*instinctools

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product owner for an IT outsourcing company based in Romania. We offer services for various customers from staffing and IT to customer support services. Our main client is a German company that sells tires. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

We had to change the system that we used for our shops because it was a very expensive corporate solution. Our company wanted to create an in-house solution, but we didn't have enough resources to build such a platform in a very short time, so we hired *instinctools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

*instinctools was involved in the software development of the new system. However, we’re not currently doing much development or new features. We’ve decreased the usage of the system and their team’s engagement. Our network team has also grown a bit so we’re able to maintain this product with our own resources. 

What is the team composition?

At first, we had a team of around 12 Java developers plus some QA specialists. This year we only had six people involved from their side.

How did you come to work with *instinctools?

*instinctools contacted someone from our company and offered us their services. Initially, we gave them a small project to make a proof of concept (POC). We were very surprised and satisfied with the results. So, after that, we decided to take them on board for a long-term project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested €2 million–€2.5 million (approximately $2,370,500–$2,963,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from May 2016–May 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very satisfied with their services, and our clients loved the new system. For instance, a few years ago, our German client bought a system that used custom software, which was difficult to integrate with our client’s backend and warehouses. *instinctools got this job done.

They managed to move around 10 shops and worked for the entire brand — it’s now one of the top-performing brands with shops in Germany and Europe. 

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint?

There were good times and bad times. From time to time, they changed the number of people allocated for the project, which we didn’t like. However, they had many ideas that customers approved and implemented. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What we always liked about them was they were very invested in the project. They looked for market trends and came up with ideas on how to improve the shops and add new features and functionalities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should have more stable resources for the project. Within five years, the team leader on their side changed three times. The leader also did project management, and every time the leader changed, we had a transition period that was not always easy. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them the freedom to innovate because they have the resources to build something good. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an Engineering Manager at a SaaS company out of Toronto, Canada, focusing on customer service automation. My job is to ensure that the implementation of new clients is a scalable and repeatable process.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire *instinctools?

Our capabilities to integrate with our clients' web pages were excellent. However, we noticed that there was a gap between web and mobile capabilities. Our existing clients had to write a lot of boiler-plate code to integrate our software into their mobile apps.

The prospective clients were asking about an SDK during sales calls. Without having an in-house mobile development team, using a vendor to build an Android SDK was a quick win for us.

What were your goals for this project?

For a company like ours, having a mobile SDK is more like a table stakes rather than a competitive advantage. Therefore, we were trying to reduce the friction points that our larger clients experienced while integrating our software into their mobile apps.

On top of streamlining the mobile integration for our existing clients, we also "checked a box" for our sales team, thus slightly improving our deal win chances.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Ironically, Instinctools reached out to me on LinkedIn around the time when our procurement was searching for local vendors. For me, there were two decisive factors:

1. Instinctools provided a solid track record of dev hours they already spent developing for mobile platforms, which serves as a proxy for experience.
2. Instinctools is a Belorussian company, and I, having worked with developers from the former USSR countries, have immense respect for their skills, education, and attitude.

Describe the project in detail.

The scope for the project was well-defined, with us providing the systems requirements documentation. The vendor then was responsible for estimation and technical implementation that resulted in the desired business outcomes.

We entirely relied on the vendor's expertise and ability to figure out the best way to implement the SDK functionality. We had frequent touchpoints and were collaborating efficiently to clear all the roadblocks that emerged.

What was the team composition?

The vendor provided two Developers and a Project Manager. Since this was a relatively small project, the team was stable, and there was no overhead on managing the vendor from our end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For us, the main result is that neither our customers nor we managed to find any issues whatsoever. Not for the lack of trying ;) This outcome lays the foundation for our future work together.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project didn't require a lot of management on my side. Both developers had solid skills and were autonomous. We used Slack to communicate, and the team was VERY responsive, especially outside of their working hours, due to our time difference.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was pleasantly surprised that there was no need for hand-holding and project management from our side. This, paired with their understanding of Android development, provides a competitive advantage, especially compared with other vendors that require very detailed specifications.

We were also VERY impressed by their flexibility around the contract wording. Our legal team was adamant about specific changes, and at some point, during the contract negotiations, I thought it was the end of the line. So when Instinctools accommodated our requirements, I was happy, relieved, and impressed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None at this point

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m a technical director and managing partner for a company that provides software development services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools? 

We work with a number of outsourcing partners to augment our in-house capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We’ve used them for a number of projects with multiple clients. They typically provide Java development support—for large Spring applications, for example—but also assist with system engineering. 

What is the team composition? 

We scale the team as needed, but typically work with three developers and project manager. 

How did you come to work with *instinctools? 

We put out an RFP and they seemed to meet our technological needs. 

How much have you invested with them? 

We’ve spent $500,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2015 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While it takes time for us to explain our requirements, they always produce high-quality deliverables.

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint? 

There’s always room for improvement, but they deliver on time and let us know if they expect any delays. They’re also flexible, willing to work after hours to meet deadlines. We primarily work through Jira, but we also use Skype, Crucible, and Google Hangouts. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their quality team isn’t afraid to have open discussions, highlighting ways we can improve our products. They’ve become a true partner.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

Costs can always down. It would also help if some developers improved their English-language skills.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical lead at CANet, a nonprofit healthcare organization. We improve care for patients with cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms). We’re designing innovative IT systems for that.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

We needed to develop an innovative IT system that would streamline workflows associated with cardiac arrhythmia between patients, caregivers, clinicians, and nurses.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide IT services for two projects within the framework of our IT system. They developed custom mobile applications and web portals. There was also a tiny blockchain project.

For the first project, they designed a mobile application with a set of dashboards. It concentrated on patients’ post-myocardial infarction self-management. 

The clinically formulated dashboards had messages for patients. The information included medications as well as medical and lifestyle parameters. Just by looking at the dashboard, the patient would know where they are in their journey.

The second project concerns web and app development. It’s a much bigger project — it’s focused on remote management of patients with implanted cardiac devices. Patients have a station at their home that transmits information about that device (e.g. whether they had shocks) to the clinic. 

We focus on the workflow that happens after the device clinician receives this report from the implanted device. The report is scanned and sent to the doctor. Then, the doctor looks at the report and patient history to determine whether the patient is in OK condition. That information is sent to the patient and the family physician. 

*instinctools created a mobile app for the patients in English and French. They also created a web portal for all the roles in the project. It’s a single login password screen, but each role sees a totally different workplace. There are different screens for patients, clinicians, research coordinators, and device clinicians.

Technologies used include React.js primarily for frontend development to implement the web portal and mobile app. They also use technology that’s specifically for the healthcare industry: a custom backend called Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). 

What is the team composition?

For the first project, we worked with 15 people on their side. My three points of contact were the account manager, a project manager, and a technical lead. The developers, testers, and QA engineers came and went as needed.

How did you come to work with *instinctools?

They reached out to me through email or LinkedIn, and they looked interesting. I kept their details because I knew outsourcing would be a good model for us. 
When we were deciding on a vendor, we invited them to take part in our RFP. They won the tender.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $375,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018, and we are still working together.

The first project (involving post-myocardial infarction self-management) lasted six months from July 2018 until December 2018. 

We started the second project (concerning patients with implanted cardiac devices) in November 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For the first project, the impact was very significant and positive. We presented it at our annual conference, which is a big Canadian gathering of all the specialists who deal with cardiac arrhythmia. It was extremely well accepted there.

The second project is a workflow optimization that’s going to have a dramatic impact. We’re starting to enroll patients and our target is 2,000 enrollments. 

We’re going to have an impact on clinicians by reducing their cognitive load. At the moment, they spend several minutes figuring out the reports they receive. Our system could provide a dramatic time reduction ( time spent could be reduced to within a minute or two).

When a decision is made, the patient will have the information at the same moment. They won’t have to go through all the paperwork, faxes, and emails. 

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m super pleased. Their work is reliable and functional. They take pride in being strong technologists. They walk the extra mile with you. They selected the project methodology consciously and correctly.  They try to understand what the project is about, and they actively suggest solutions. 

They have very good processes, good quality staff, and good project management. I dealt with two project managers and both were excellent. Their project manager runs the agenda for each meeting, which is a huge help for me. Recently, I started introducing their project manager more and more into calls with my colleagues. 

The communication is timely. Their written and spoken communication works well. There aren’t any language barriers. The only thing is, I have to have the meetings in my mornings because of the time difference.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen to the context of a problem, and then they actively search and suggest a range of solutions.

They are great at technology, and they take pride in that. They’re not trying to take over our business agenda — they just do what they do. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

If their technical person had better English, I’d be able to loop them in more easily into communication. That way, their technical leads could communicate more.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m an executive assistant at Morebis, a Ukrainian-Polish IT company with U.S. management. We offer our clients fully integrated mobile application development. Our team has a wide range of mobile platform capabilities, which allows us to create mobile applications in the most innovative way to maximize device potential.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire *instinctools?

We wanted to integrate outside development operations (DevOps) within our international team to increase our level of support for a certain customer.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed reliable DevOps support with enough flexibility to cover shift changes on our end.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We received several personal recommendations for *instinctools. After I coordinated extensive interviews with their management and technical team, we hired them because of their skill level and customer satisfaction. Additionally, *instinctools had flexible rates and was ready to provide long-term support.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

*instinctools seemed like a good fit for us both technically and psychologically. I handled the initial feedback from the customer, and *instinctools cooperated with our onboarding process. Their desire to start working immediately made them stand out from other candidates.

What was the team composition?

We now have an international team of five DevOps resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our project is currently under an NDA. The work is ongoing, but we’ve received constant positive feedback from our customer about *instinctools’ professionalism.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The customer handles the project management and shares feedback via email regularly. We are happy with the quality of *instinctools’ work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their technical knowledge and skills offer great advantages. Also, I was impressed by their English proficiency.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are satisfied with their progress thus far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the senior software engineering manager at a company that develops tools that analyze software security and quality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire *instinctools?

We had an existing product that performed static analysis on software source code and was implemented as a plug-in for popular integrated development environments (IDEs). We needed to add two major features to that product. One was to support an additional IDE and the second was to add additional computer language. *instinctools took the lead on both of these features.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed these two features to be completed in a timely fashion and with a high level of quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were already one of our contractors when I joined the company. Our VP of engineering at the time worked with them previously.

Describe the project in detail.

The first project for adding support for a new IDE was completed before I joined the company. The second project was to add a new computer language to one of our IDEs. Our internal project lead and I worked out the major features of this language, as well as a rough schedule for implementing them. We then assigned the implementation to *instinctools’ project manager.

We used an agile approach for this project; there were daily scrums and two-week sprints over a period of six months. They worked closely with both our other employees assigned to this product and another team that provided us the static analysis engine for the new language. *instinctools’ developers were responsible for integrating the analysis engine with our IDE plugin.

What was the team composition?

For the first project, they provided a project manager, three developers, and a QA engineer. The overall team for the language support project consisted of six developers, three QA engineers, and a project manager. One of our employees also served as our development lead, architect, and agile project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The language support project exceeded the features we originally planned and was delivered on time with high quality. The early development tasks were generally proofs of concept (POCs), with follow-up assignments for completing the implementation of the corresponding features. In many cases, though, the POCs ended up being complete enough that the follow-up tasks weren’t necessary.

How effective was the project management?

Their project management effectively eliminated any human language barriers and ensured that all development tasks were done in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their staff was able to quickly learn all the various technologies we had to work with in order to implement the features we required. Additionally, they focused on delivering top quality features instead of just implementing them within the initial and less-detailed feature specifications.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

For these two projects, *instinctools assigned a relatively large team and a project manager, which was very useful. Since then, we’ve engaged them in two other smaller projects but having a project manager for these was less useful.

For a mid- to large-sized team, you should include a project manager in all of your planning and status meetings, but for small teams, only the developers should be involved on a daily basis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop automation technology. We are a Munich-based startup company, which was formed out of an engineering office in 2014. I am the commercial director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

Most of our projects revolve around the automation business, controlling core generator units and other machinery. We have worked together with *instinctools on developing different stages of our software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

*instinctools was partly involved in the development of our app, improving it massively by providing QA as well as UI/UX designs. *instinctools also developed a smart bus driver, which is a special protocol for communicating with the PLC or code-generation unit of the machines. *instinctools assigned three resources to our project, including a full-time developer and two part-time ones. 

How did you come to work with *instinctools?

We created the concept and developed the first stage of the app, after which we looked for a company that could provide more resources for parts of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with *instinctools 1-year ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are no metrics to share.

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint?

*instinctools' team was dedicated to our project, even working during the night. We are based in Munich while *instinctools is partially based in Belarus, so there is a small time difference. *instinctools was available almost all the time when we needed it. They spent quality time and provided quality work for us, which we've appreciated. If we had any questions regarding the organization, *instinctools addressed it. We initially used GitHub for the collaboration but moved to the Atlassian suite.

What did you find most impressive about *instinctools?

They are organized. We did not experience issues with communication, and they were always responsive to requests and questions. We were not expecting things to go as smoothly as they have.

Are there any areas *instinctools could improve?

We have not been working with them for all that long, so I cannot say. It is possible that they could be more proactive, but that could also be on us, too.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Netex Consulting is a Romanian company offering a broad range of services for different clients in Western Europe, including call center, back-office, processing, logistics, and so on. We also offer software development and project management. I am a product owner for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

We needed to find an additional workforce around certain technologies like Java. The partner needed to learn our existing code and come up with solutions. The idea was to delegate work we could not do ourselves to this partner but on a long-term basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have had a single ongoing project with *instinctools involving a client's e-commerce platform. We have migrated it from a previous technology to the current one. *instinctools worked in collaboration with another one of our contractors.

I was given CVs for our resources from *instinctools, but I didn't conduct interviews. We were mainly interested in having self-sustaining teams, given that we have 25 other developers. Micromanagement would have been difficult, so we've had an Agile approach, defining milestones and reiterating whatever didn't work the first time. *instinctools has its own internal management, but I have taken part in standup meetings.

How did you come to work with *instinctools?

We have worked and continue to work with other companies, but we've always tried to expand our workforce. I was given a lead from someone in our company. I contacted* instinctools and gave them a trial project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship with *instinctools has been ongoing since late 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first impression that a company makes is very important to me. *instinctools took our code and showed up with a first result without asking too many questions. This assured me that they knew their stuff. It is rare to find companies as proactive as they are, but they take the time to really understand the problem before they begin trying to solve it. 

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint?

*instinctools has been able to deliver on time and within budget for about 75% of the time, which is actually very good, especially for development projects. Our first project with them was supposed to take 2 months, but it took 4. We work on a time-and-materials basis and wanted to have a long-term relationship from the start. It's up to us to provide *instinctools with enough workload, as long as they give us sufficient resources. We also decide upon any change requests, so assessing costs and benefits is an internal matter. Software is never on time, within budget, and bug-free.

We use Jira for project tracking.

What did you find most impressive about *instinctools?

We have managed to obtain quality expertise at a good price. *instinctools is able to deliver good quality without micromanagement.

Are there any areas *instinctools could improve?

It's hard to have long conversations in English with many of the people from *instinctools' team. We were not looking to talk with each developer, and *instinctools' team leader has good English skills.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a SaaS [software-as-a-service] company providing a product for teacher evaluation and a professional development tracking tool to kindergarten through 12th-grade public schools. I am the chief executive officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

We were looking for a high-quality senior developer for the Java platform. We had an existing product that was continually extended and needed resources that could jump onboard quickly and become key contributors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

*instinctools has handled senior-developer-level Java programming for our platform. We have implemented an event-scheduling feature that allows users to set up schedules, similar to the functionality of Upwork, integrating with customer calendars.

We've only worked with one developer from *instinctools. We were given a few resumes to look at, after which we went through a few interviews for our resource.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with *instinctools in April 2016. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been very happy with the resource we've gotten from *instinctools. They have been very knowledgeable and communicative. They're also very efficient with their time. They rarely miss deadlines and the features they develop come with very few issues.

Our product is fairly mature and complicated, requiring capable senior developers. It may sound simple but, in practice, it's hard to find developers with enough capability to contribute to a high-end product like ours. 

How did *instinctools perform from a project management standpoint?

We use CodebaseHQ for ticket and code management.

What did you find most impressive about *instinctools?

*instinctools is a professional and well-organized group, from representatives to project managers, giving us the overall confidence that they'll be responsive to our needs.

Are there any areas *instinctools could improve?

No. *instinctools has done everything requested of them. We will probably expand their responsibilities and tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for a Russian company called Hawk House Integration based in Moscow. We are creating an enterprise resource planning system. It is being built on .NET, the Microsoft SQL server, and Android OS.

What is your position?

I am the chief technology officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with *instinctools?

As the CTO, I required more resources in the area of product development. I needed specialists who knew the Android OS, and we were having trouble finding someone with that level of expertise. *instinctools, however, was one of the few companies able to provide that. They were chosen because of that and because they offered the best price. In addition, their references from past clients were excellent.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Because we needed front-end development, we hired three people from *instinctools, one as a lead developer and two junior developers. We were using an agile development process, which emphasizes teamwork and collaboration. Consequently, our in-house team lead worked closely with the three people from *instinctools, so it was much more of a collaboration than a strictly requirements-based outsourced project.

How did you come to work with *instinctools?

The selection process was actually quite informal. I did some research and contacted about 20 companies that advertised the services that we needed. I was trying to avoid the big, well-known companies because they are much more expensive and much more bureaucratic. I was looking for a smaller, less well-known company that could still offer high-quality work.

I described our situation to the 20 companies I selected, told them that we needed three front-end developers and got a clear sense of their prices. I also talked with their previous clients. I put all this into an Excel spreadsheet, narrowed our choices down to a short list of three and then talked in more detail with those three on the phone. *instinctools was chosen because they could provide better services than the other two companies at the best price.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent something around $60,000 working with *instinctools.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project itself is still under way. Working with *instinctools, we made a minimum viable product, which we will finish up in-house. The entire engagement with them lasted about five months, from March to August [of 2015].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It is very hard to quantify development work. We were using parameter methodologies, so we divided our work into discrete units, and they were successful in reaching each unit's goals. In terms of quality, everyone's code has some defects, but the quality of their work was more than acceptable for us. There were no critical problems, no bugs, and no strange code. Their work was very good, and we are quite happy with it.

What distinguishes *instinctools from other providers?

There were two things. Our system is really complex, but they came to understand it quite quickly. They asked a lot of questions and, in a short amount of time – maybe three or four days at the most – they were able to get into the implementation and become useful. They started to write a code that contributed to the project almost right away. It would have been very bad for the project if it had taken them weeks to get up to speed.

Second, there were no bureaucratic delays at all. From the time we wrote the agreement – the actual contract – until they started to work was no more than a week. Onboarding time and communication issues are the two things that can make working with a distributed team very difficult. *instinctools surpassed my expectations in these areas constantly. They are the best outsourcing team I've worked with.

A couple of times, my team was working against a specific date, and we were at the office late and were working on the weekends. I was delighted to see that the three developers from *instinctools were right there with us. I can't say enough good things about them.

Is there anything *instinctools could have improved or done differently?

There were bugs in their work, but that's part of the job. It's nothing that we didn't expect. We did argue about the architecture we were building, but that's actually a plus because they were able to contribute to the vision of how we could do things better. Actually, I can't say anything negative about them. OK, they could be cheaper – maybe.