into production. The ones that aren’t picked up before, are being dealt with as quickly as possibly. Other improvements can probably be made, but I haven’t had a better experience anywhere else.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

We work very closely with their project managers on a day to day basis. They split the project management into two roles. One handles the day-to-day communication with the clients. The other handles less frequent communication with the clients, but their role is specifically in writing the scope of work which requires making very detailed feature descriptions and having in-depth conversations with the client. 

They then translate that to the developer, so they know exactly what they need to build. I hadn’t seen a project structured in this way before. I was quite skeptical in the beginning, but it works extremely well. We don’t actually engage with the developers all that much which, again, I was skeptical about because I quite like talking to them. 

However, in the previous agency, it got to a point where they couldn’t be bothered to talk to me and I ended up having weekend conversations with the developer who had no idea what was going on. It was a disaster. Our setup with Fulcrum is much better. 

I have bi-weekly discussions with their head of business development who functions as an account manager. He asks me how things have been going, talks through our progress, where we want to go and things like that which has been very helpful. There are no issues. If anything, I think they need to get some rest because they communicate very actively, and we’ve been very impressed. 

I think they ought to take weekends off every now and again. In projects, there are always delays caused by things you can’t see, but I would say Fulcrum has been very good at doing their best to make sure we meet deadlines. In the case of any delays that come up or roadblocks that appear,  they work as quickly as possible to address them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills and the processes they have in place are incredibly well suited to startups. The team really gets what we are trying to do. They understand that we have massive time constraints and that this product is our baby. Their processes are brilliant, and they communicate incredibly actively. Those are their two main strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. I would really be scraping the barrel if I answered this question. There are always areas people can improve but, to be honest, I really can’t complain because they’ve done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them because they know what they are doing, and work within the processes that they already have set up. CEOs are always very tempted, especially when in an early stage, to skimp on elements like QA and push to reduce things that don’t impact what the end-user is seeing necessarily.

Just listen to Fulcrum and do what they tell you to do and you will be happy. I have personally already referred them to several of my friends who run companies.

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

Fulcrum delivered a working MVP platform. The thing that impressed me was the level of quality control and testing that they applied on their side. We went through a rather extensive testing of all use cases. Compared to previous experiences I’ve had, and given our shoestring budget, there was very little that didn’t work. They have a very good process for making sure that what they specify and the changes that come up are fully regression-tested.

Another helpful thing is that they’ve been incredibly responsive in terms of dealing with small bugs that came up on the weekend or other times outside of the agreed-upon response times.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. The team essentially did two sprints in two weeks. They used Airtable to break down the project and for communication. They put the project plan into Gannt charts. We also used Jira to look at the backlog. They were quite proactive about recording their progress. There were a few bugs and misunderstandings afterward, and we used Jira to deal with those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their internal quality control process sets them apart. I assume they have the size to also tackle bigger projects. They have sufficient resources to add an extra developer when things get tight. They keep all of these resources together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For some of our questions, I wish the project manager had more technical expertise. There were many things she had to take back to the team. It wasn’t a problem; she just couldn’t give me immediate answers. I got the sense that she didn’t have a technical background, but it was okay in the end. As long as she had project management in her control, it was fine.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends on the situation. They have technologies that they have mastered and are comfortable with. I’ve gone with their advice on a number of things where either I lacked experience or just didn’t know. What I would not recommend is that the client tries to impose their own preferences on Fulcrum, if it’s not something they’re comfortable with. If the client wants an application built in JavaScript, and they have a company that’s more comfortable with PHP frameworks, it’s probably not a good idea. If they’re more comfortable with AWS, they shouldn’t be forced to go on Google Cloud. I’m pretty pleased with Fulcrum’s advice, but I also didn’t try to move into something they were uncomfortable with.

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

We’re now integrating most of their work into production. Fulcrum has really helped us in boosting our development effort. Because of this, we didn’t have to find developers for ourselves.

It felt like they were part of our team, which was our goal. We wanted to find a company that worked synergistically, rather than merely sending tasks to someone and getting a result in the end.

They’re very flexible and possess a wide array of knowledge, including front- and backend development. In terms of web development, they know how to work effectively and use modern technologies.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a project manager for each of our projects who serves as the communication point, helps build the roadmap, and gives us status updates. We can communicate with the team directly, but the project manager is usually the main point of contact. We have Jira and Slack, which allows for open communication. We have weekly status meetings for each of our projects where we raise issues. They solve them as fast as possible and the experience has been very good so far.

With Fulcrum, we have open communication and I feel they really try to give us the correct status of a project. Other companies we’ve worked with didn’t tell us what was going on with the projects, the date estimates were incorrect, and everything was a mess.

They try to give us the correct estimates on time. We haven’t experienced too many delays.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s rare to find a company that’s able to communicate well and also deliver. This is definitely one of their strengths. They mention any issues instead of trying to hide them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the things that’s helped us work well together is creating a very good specifications document for what we’re building. I know from past experiences with other companies that failed to produce that. We’ve tried to give the clearest possible picture. However, when something was missing, they just knew what to do.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If you provide good specifications of what we’re trying to build and know all the aspects of it, the project will be effective.

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

The main metric we look at is whether our milestones are met. We plan three months ahead, and they’ve met all the expectations so far. We also consider second look retention metrics. We’re exceeding KPIs for user behavior and engagement with our product. The product is very strong and reliable, and it’s done really well.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on time and in budget. We have really close communication on a daily basis. We use Slack and Jira to communicate. They also travel to us, and we travel to them. It’s a very hands-on partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fulcrum is really proactive. They’re involved in product development and the milestones. They’re not just executing; they share their own ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

So far, it’s a five-star rating from my end; they by far excel other companies I’ve worked with in the past. I have no negative feedback I can give.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get them really involved and see them as partners.