Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?
We’ve seen our turn rate go down significantly, decreasing at least by half since we’ve had iRonin stabilize our system in all the odds and ends that we need. That is really important to us.
With a lot of other contractors and agencies that we have worked with, few do test-driven development or release code with tests. Just based on their types of deadlines, they get done what they can get done. But, iRonin consistently releases tests to ensure everything is good quality.
Also, they have a lot of suggestions for refactoring and optimization. If they notice that something is performing poorly from another developer, they will go out of their way to improve the overall code base instead of only handling the things that they are directly responsible for, which is something that not a lot of other contractors do.
How did iRonin perform from a project management standpoint?
They do their tasks in a standard Scrum sprint. We used Trello, a Kanban-style project management, and HipChat for communication. We’re online chatting all the time and do video standups weekly where we talk face-to-face with our project manager over there.
We initially wanted control over each developer, but I think we found a happy compromise just having a project manager in the standup meetings. We wanted more control over the tasks but found that having video calls and including the project manager in the standup meetings alleviated that need. He’s in a group with everyone else we work with, so he feels like a part of our decision-making process. We only interact with him and try not to interrupt anyone else.
What did you find most impressive about iRonin?
There were times that we had deadlines and needed to get things done. They were more than accommodating at giving us extra resources and making sure that we still hit the budget we’d set, even though they gave us additional resources. They did that a few times, and it was a lifesaver. They absorbed the cost of those resources. We’ve been sheltered from training costs as well. They would handle all the training when they brought new people on, along with anything that they needed to do to get a new developer up to speed.
Are there any areas iRonin could improve?
A lot of concerns that you have when working with overseas people involve delays. That’s the only thing that I can think of. For the most part, they try to work in parallel with our time zones. There were occasions that we needed an answer on something late in the afternoon, and they were gone. That’s one of the typical problems when working with outsourced contractors.
Since iRonin joined the team, the site’s turn rate has dropped by over 50%. The developers’ expertise, proactive contributions, and consistent quality testing continue to encourage increasing market success.