Inventive Works, LLC

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

I’ve shown it to 30–40 people internally and externally. Our clients think it looks great. We’re very happy with the final result; we should have done this project sooner. Providing a digital option like this is meaningful step in the right direction.

How did Inventive Works, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the project well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the tools we used to manage the project, but the project manager ensured that everything was done on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understood what we needed and applied their professional knowledge in order to deliver an effective solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think everything they did was optimal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I wish we were more prepared. We didn’t necessarily know what we needed to give them, but Inventive Works, LLC helped us work through that process.

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

I needed this assessment for my meeting with the board members, and all of them were impressed with the level of detail, ease of explanation, and recommendations of what we needed to do next. 

I received several comments from board members stating that it was a top-notch audit and assessment. That in itself is a good indicator that the work that Inventive Works accomplished was well done. 

Although they only delivered an audit, what was great about them was that they also pointed out issues and suggested solutions. Now I can formulate my plan, and once I get there, I’m sure I’ll reach out to Inventive Works for any support I may need.

How did Inventive Works perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a really good job. My project manager was on top of things, had meetings scheduled, and provided solid next steps. There was never a time where I had to reach out to them because I already knew what was coming next. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Inventive Works is very organized, professional, and timely, which makes them stand out compared to other service providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of off the top of my head. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly outline your objectives and requirements so that Inventive Works is able to target your specific business needs and deliver the quality services they are capable of providing.

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

The project met our objectives. We didn’t have metrics because it was a short-duration project. Their team was effective from my standpoint. They validated ideas, which allows us to make them concrete. My team found them helpful too.

How did Inventive Works, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated by email and Zoom. Their team was timely, visible, and effective. I didn’t have to keep checking the status of their tasks. It was a collaborative process, and I was informed throughout it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have experienced resources. I worked with two consultants and their CEO who were all accomplished. Their team had an effective approach, knowledge of technologies, and mindset.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this time, I don’t have constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to have clear objectives. We had clear goals and it was easy to work with Inventive.

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

We have not run any analytics on the new sites yet and it might be too soon to see any significant changes or increase in traffic (the new sites have only been live for less than 2 weeks) but we will be running analytic reports and sharing the results with the Inventive Works team.

However, the feedback we have been getting both internally from our team who were not involved in the project/hadn't seen anything during the process and those outside our organization have been extremely positive. Absolutely everyone is thrilled with the new sites, exceeds expectations, and love not only how they look but the functionality as well.

One of the challenges with this project was to make the 2 sites look like they were siblings - you can tell they are related but they each have their own personality. I have heard from multiple people that we definitely achieved that goal. The Inventive team did a great job of helping us decide what that looks like and pull it off from ideas to reality.

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

We had weekly meetings for overall updates, review any mockups, answer any questions, and make any decisions that needed to be made immediately in order to keep us on track. If an urgent issue came up before the weekly meeting we would schedule separate meetings to address those as needed. We also emailed each other daily using standard language in the subject line to draw our attention to messages needing immediate attention ([ACTION NEEDED] or [INFO ONLY]).

In addition to email, we also used Slack to communicate and share docs, as well as Google Drive, Sheets, and Docs. Our project manager also sent dashboard reports summarizing meetings, the next steps, status updates, etc.

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

I was impressed with their responsiveness, dedication, and commitment to the project. The Inventive Works team was always available to us to answer any questions, have an impromptu meeting whether by phone or Zoom.

Since we were working on a very tight deadline, there were times where we needed an answer within the hour. I could and did pick up the phone a number of times and our project manager were always available. They were dedicated to the project and committed to getting it done on time even if that meant A LOT of 12 hour days, sleepless nights, and working weekends to make it happen. They also had the ability to develop creative solutions (especially on the data/data feed side) to issues as they arose.

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

Clearer communication is something that is a take away for both us as the client and the vendor. They were great at being available to us for a meeting, calls, etc. and scheduling consistent update meetings but early on there was some miscommunication on a design that caused us to spend more time on design and delays to the schedule.

We also weren't aware of the overall process and that when we were making decisions they were final/changing our minds later might cause delays.

Giving an overview of the process in "non-web developer" language (LOL!) during the kickoff meeting (including phases, what decisions need to be made by when in order to stay on track, when decisions are final and the impact of changing a decision later, etc.) would help the client know when they need to make a decision, when it's final, etc. Asking clarifying questions on both sides would also help with the process.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We have delivered over 20,000 leads with our platform, Inventive is a big part of making that happen.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management, particularly Brandon, were really communicative, organized and effective. Honest feedback and "pulling" back the reins when we got too wide-eyed was very helpful too.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attitude and culture were most impressive...they're all very high-functioning geniuses :) They are not only great developers but kind, honest and good people to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not much, perhaps more consistency from the accounting staff but that's a minor concern.

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

The largest ceremony is always the one on the University’s campus seeing as the student body is there and they have the most accommodations. They can hold about 13,000­-14,000 at that event, but when the campus ceremony started this year 25,000 watched it. That moment, at that event, was the largest attendance at an Aggie Muster ever recorded. We made the ceremony available to more people than would have been able to experience it at the live event. We basically doubled it.

For us, just being able to put on the ceremonies was a success. Everyone felt really strongly that we shouldn’t postpone until next year because it’s so fundamental to the experience of being a Texas A&M Aggie, as well as because if we ever didn’t do it we would run the risk of the tradition dying. We couldn’t let the moment pass.

We were also happy with the number of countries people were streaming from. Additionally, there was pleasing anecdotal feedback. A number of people wrote, emailed, and called us to say how much it meant to them to have their loved ones honored that year. The experience was smooth, too. So smooth, in fact, that we’ve decided to do the same thing every year going forward. Muster will continue to be streamed live going forward, even if we are able to gather in person.

How did Inventive Works, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m not sure what they used on their end but our interactions were primarily over Zoom and Slack, as well as GitHub at the end. Mostly they were showing us designs using a screen-sharing functionality in Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s a lot of colleges and universities in this country and Texas A&M is fundamentally different, exemplified by our muster ceremonies. To work effectively with the association, and by extension the University, you have to make an effort to understand the ways in which we’re different. Inventive did that really well. There weren’t any alumni on their team but they pushed to understand the psychology of our alumni. They wouldn’t have been able to execute it the way they did without doing that work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think it would be fair to even be critical because of the intense circumstances and timeline in which we presented the project. It wasn’t perfect every step of the way but I can’t beef about anything because they did what we asked them to do and hit a deadline without one minute of flexibility.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

This project not only help with an immediate need of the custom ETLs but also set the foundation for how are business builds, manages, and extends our backend cloud architecture.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had a project manager but we are a pretty technical team so we normally dealt straight with the developer which was very helpful and helped move the project along quickly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very easy to work with and had great technical knowledge. They kept on top of the project and were very responsive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any areas of improvement.

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

While we had to iron kinks, the product that Inventive Works, LLC built worked. Their team was more than willing to get information and resolve the errors. The training session was wildly successful.

How did Inventive Works perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated by email and a shared Trello board. All of the project’s information was available. They managed all of the version control and Azure devops. The cadence of communication was almost too fast because I wear a lot of hats.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team was happy to train us. They were knowledgeable and had a lot of experience. Their propensity to train showed when I was able to talk with them. I wanted to learn and whenever I asked for an explanation, their team went into detail about their decisions and how they executed them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project was beginning to go over budget. That was because I didn't set requirements. Inventive Works, LLC wasn’t alone there.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have the time to talk with them. Block off time to work on any project. It wasn’t their failure in communication that slowed our project. Their team poked and prodded for information but had to wait for my replies. Inventive Works, LLC can’t read minds.

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

Both have been successful so far, but it’s early innings, and we’ve got a long way to go. We’re happy with the indicative output, though.
 
How did Inventive Works, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t have a formal project management protocol on our side. They do the heavy lifting, and we drive the activities based on the feedback they give us. There’s incremental work being done to stand up various pieces of the application, and there’s some internal work being done on our side because the app has APIs to our primary systems. 

We communicate on a day-to-day basis using agile methodology. We have a standup meeting every day and multiple calls per day. They may have a much deeper project management set of tools that they’re using, but I’ve not seen them.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

They interrogate. They question, validate, and provide honest and meaningful feedback. They’re really good at thinking through ideas and why things could work and why they may not work.
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have a critique. Personally, I’d like to have engagement with their senior people a bit more frequently. They’ve been working with a couple of people from my side, on the innovation team, and my relationship is with Andrew (CEO, Inventive Works, LLC). He’s running the project and I get updates from my team, but I’d like to get updates from him and his COO at least every 30 days. I think that would be a good cadence for getting the pulse of what the project’s doing.
 
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d just tell customers to make sure they set up a cadence for communication at the appropriate level within the organization. If someone’s responsible for the overall project, they should make sure they have aligned engagement at the senior level, just to ensure that the project requirements are being delivered.

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

As far as what they accomplished, it was great. They turned an archaic system into one that’s a lot more user-friendly and better functioning, which involved a lot of intricate details. Even though they didn’t have a background in oil and gas, they were able to take our vision and turn it into a usable application.

How did Inventive Works perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Trello so we had a board where we posted questions, ideas, accomplishments, and pending work. We communicated a lot. As well as emails and phone calls, I had weekly Zoom calls with the project manager and group of other teammates where we discussed any updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very friendly. Sometimes developers aren’t very personable but their team is the opposite. They’re also very involved so they’re amazing people to work with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints. Anything I asked them to recreate or redo, they did. They are a great team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a solid vision laid out and be specific. If you don’t understand what you want, it will be hard to explain it to them and then your vision might get skewed by the developer’s own creativity. Have your project mapped out and know what your end product will be.