Helpful Human

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Program and Account Manager for a mid-size company (50 - 100 people) delivering aerospace technology and software solutions to OEM and Tier 1 Aerospace customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Helpful Human?

Helpful Human were hired to assist with developing advanced production scheduling software. This is a staff augmentation service for which we have utilized Helpful Human for a combination of mid-level and senior level software developers, as well as User Interface development specialists, and quality assurance engineers.

SOLUTION

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

Helpful Human were referred to us by an employee in our business who had worked with them previously

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The software product has developed from a proof of concept prototype in 2019 to now being a full production capable suite of applications in 2021. The stages of development have gone through the initial startup phase of quickly developing core functionality to demonstrate potential value to customers. It then moved to developing a "Minimum Viable Product" for an initial customer pilot deployment in 2020 to demonstrate capability in a live customer environment with a sample user base.

Production enabling has been the focus of 2021 along with development of new features and capabilities for full production use with hundreds to thousands of end-users. The software has needed to become fully security compliant and have sufficient back-up infrastructure for guaranteed uptime performance and disaster recovery.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

The project and requirements were discussed with Helpful Human in detail. Helpful Human then identified strong and appropriate candidates for our requirements. We would meet those candidates before making a go/no-go decision to onboard the individuals. In a limited number of occasions where the individuals were onboarded but then turned out to not be the most suitable for the role, Helpful human have been very easy to work with, and they have been understanding and accommodating to our changing needs and changing needs of our customers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The developers from Helpful Human have become core members of our development team and their input has been critical to the success of our projects. These team members have become the experts on their specific areas and have been key to training new team members also.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication from Helpful human has been excellent. We receive reports from their leadership on a semi-frequent basis which provides feedback and insight from their team on the day to day activities, as we all communicating any opportunities, issues and risks. They have always been responsive and accommodating to our needs when we have raised issues and new requirements.

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

Helpful Human have been extremely flexible and understanding through periods of growth and shrinkage of our development team and our own customer contract status. They are highly dynamic and have a great level of technical knowledge to support our requirements.

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

Helpful have been excellent for supporting Junior to mid-level software developers. However at the senior level we have struggled to fill our needs with their candidates in the past year.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and founder of Markman Capital Insight LLC, an investment research publisher.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Helpful Human?

I needed to modernize and update my transactional website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was having my business marketing efforts and website reviewed by another agency in Seattle, and they brought in Helpful Human to redesign and update our website. They took the marketing recommendations and methodologies defined during our review process with the other agency and implemented them on our website.

For this task, they had to understand my business, so we spent a few hours together, where I explained to them my investment publishing business, the kind of transactions that I needed to do, and the type of website that I liked. Then, they built it, doing a fantastic job.

As we needed a transactional website, this project had software development involved. They implemented Stripe, so people could come to our website to learn about our product, and if they liked it, they could buy it directly from the website.

Although the marketing agency and I initiated its design and direction, Helpful Human contributed with ideas on their own around the best way to build the website. They were very instrumental in defining the final design.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Mark (Founder), a main developer, and 1–2 junior developers.

How did you come to work with Helpful Human?

I found them through the digital marketing agency that we were working with.

How much have you invested with them?

I didn’t pay them directly; they were hired as a contractor by our marketing agency. However, the cost of the development was around $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in the summer of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we built the website in 2014, it still looks great and modern, and the transactional piece has always worked flawlessly. It was really well made.

How did Helpful Human perform from a project management standpoint?

Helpful Human did a tremendous job listening to me and implementing my instructions within the bounds of their development skills. I was very impressed with their efficiency, creativity, and ability to communicate with my digital marketing agency and me. We communicated via email and text messages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Helpful Human had a deep understanding of the technologies required to build and maintain a website like mine. Additionally, they had good taste in the fonts, pictures, and layout that they chose for my website. It all turned out to be a good set of choices.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was happy with their work, and I had no complaints about it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that all parties involved agree on the goals and the implementation. Helpful Human has been around a long time, so they know how to interact and mingle with their customers efficiently — I highly recommend them to other people.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product and design for Passbook, a subsidiary of Remitly. We’re launching a bank account for immigrants to help them send money to their families.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Helpful Human?

Our main product, which is a basic spending account for immigrants, is already on the market. However, the product that we’re working on is in an early stage, so we brought in Helpful Human to help us with a few things around its development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Helpful Human mainly helps us work through our concept testing to ensure that we’re launching the right products into the market before doing the full engineering to build them. These market testings include ad copies, landing page tests, product concepts, and design sprints.

They also support us with the products that we’ve already launched on the market and help us with marketing and software development for our marketing website.

What is the team composition?

We work with four people from Helpful Human: Mark (Founder), a designer, a web developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Helpful Human?

I met Mark through networking. One of our employees was leaving, and we needed help to hit some of our goals for the quarter. I called Mark, and he and his team came in and did the work for us.

How much have you invested with them?

On Passbook specifically, we’ve spent around $15,000. However, I introduced Helpful Human to another of our teams in Remitly, and they’ve been using them as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had been working on something internally for a month, but we couldn’t get it done in that amount of time. However, Helpful Human came in, and they completed the project with better quality outcomes and results within two weeks.

They work fast, and they offer great value for our money.

How did Helpful Human perform from a project management standpoint?

Helpful human is always on top of things. They followed up on us when they assigned us the project manager, and they set up a really helpful tool for project management. They’ve also hit all of the deadlines that they’ve promised.

We communicate via email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of people that Helpful Human has on their staff is very high. They’re very skillful at running design sprints, and they know what they’re doing really well.

We operate with a very sophisticated product in the fintech industry. However, Helpful Human came in and understood our products pretty quickly. Additionally, they’ve been able to shift from understanding our products to understanding our needs as a client, and they’ve learned to talk to us.

They’re also incredibly responsive and flexible, and they’ve aligned their schedule to ours so that they could be available to get the work done very well. We didn’t need to have many negotiations to get started; they just talked to us and got on board.

We’re really happy with this engagement, and it probably wouldn’t be as successful if Mark weren’t part of their team. He has been very good and willing to collaborate with us on further projects, and he has been helpful and instrumental throughout our engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any feedback on how Helpful Human could improve because they’ve produced quality results on time. Perhaps, we would have feedback for them in the next two months as we engage in further stages.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know exactly what you’re looking for and be prepared to provide briefs. If you do so, Helpful Human will respond very quickly and provide you the outcome that you’re looking for.

They can go into ambiguous situations as well. However, if you want them to be efficient, you need to know what you need so they can target it very quickly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and graphic designer of Amber Design, LLC. We help companies with their brand identities, marketing collateral for all things print to digital.

Projects might include print such as logos, flyers, brochures, trade show materials and packaging or digital such as responsive websites, social media, email templates and display ad banners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I partnered with Helpful Human to help me support FSA Pro Shop's new ecommerce website overhaul needs. I was to design the responsive pages and HH to offer Shopify dev support and consult for back end systems and apps.

SOLUTION

How did you select Helpful Human and what were the deciding factors?

I learned of Helpful Human off of a referral from Jordan Crown, a mutual colleague. JC doesn't specialize in Shopify ecommerce but knew HH was the agency with those chops.

Once I got on the phone with Mark, I knew we'd be a good fit to work together. He got me an estimate promptly and was fun to collaborate with.

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

When I received the opportunity from FSA Pro Shop, I went looking for a developer partner to work with. I found HH. We worked together on the estimate after a discovery/introductory call with the FSA team.

HH and I worked together as an agency. I would share my designs with HH to make sure they were within scope and capabilities before presenting them to the FSA team. We did this for several rounds.

Throughout that time they gave consult to FSA around Shopify apps and capabilities as well as inventory systems advise. I delivered the files and they built a beautiful website FSA team is proud of.

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

I worked closely with Mark, the founder and Josiah dev team manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website launched July 6th and are currently gathering matrix for the third month. I'd like to measure it against last years Q2/Q3 sales although that will be challenging since covid put in an interesting wrench.

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

I communicated with Mark and Josiah through email and phone calls.

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

They have developers in all different time zones so someone is working on your website 24/7.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Once I delivered files to the dev team to build; I didn't feel apart of the loop. I would've like to of been more privy to the technical challenges and moving launch dates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a technology-based startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Helpful Human?

I wanted to do a design sprint for a week and then test a prototype I’m working on. It’s still in the early stages.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent a week in their office doing the design sprint. We worked six or seven hours each day to prepare for the test. We went over my ideas over the course of a weekend. We covered assumptions and background research and they guided me through the process. They helped keep me on task and made sure I could enter the market on the right foot. They brought in people to look at the idea. I intend to keep working with them throughout the rest of the process.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Mark (Founder, Helpful Human) every day. I also worked with Matt (Design Director, Helpful Human) and Aaron (Project Manager, Helpful Human).  

How did you come to work with Helpful Human?

I interviewed a few agencies by phone. A larger agency in Seattle recommended Helpful Human and thought they might be a good fit. Their competency, knowledge, and style of communication were impressive and I was confident that they understood what I wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

The design was a $15,000 investment that laid the foundation for the business. Moving forward, the first version and MVP will cost around $50,000 and we’ll grow from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

The design sprint ran for a week in May 2018. They’re finishing a report with all their findings and recommendations. Once they deliver that, we’ll move on to the next phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve just completed the design sprint, but I’m very happy with their work so far. They’ve exceeded my expectations. Their experience and expertise played a major part and they were thoughtful and insightful. They challenged me and I appreciated their way of doing things.  It was clear they wanted me to succeed and made me feel that my project was important to them.

How did Helpful Human perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive and I’m pleased with their work. The design sprint was all done face-to-face in their office but we also communicated by phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mark’s scope of knowledge and his ability to communicate are some of their biggest strengths. They’re incredibly trustworthy, competent, and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to mention at this point. I will work with them throughout the coming project and may have more to comment on. So far, everything has gone really well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their ideas. They will offer helpful insights to help you get the most out of your concepts. If you have an open mind, the collaboration will be much better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a Citrus essential oil ingredients supplier

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with the vendor?

We needed help with our website to increase the speed and expand the products section.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They preformed all of the tasks required.

What is the team composition?

3 person developer team.

How did you come to work with the vendor?

Email and zoom

How much have you invested with them?

No comment

What is the status of this engagement?

completed

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was done to our satisfaction.

How did the vendor perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job of completing the tasks and walking us through the changes. Their follow-up was amazing and very timely.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service and approach to educating us on how to better manipulate our site was impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?
No