Kahuna Systems

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We have a company where we try out various ideas and apps.

What is your position?

I am the founder and president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Kahuna Systems?

We were looking for a company that would have people with the relevant expertise for the apps we were trying to develop.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We did two projects with them. One was a Windows phone application, which charts your location on a map, and you can take photos and record diaries of your travel. You can upload photos, media, notes, log entries, and it shows you on the map along with a travel log. What they did was end-to-end prototyping for the app. The UI [user interface] design, the technical back-end, pretty much everything in terms of development was done by them. That project was for Windows phone only. Another project we worked on with them was for iOS.

How did you come to work with Kahuna Systems?

I essentially tried to reach out to all the people in my personal network as well as people I didn't know. There was one person that I knew from back when I was growing up, and he helped me in the process of selection.

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

Both of the projects were under $10,000 for each iteration.

What is the status of this engagement?

The Windows phone app was in 2013, and the iOS app was 2014. We have finished developing these apps. We do use their services for maintenance, but it's not a paid service.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any metrics or general feedback from this engagement?

I don't have any metrics because I haven't worked with many different providers. I think they are only one of two people I've worked with in terms of offshoring development. In terms of the cost versus the amount of work, I would say we got a lot out of them in terms of sheer value. In terms of the deadlines and prioritization, that could have been better, mostly because I think we didn't have a dedicated model. We came up with the idea for the project, and then we estimated it but, more often than not, those estimates would be way under the actual deliveries. Given the cost we were paying for these services, the quality of the work was better, but delivery could have been a lot better.

What distinguishes Kahuna Systems from other providers?

I have not worked with many different providers, but I liked the fact that we could jump on a call with them whenever we wanted to, which is kind of nice. Even though they owned the project, they had a lot of input in both technical choices that we were making and the design approach that we were taking. They were like an extended team for us. Kahuna Systems had a lot of input in the project, which I liked, so that it kept shaping up the way we wanted it to. That might be one of the reasons that deliveries were usually delayed, because we changed requirements a few times.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

The delays in delivery would be one of the areas where they could potentially improve. The time management could take all that into account, and deliveries could be more accurate.