goodylabs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a marketing manager at Freshminds. We're a recruitment consultancy based in London.

What challenge were you trying to address with goodylabs?

We were going through a brand refresh and we were looking for a vendor to develop and maintain a new website for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to have a whole new CRM to manage all of our data and we needed to add a candidate login profile to our website. goodylabs developed a new website for us from scratch and connected API from the website to the CRM. We needed a bespoke application process with branching options, so goodylabs worked with us to build this functionality and integrate the data in a secure way. They continue to provide ongoing support to maintain and improve the website.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager, a backend developer, and a frontend developer. Most of our contact is with one person who did the original build of the site and, therefore, knows our account very well.

How did you come to work with goodylabs?

They were recommended to us by one of our company advisors who had worked with them previously. We liked the proposal that goodylabs submitted and they could meet all of our needs, so we chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked with them from February 2014.

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

We don't have a development team in-house, so we completely outsourced the project to goodylabs. The website functions as we had expected. We wouldn't have been able to do that without them.

How did goodylabs perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a Slack channel to communicate and they were very accessible. They're based in Poland and we're in the UK, but they were very responsive despite the time difference. We also used a ticketing platform for maintenance requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide great customer service and help us with any issues that come up.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a very good experience. Maybe it'd be helpful if they explained to us a bit more about why certain things couldn't be done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of Triptease, an online booking site in the hospitality industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with goodylabs?

My partners and I were looking for engineering resources to prototype our web platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It would be hard to point to an area of the product they haven’t worked on. They started on a price comparison tool that aggregated live hotel prices and then built an entire web experience around that. The platform is now an integral component of our products. They’ve worked with various technologies throughout our project—like Ruby on Rails—but most of our stuff is written in Node.js. However, they've never provided design work for us. 

While goodylabs isn’t currently working on our product development, they are helping us out with marketing. They’d been working on products for a long time and were looking for a fresh challenge. They’ve built a couple of smaller website for us including one for a conference, which we’re going to have them rebuild, and a marketing one that they still run.

What is the team composition?

We typically work with a point person on the ground, but we also try to embed their engineers as deeply as possible in our squads. While we don’t have a project manager, we do have a senior engineer that will collaborate with additional engineers on their side when required.

How did you come to work with goodylabs?

We decided to go with an outsourced firm to maintain a certain amount of flexibility. They were recommended to us by a few other outsourced agencies in Poland, so we sent them a proposal, along with a number of other agencies. We were confident that they were the best choice because of our interactions with them and the meeting we had with senior people when we went out to them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2013.

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

Originally, they helped us bring our product to market quickly, and at a low price. This set us on a course for real success. They thought out our initial offering well and developed a solid base on which we could continue to build our customers’ experience.

While goodylabs’ code may not be the most beautiful from a purist perspective, it delivers value to the customer. Their work is high-quality and was exactly what we were looking for. We couldn’t have expanded our business so quickly without them.

How did goodylabs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is pragmatic, smart, and solution-driven, and I always enjoy working with them. The success of an overseas collaboration is determined by the sides’ ability to communicate well, and they’re very responsive. The strength and duration of our partnership speak to their commitment to staying in touch and making sure everyone is on the same page. They’ve accomplished this with tools like Jira and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re warm, welcoming, and friendly. We haven’t had any problems working with them as they’re a nice group of people with a nice culture. They’re also impact-driven, telling us what we could do better and then helping us get there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve already addressed this issue, but there was a time when we needed more engineers than they could provide. I give them feedback as we go and they react to it in real time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Trust and communication need to be the foundation of outsourced development, so clients shouldn’t sit at home and only speak to goodylabs over Skype or Google Hangouts. I would recommend going to Poland regularly and spending time next to them in their office. This will lead to a much better relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the product development manager of a curated media monitoring company.

What challenge were you trying to address with goodylabs?

Initially, we relied on goodylabs to develop our internal CMS. The scope of our engagement has grown to include more projects focused on revamping our web presence and mobile presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of our venture, there were no marketplace options for the CMS we needed. goodylabs developed a custom internal CMS, which allows us to find the content we need and push it to our different platforms.

We later engaged them to work alongside our in-house designers to redo the front- and backend of our mobile devices and website. That process added more functionality and made it easier for us to manage the platforms. Throughout these processes, goodylabs worked extensively with Ruby, React.js, React Native, and Node.js. We remain connected so that goodylabs can provide maintenance and updates as necessary.

What is the team composition?

I work with one technical lead, but the overall size of the remaining team shifts depending on the specific tasks at hand.

How did you come to work with goodylabs?

The engagement with goodylabs began prior to my hiring, so I am unsure of the selection process.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in 2014 and remains ongoing.

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

Our users have responded very well to the speed and responsiveness of our digital platforms. The added functionality increases the overall strength of our properties.

How did goodylabs perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve found them to be responsive and accessible when we need them to be. My team is always well-informed of their progress. The goodylabs team is transparent about needing to reallocate their time and effort to address the most important parts of the project. We work a lot through Slack and Jira, and the overall communication has been hassle-free.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In addition to their responsiveness, I would point to the speed of their service as a strength. They completed these projects in a much shorter time than I had expected.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To a certain extent, we have already addressed areas to improve with them. When I joined at the beginning of this year, the relationship with goodylabs was a bit frayed. Some were not happy with how they were performing, but we held some workshops and some meetings on how to improve interactions between our companies. Our main concern was that the products were somewhat unstable and didn’t work properly. Now, six months later, we are quite happy with their work. We’re at the point where we’re thinking of what we can build next.

Any advice for potential customers?

I think the quality of our own products increased because we took goodylabs’ suggestions into consideration. Obviously, you want to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, but you should be open to suggestions, as well.