Globalluxsoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a platform where people create and buy 3D printed lighting products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GlobalLuxSoft?

We were looking to bring on an engineering team. I was previously coding everything by myself previously and it was too much work to handle. I wanted to bring on a few people to help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their engineers are working on everything software related. There are multiple parts to our platform, including a shopping, create, and admin side. The shopping side is where customers purchase products. The create side is where designers come to work, check the stats on sales of products, and manage their profiles. The admin side is our internal tool for tracking and making the products. They work on all aspects of the platform.

We were on a load Angular module before they started and are still using it. In the process, we did a migration from MongoDB to Postgres.

What is the team dynamic?

We have 2 full-time in-house engineers from their team.

How did you come to work with GlobalLuxSoft?

They reached out to us. I made a post that I was looking for someone on AngelList and we had a chat and decided to start a 1-month test project. They were really great and I brought them on full-time.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wouldn’t have anything to show without their software engineering. We’re able to ensure the quality of their work through a multi-person process. Their team lead reviews and QA’s their code, and then I also review the code and perform an additional QA. Then, we have tests to make sure the code integrates well. Sometimes there are bugs, but they’re almost always fixed within 24 hours of being reported. It’s all good.

How did GlobalLuxSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is very simple. We have a planning meeting every Tuesday. I assign them engineering tasks, they complete them within a week, we test it and then deploy. There are never any issues with deadlines. We’re all on Slack and if I ever have any problems, I reach out. As long it’s not too late where they are, everything gets answered within a few minutes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an incredible work ethic. Their tasks can be very difficult to achieve sometimes, and they always understand the business needs and try to do their best.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When transferring work from the product team to the engineering team, sometimes things will be unclear. If it’s something they interpret later in the development process of a particular feature and when I find out what their interpretation is, it's not always accurate. However, I’ve asked them to tell me if there’s anything unclear in advance, which they’re getting much better at.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're in Ukraine, so there is a time difference. We have to work with that on both sides, but it has never been an issue. Their English is also good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

For this project, I was the COO at a Munich-based company. We had a Smart thermostat for water radiators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GlobalLuxSoft?

We had already gone through a few outsourced technical teams because none of them were able to help us define an acceptable user scope for the product or match the needs that we had for the product. It was a hardware product, but it still needed a very strong software layer. Because of this, we were looking for a company to match the hardware needs of our device with the software use cases. 

It was challenging to find the right team. We hired 3 or 4 teams over 8 months and none of them succeeded. We were lucky that we found GlobalLuxSoft. They didn’t solve all of our problems, but they solved the software part really well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were building a thermostat that could be put into a water radiator, which is widespread in Europe. We have water radiators with a thermostat that controls the temperatures. In the US, it is generally a boiler based thermostat solution. We were building out a device that was a design driven approach; it had to appeal to our main audience. It was a sleek and lovely device with a Red Dot design award.

The main situation for use was for people at home who didn’t want to spend a lot of time calibrating their thermostat. It allows you to make adjustments on the app and notifies the user if they have to change the temperature or the temperature has changed. Basically, when the app requires user action. This eliminates the need to go to the thermostat to push buttons on it. The team at GlobalLuxSoft solved the challenge well; it was designed and incorporated those instances that we needed and withstood the testing that we needed.

There are a lot of industrial protocols used for IT connectivity. In particular, we had a CIP protocol which is widely used in IT device industrial protocols. This protocol had to be integrated into the app. We also worked on integrating voice commands through the API using Amazon and Alexa. I left the company before the API was ready. I believe it was integrated successfully. Then there are a lot of other specific technologies that apply to iOS and Android development.

They helped us moving forward on the project side, as well as the technological side. Our product is offered on both Android and iOS and can be easily found on Google. I’m not a technician, so I can not speak to the project’s hardcore software development. There were a lot of technologies that applied under their section of the IoT [Internet of Things]. They used a lot of protocols from the real world that you have to integrate with both the software and the hardware.

How did you come to work with GlobalLuxSoft?

We were referred by two different start-ups. One of them is another Ukranian energy company in Kiev. They had worked with GlobalLuxSoft previously and referred us to them. The other company was friends with the founder of our company who also referred GlobalLuxSoft. So we had two recommendations for them. Back then, we thought we would be able to handle the problems with the existing teams on our own, but in the end, we decided to reach out to GlobalLuxSoft. Our CEO met with them and kicked off the collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2016 and are still working together. The thermostat project finished in June 2016, but then they changed to a support and maintenance role. We’ve since released several versions before the project ended in October 2016. When I was leaving in October 2016, they were moving into some new products in the Smart Home space with smoke alarms. I believe they were still using GlobalLuxSoft and have continued to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First, we developed the hardware 20-22 months. At some point, we knew we had to come up with a good software that was able to control our hardware. We later realized that software in hardware companies is sometimes more important than the hardware itself. If you think of the GlobalLuxSoft’s total contribution, it was not more than 15-20% of the total work. But, if you think of the importance of their work in making the product functional, their contribution was huge. It was definitely over 50% in terms of bringing the product to market. 

I wish we could have found them earlier because they really saved us time and made the project market-ready. Our progress was terrible before finding them. Hardware and software are independent, but it’s difficult to change teams on the go and then having to find somebody who is an expert in building something complex but also able to jump in from day one and understand your problems. I’m not a technical person, but I do remember the enthusiasm our CEO had when we started working with GlobalLuxSoft. It turned out to be a good decision in the end.

We released the app fairly quickly, within 7 weeks of bringing them on board. We worked on it much earlier and longer, but they were able to reiterate it, write good code, and integrate the protocols. The first version was published under their care.

How did GlobalLuxSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of their strongest points. They were well organized. They took an approach that I wish more outsourcers would take: they under promised and over delivered. Unfortunately, I’ve had the opposite experience with other companies. With GlobalLuxSoft, it was streamlined, honest, and to the point. We had some good candid feedback for each other. It worked out well. They really came in at the right time for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication was quite good and they over-delivered; we worked extensively on weekends sometimes. We really needed somebody who could save the app and idea. Since we had used other teams before them, they were not coding from scratch, which made it even harder. Given the circumstances, they jumped right in, started working, and did a phenomenal job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were things that could be improved on both sides, but you can’t find a perfect developer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of a startup in the manufacturing space. We are a marketplace connecting manufacturers with CNC [computer numerical control] machine shops to make parts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GlobalLuxSoft?

We needed a total rebuild of our platform from the bottom up, with little hand-holding from our main office.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were the primary development team for our product. Andrii [CEO, GlobalLuxSoft] and his team took over all web development efforts, from project management and development to QA. They did continuous development in 2-week sprints. The duration of the project wasn't time bound, as they were able to stay on board to continue building on and improving our application.

For our project, GlobalLuxSoft used Ruby on Rails and Angular. The application was primarily a marketplace with complex time listing requirements for assets. It had payment solutions that had direct integration with banking partners. We also asked for administrative functionality, which was essentially a second application.

How did you come to work with GlobalLuxSoft?

We originally found GlobalLuxSoft through professional connections.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked with us for 2 years, and the contract ended in November 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We couldn't have been happier with their accomplishments. They covered the agreed upon scope of their role with us. GlobalLuxSoft is a good, clean, professional outfit.

How did GlobalLuxSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

A Scrum master was on their team, and we had a lot of meetings prior to each sprint to define requirements. They showed excellent attention to detail. I also spent a week with them in their Kharkiv, Ukraine office. We had regular contact through Slack, with very clear communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What set them apart was their ability to effectively scale on a short timeline.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did good work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a CTO of a company that provides VDS [virtual dedicated servers] as a cost-efficient solution. We offer the best features of both dedicated servers and Webspace products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GlobalLuxSoft?

We needed to implement a platform to support our VDS renting services. I searched for the right team to assist us with the creation of a software that could keep all data related to our hardware, users, and invoices.

GlobalLuxSoft provided 3 server-side developers, 2 client-side developers, a QA analytics person, and a team leader. We were working on a Scrum basis with daily standups and 2-week sprints. We were working together constantly while creating and updating product specs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The solution we needed was written using Ruby on Rails and hosted on our servers. Other technologies involved in the project included Haml, SCSS, jQuery, JavaScript, Bootstrap, and PostgreSQL.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with GlobalLuxSoft was a valuable experience. They had extensive expertise with the technologies that we were using (e.g. Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, OpenStack) and reasonable pricing. They were the best option we found. 

How did GlobalLuxSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

GlobalLuxSoft assisted with product positioning and offered good advice for items like UI and team management. Each sprint deadline was on time, from what I remember. 

We used a private GitHub repository for code management and ticketing. We also used Skype and Slack for communication, which met our needs.

Are there any areas GlobalLuxSoft could improve?

GlobalLuxSoft performed very well and took the time to understand the requirements at the start of the project. I was never disappointed with anything during our collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run DAF Services, a consultancy company, where I offer mostly UX and project management. I work with a client on a specific product and figure out how to build it in terms of matching their needs to the product that they’re developing and determining the skills required to deliver the product in the end. I usually use outside development firms. Because I have a good record of working with GlobalLuxSoft, I’ve worked with them on many occasions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GlobalLuxSoft?

I work with early-stage companies that are often startups. In general, there’s not enough time to produce extensive documentation. So, what we try to do is find an inexpensive solution for a client, prototype it very fast, and determine if the prototypes are really addressing the client’s goals or the needs of the potential market.

Speed is a major asset of GlobalLuxSoft, and all of the people I’ve worked with have been absolutely great at taking a minimal set of specifications, asking the right questions, and delivering a more complete product than described originally. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built the backend for a startup client in contract management. We had minimal specifications but no time to figure them out. GlobalLuxSoft worked very well with us in terms of fleshing out the technical specifications, as I was mostly working on the UI design and was the overall product lead with this client. They were able to develop a frontend on top of the backend that we’re developing that addressed all of the client’s specifications and more.

What skills were you looking for in a team?

I’m fairly agnostic in terms of backend technologies. I’ve worked with teams that are more on the Laravel side of things. I’ve also worked with Django teams. Because I support early stage companies, I’m not trying to dive into a specific technology stack but rather to create something nearly from scratch. Most of the projects that I’ve worked with GlobalLuxSoft have been in Ruby on Rails. We’ve also done some Node development. I know that they have other services, but these are the stacks that we’ve done. On the frontend, we’ve mostly used Angular and sometimes View. In my conversations with the team, we’ve spoken about React but haven’t been that excited about it. Also, specific team members do have quite a bit of expertise in Angular. When we were testing a project, we decided to see what View could deliver for us, and the team did half the project in that. On my end, I use Decouple backend frameworks and quick frontend prototypes, mostly in Angular.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

Usually, I try to work with them in putting together a team of a backend developer, a frontend developer, and a QA person. We usually end up going with Eastern European resources. The prices are fairly low, so I can actually afford a dedicated QA person. For shorter timelines, we add another person on the backend. Because I have a little expertise in the frontend, we generally don’t add an extra person there. Depending on the project, we may also bring in someone who exclusively creates templates in HTML and CSS.

How did you come to work with GlobalLuxSoft?

They were recommended to me. I was looking at several vendors in Eastern Europe. I’m from Russia, so most of my technical networks tend that way. It’s not an issue culturally for me to work with teams from Russia and Ukraine. I’m pretty aware of the price gap. The specific project that we worked on was a startup, and we were way over budget and developing with 2 US firms. GlobalLuxSoft rescued the project at the last minute.

How much have you invested with GlobalLuxSoft?

I’ve spent between $50,000 and $200,000 per year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November of 2015, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped with a project that was crashing and burning; they completely turned it around. Since then, I’ve trusted them with several projects where I had less of a spec than I wanted. The project management side of me gets very nervous when that happens. They can put together a team that really supports me in those efforts.

Often, when I’m dealing with software companies that hide behind the spec, I get into a tug of war because something wasn’t specified. When it’s a startup situation or you’re trying to knock out prototypes quickly, it’s important to have a flexible team. GlobalLuxSoft really respects deadlines. Whenever I work through the weekend, they’re right there with me.

How did GlobalLuxSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re my A-team. When I have projects that are pushed for time and I’m nervous about something, I always reach out to them. We use mostly Trello to communicate. I wouldn’t quite call myself a 1-man shop, but most of the time I am. I try not to get too far into standardized Agile practices. They’re helpful in a larger setting.

Generally, we have standups that depend on the deadline. We mostly do tracking with Trello. At times, Trello’s not enough just in terms of getting a more granular view of the project; at that point, we use spreadsheets. I’ve been in situations where Agile becomes a religion and nothing gets done.

Are there any areas GlobalLuxSoft could improve?

I can’t think of anything at this point. The communication is very open. The few times I had issues, I’ve been able to address the team directly, and they were solved.