Fulcrum

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

We’ve received lots of positive feedback regarding UI/UX for the projects Fulcrum designed. One of the projects is now in its beta testing phase. According to the feedback we have so far, users really seem to like the app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My contact point is the PM who is always available & answers any of my requests promptly. Usually, we communicate via Slack channel where I can write directly to any member of the project if necessary.

Everything connected to the app's design we discuss in Figma, a special tool for web design. The workflow between our teams is really effective since we haven’t had any delays, or failed expectations so far.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really like how they work on the design. Their ideas are fresh and always reasonable. Fulcrum always considers clients’ needs & desires: there was no negative feedback from the clients of the projects we worked together.

It is really important for us that our clients are satisfied in the end. I was also impressed when their designers always showed several variants of the product's mockups (each with different colours & visuals).

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can mention. The projects we’re still working at are going really smoothly.

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

The students really appreciate the app. They have said that they have the driving school in their pocket, and it’s super convenient for them to book lessons when they want to and not just when the instructor is available. 

Traditional driving schools, at least here in Norway, are centered around the instructor. The instructor chooses when the student can book, but we turned it around and gave the power to the student.

We also give them the tools to track the progress with the student, so that whenever they get a new instructor, this instructor can see the student progress and also the feedback from the instructor on the previous lessons. It is quite convenient for the students to book whenever they want and then keep track of their own progress.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate on Slack multiple times a day, and I have one project and product manager who I’m in contact with on a daily basis. 

I think Fulcrum has a very good understanding of our product now since we have been working together for so long and we have had meetings over video at least once a week. We also have some shorter calls and stand-ups just in case there is something urgent that needs to be done or just a general status update on the project. 

I think they are quite good at communicating, especially if there are any delays or if they suggest any changes in our roadmap to make both ours and their planning easier. They are quite good at rescheduling or replanning in case we need to, although they typically meet our deadlines. 

Fulcrum also challenges us on the product. They don’t just do whatever we say. They have given us quite good feedback on the product itself.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First of all, for us in Norway, it is quite expensive to contract both developers and PMs, so the price is important for us because we are also a new company and we don’t have a lot of money to throw around and especially not to waste. Pricing wise, they are very good. 

They have a very good product vision, and they share our long-term goals. They are a young team, and I think they are hungrier than a lot of other developers that we talked to, especially compared to the local developers that we talked to. Fulcrum is eager to get the job done and they are a lot faster than other development teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. We haven’t had any situations where we needed to straighten them out so to speak. I don’t have any experience working with other remote teams like Fulcrum, so my comparison bar is not the best. From other people I have talked to who also worked with them, they seem quite happy. I am not sure what could have been done better or differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Our relationship started with a workshop where we spent some time in their office just going through the whole product. They work in sprints which is very helpful to us, and any future client should trust them in their sprint set up which is good. 

Also, I think especially when working with remote teams, you need to meet with them first. Not just with Fulcrum, but in general, so I think if someone wants to work with them on a bigger project like this, I would definitely recommend a meeting just to get to know them. I think the money and time we spent going there is well invested, and we probably got that money back just by working with them more effectively since we know them on a personal level as well. 

They are generally good people and I would definitely recommend them as a team but also the human aspect of Fulcrum.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

It’s too early to say, since we didn’t release the app yet. But the early users praised the design & functionality. And our client is happy.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our major point of contact is a PM, but we can reach any team member whenever we want. Sometimes, when we were short for time - the team agreed to work during the weekend to help us finish the project faster. Their work is structured so well that we didn’t experience any delays at all.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We love the quality of their code. They made sure to create a scalable product that works smoothly. We really appreciated their open culture. In fact we visited their office & we were impressed by their friendly, creative environment in the office. Their ideas were great - we implemented them in the project. They suggested a few features and our client liked them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind. They’ve been a great help and we are able to finish the project on time.

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?

We’re happy with the results. We’re also pleased by how Fulcrum connects with and responds to us. The bugs are very minimal, and the quality is really good.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication is really smooth. They’re really helpful, and they respond well. We use Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of work is really amazing. The technology they’ve used is really good. They’re flexible. They try their best to meet our expectations and provide us with a good experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re a really good team and company to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You don’t have to worry about anything; they keep their customers’ best interests in mind. They bring good value and advice to the project.

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?

Though the platform has a long way to go, the prototype is essentially ready to show to investors. It’s functional and looks great visually. Overall, I’m very satisfied with Fulcrum’s work so far.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management approach is really good. We communicate via Google Hangouts, Slack, and occasionally by phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Working with them is very easy and they fight for our project’s goals. They put in the effort for our ideas as much as they can. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although it’s not a big problem, their English communication could be improved. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to clarify things to avoid any miscommunications.

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.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

First of all, we would never have had a new site if we were to do it our self since we don't have the time and resources. In addition we needed someone we could trust as we have a very strong, personal ownership to our startup. As of project completion, we have not deployed the site yet, but the feedback from testers and focus groups indicate that the new site will serve its purpose.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As mentioned before, we did a pre-project that defined and detailed the scope and price. Delivery was split into milestones and we communicated on slack and sometimes google hangout for demos. English level is good, but it's will always add a layer of distraction talking over video or voice calls. As always it is important to verify what both sides think and agree on.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are young and really engaged in both the tech and the solution created for us. I feel that they are on our side in this. The ability to be confident in pricing is something I have never experienced before. I think the pre-project setup is very productive as long as you are able to keep agility in the project execution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Difficult to do bigger changes in the middle of the project since we have more or less fixed the scope after the pre-project. I suggest having a buffer in the budget to use in case we find some bigger changes we want to do.

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.