Gigtech

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO/CPO of a mental wellness start-up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gigtech, and what were your goals?

We needed to build the mental wellness app from scratch and make key technical/architectural decisions. The goal was to launch the app in the market quickly to test, learn and iterate.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found them through Upwork and ran a 4-hour practical assignment building out an aspect of the app to determine their working style, attention to detail, and overall fit for the project.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They developed the front & back-end of the app. We started off by reviewing the business requirements and split the work out into milestones. We began with aspects such as, Onboarding, Core Product, then Profile Management and Analytics. They leveraged iOS/Swift and node.JS. They developed product features such as, push notifications, audio/video text transcription, rich text editor, rule-based recommendation engine, etc.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were mainly two people I worked with most, one that developed the front-end experience for the app and the other managed the backend. There was ML support for a portion, but they came and went.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were able to reach the finish line of launching the app in the App Store, which was a great win. They were extremely communicative, willing to stay up late to troubleshoot, and open to hop on the phone anytime. Their relentlessness, drive, and passion were inspiring! The project was off track by a few months due to a variety of factors, and we had to de-scope a huge part of the value proposition due to a lack of ML-specialist knowledge.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The main person (Rameez) with who I interacted served as project manager and software developer which was greatly appreciated. He was able to leverage tools like JIRA to keep me updated into a semi-real-time view of their progress. The other developers were extremely hard to get in contact with resulting in cumbersome back-and-forth through Slack/JIRA, delayed timelines, and project de-scoping.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Seeing how involved the main software developer was in the overall user experience of the app, it's great when developers can take a step back and see the perspective of the user.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

While the work ethic of the main software developer was great, there are a few aspects they could improve on for future engagements:

• Attention to detail (don't rely on bugs being found in QA, proactively test for primary test cases and allow QA anything they may have missed)
• Proactive thinking (thinking through edge cases, understanding the entry/exit touchpoints, etc.)
• Reading through business logic and asking questions to ensure clear understanding of the business requirements (doing detailed grooming versus committing to something with assumptions that have to be reworked later)
• Communication: It was extremely hard to get ahold of the rest of the team (aside from the main software developer who was great!) which was the most cumbersome part.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an important construction company headquartered in Peru. Our main activity is the construction of buildings and shopping centers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gigtech, and what were your goals?

We need to develop a job tool that helps construction workers to very accurately calculate the quantity, weight, and cost of materials needed to perform various construction and interior finishing activities. In the construction sector there are many workers with a lack of knowledge about how to measure or estimate the amount of materials, despite being good workers their lack of instruction limits them to obtaining better jobs, so we are sure that this tool can help them to improve and do their job better.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

For us the challenge was great, we did not know anything about mobile application development and with many doubts rather than fear we began the task of looking for developers who accept the challenge of working with us in our first development. We interviewed about 12 developers from different countries, we reviewed their previous work, level of knowledge and reference prices. We shared our idea and what we expected from the project to everyone, and we chose the one who gave us the most confidence and had the most patience to guide us in this development.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

From the beginning we have had frequent meetings to define the scope of the project. To start we developed a mockup and received a lot of help to improve it and divide the project in milestones. We call this first stage "The school". It was almost like taking an intensive course in app development. Along the way new ideas and needs appeared and they were always very receptive to implement the modifications and improve the project. From the beginning, dates were set to receive partial deliveries and to be able to review them together.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

From the beginning we coordinated with Rameez, as leader of the developer and coordination team. To start, we were assigned 3 developers and as we progressed the team grew to 13 developers assigned to our project, each one in charge of various tasks and technologies. We are developing the app on Android, IOS and the web in addition to the CMS and everything has been carried out with great order and in the required time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are weeks away from the launch of the application and we are sure that it will exceed our best expectations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

From the beginning they have made all the means of communication and progress control available to us, all the deadlines have been met to satisfaction despite the fact that on our side we always asked for more, they never said that it could not be done and very agile to solve each one of our requests.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Part of the challenge has been to have a 10-hour difference between countries (Peru-Pakistan) and yet always be on both sides ready at any time to receive calls and answer messages, always very attentive and quick to respond. We are requesting new requirements every time, and they have always been willing to collaborate and solve our issues.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

What works well should not be changed!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Director and inventor

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gigtech, and what were your goals?

Start to finish development.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I found Rameez's communication skills and friendly manner inviting and I knew I wouldn't have any issues with him if we ran into technical difficulties. Rameez was friendly and helpful as we worked through all challenges on the project. An excellent experience.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

• WebRTC. Audio.
• External media servers,
• AWS.
• Android development,
• iOS development,
• web development.
• Additional help from specialist developers.
• A complicated project.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

4 people.

• Web
• back-end server level
• iOS
• and Android.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Project up and running successfully and I am happy with it.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Rameez always communicates well and generally very available for meetings.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Friendly, great communication, not too expensive. Would recommend.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not really