Kalamuna

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital operations team lead at a 50-year-old educational documentary film distribution cooperative. We deal exclusively in documentaries, and a few fiction films, that we distribute to colleges, nonprofits, and libraries.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

Our marketplace is entirely on our website. We’re currently on Drupal 7 and have to upgrade to Drupal 8 or 9 so as not to lose our business. We were also not 508 compliant and needed to be accessible by its standards.

Our website itself was looking a bit old and stodgy and didn’t have a very good UI, so we needed to make it fresh, sleek, and responsive to help bring in new customers and keep the old ones. We’re working with Kalamuna to achieve these objectives.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our cooperative has been able to do its own discovery on different aspects of the website, but none of us are professionals in the areas of customer preferences and website experience. We do have a collection of stakeholder interviews that we’ve conducted over the years as well as feedback from our own members, which we handed to Kalamuna as part of their discovery process.

Their team is a third of the way through the redesign and redevelopment project. We haven’t touched on UI and functionalities, but will definitely take on it later on.

What is the team composition?

We’re working closely with Andrew (CEO & Co-Founder), a project manager, and a strategic accounts manager. We’ve also had tons of direct interactions with developers, coders, and designers. All in all, there are around 6–7 people on this project.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

Our independent contractor, who is a website developer and does fixes for us, one day told us that we needed to upgrade to Drupal 8. He also happened to an employee of Kalamuna and mentioned that his employers were great and could help us out.

We looked into their work and were pleased with the caliber of it. We did seek bids from other companies but stuck with Kalamuna because they’re so thorough and their bid, though more expensive, was more realistic. These factors, and the fact that they’re so professional, made us trust them more.

The other reason why we chose to work with them is that we already had a good relationship with one of their employees, the contractor, and wanted to keep that going. We knew that he would be on the design team and that his presence there would save us from having to do lots of back and forths.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, I believe we’ve invested around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first met with Kalamuna in June 2019 to get the bid and talk about the project. We signed the contract in November 2019 and go to work in January 2020.

The project is still ongoing because we need to do our own fundraising and invite thoughtful input from our 200 members. We’re a democratically run cooperative so everything is extremely slow and none of it has been on Kalamuna’s part.

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

The project is still unfinished, so we can’t present anything quantitive. However, our members were able to give feedback on the work, saying that it looked carefully considered and that Kalamuna seemed to understand the unconventional nature of our organization. People liked the thoroughness of their discovery results and found it interesting and dynamic.

Kalamuna communicates with us very well and took a lot of care in trying to perform that made sense to us. So far, they are off to a good start with the design ideas for the next phase of the project.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

They track everything using Jira and conduct weekly meetings with us. A lot of communication was initially done through Slack, but not many people in our cooperative liked using it, so Kalamuna accommodated us and started using regular email instead. 

We did have some glitches in the timing, and we felt like we don’t get enough lead time for certain tasks that we’re supposed to do. We felt a bit rushed and a little under capacitated. Adding to that, our cooperative makes decisions very slowly, and Kalamuna couldn’t move forward without our feedback. However, their project management, overall, was really exceptional and very streamlined. They’re pros.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s hard to narrow a whole year of work down to one thing, but the most impressive aspect of their service is their endless patience. If we don’t understand the presentation they’re giving, they will rewrite it and deliver it again with more clarity. It’s also worth considering that they’re not being paid yet to do this since we’re still in the bidding process for the next phase of the project.

They’ve just been completely patient and continue to shift the information until we get it since we’re not website designers. I’m very impressed at how relentless they are at answering every question we have, however many times we ask it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve told Kalamuna about this, but it’s about their delegation. They would have all seven of their people in our weekly meetings, and we’d have to pay all of them for their time when we don’t really need all of them there. I feel like there could be better delegation to have only 1–2 people sit with us weekly.

There’s also the matter of us not having enough lead time, which I’ve mentioned about their project management.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be an open book with Kalamuna. Tell them everything you want, good or bad, and ask them every question that’s on your mind. They are sure to address anything that you bring up.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the program analyst of a community college research project that is part of a program called ‘’Beyond the Pill’’ at UC San Francisco.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

The research and training groups in our team need technical support with our several websites.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with our main project website’s design and development using Drupal; we told them what we wanted and they executed it. That included font, the pages, and the overall site structure. Throughout the last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make changes to accommodate for telehealth and they created banners and additions that we asked for in a timely manner.

Currently, they update the website with things we request. Additionally, they’re assisting us with the creation of websites for our community college health study.

What is the team composition?

We communicate directly with Lily (Strategic Account Manager). Whenever we need help with anything related to the website, she connects us to a developer who can do the modifications.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

They have reasonable prices and they’re located in our same city.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest around $5,000 a year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in July 2015 and the engagement is still ongoing.

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

We measure the success by their ability to produce what we envision and their compliance to deadlines. We’re very happy with that.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

I love working with Lily — she’s very communicative and great at meeting deadlines. If we have last-minute changes, cancelations, or meetings, she’s always on board. Additionally, she’s extremely knowledgeable, productive, and she makes me feel welcomed. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great at sharing; I’m interested in how they do web design and they’re kind enough to teach me how to do things. Also, since they’re not a big company, they’re diverse and focused on allowing people to work with them with high productivity; we’ve never had complaints.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe that would be more complicated, but instead of talking to Lily, we would like to talk directly with a developer and not a middleman all the time.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have monthly or biweekly meetings and ask them beforehand if they’ll be able to deliver in their expected amount of time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior web developer in an art museum in San Francisco.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

We were working on a project to create a platform for digital storytelling. A design agency created the UI. Then, we turned to Kalamuna to deploy it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kalamuna deployed the entire platform. They implemented the UI designs made by the agency and developed from scratch the code for the backend.

At first, we wanted to implement Drupal or another open-source CMS behind our platform. However, given the schedule and budget constraints we had, that solution ended up being too costly. Kalamuna used their own static site generator called Kalastatic, and a service called GatherContent for the CMS. This service works with their API and allows us to create or add content to our platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six people on this project. We had a project manager, a designer, a software architect, two developers, and the CEO who checked on the project occasionally.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

Kalamuna is a local firm, and we always try to do business with locals. They responded to a couple of RFPs years ago and approached us showing interest in working with us. We noticed that they had knowledge of Drupal, our museum’s website CMS, so we chose them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent approximately $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together on this project in November 2018, and the platform was launched in June 2019. They currently offer ongoing support to the platform and help us add new features when needed.

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

The assessment performed on the project by Kalamuna helped them work around our budget limitations and created something that really met our needs.

We’ve had really great feedback for the platform. Our curatorial staff and other stakeholders in the museum are now looking forward to using it to get their content out there to tell stories about the objects in our collection.

We uploaded a recent story on this project, and it had a large number of page views on it — that was a validation that people were interested. This platform changed the dynamic of how we work these projects online. We deem it a success.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira and Slack to communicate, and we had regular updates and meetings scheduled by Kalamuna’s project manager to go over the project’s progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Kalamuna’s most impressive quality was their innovation and their capacity of being realistic. They were honest about the very few things that would have taken way too much time and money to deploy.

The project was designed by a different agency and, in certain circumstances, you can design something without knowing how much work it is going to take behind the scenes to actually get it to work.

They worked very hard to get as many of the designed components done as possible. They also were great at problem-solving. Overall, Kalamuna did a good job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project management communication could have been a little bit better. I personally was pretty happy with it, but some people on our team thought that they could have communicated more clearly on some of the parts of the project. I was a little closer to it because I was doing some of the development work with them as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of digital products at Convey, an agency focused on communications, product development, and marketing for the public sector, specifically for transportation. We also provide services for the water resources and engineering sectors. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

Kalamuna brings in a sophisticated level of website design and development services for us. As a relatively small agency, our in-house capabilities are limited to smaller websites or microsites. As a result, when we’re considering the research, design, and development of larger enterprise websites, Kalamuna comes in to help us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kalamuna works with us from the proposal phase all the way to the delivery and support of the final product. In the proposal phase, they help us determine the needs and roadmap of the project based on the RFP. Our discovery and research processes include the comparative analysis of user types and goals.

Then, as we embark on the development process, Kalamuna leads the charge in terms of what's required based on the clients’ needs. Moving through the next phase, Kalamuna guides us through accessible designs, which is especially important for us since we do a lot of work in the public sector. 

We must ensure that everything is accessible to everyone regardless of any visual or hearing disabilities and regardless of the device type used to view the website. Kalamuna's QA process ensures that everything is built to specifications and is thoroughly tested before deployment. Once the site is deployed, they help us with its upkeep and maintenance to keep things fresh per the terms of our contract. 

What is the team composition?

I work with Andrew (CEO & Co-Founder) on the proposal phase of projects. He’s typically involved during a project’s kickoff or early stages. My primary point of contact is Kristin (Director of Projects), who serves as the manager on their side for all of the projects between Convey and Kalamuna. 

I also work frequently with Crispin (Director of Design & UX). Much of our work is new and innovative and involves a lot of research and development. We also develop things that aren’t off-the-shelf, so we work closely together. 

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

The president of our firm was the one who engaged them, so I’m not sure exactly how or why. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on actual projects in January 2019, but we’d been collaborating with them on proposals and scoping prior to that. We’re also still actively working together.

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

Our success metrics are more qualitative than quantitative. We work collaboratively in terms of establishing KPIs, and it’s often a challenge for our public sector clients to get such KPIs implemented. In one of our big projects, we were completely limited because the third-party client didn’t want the KPIs that we typically used and put into Google Analytics. 

Generally, though, we’ve been successful in achieving our high-level goals. For instance, we needed to create a website that was meant to reduce call center volume — and it has measurably done that. Overall, we don’t have any beautiful dashboard that shows us any precise results, but we do measure success, and we’ve had good results on that front. 

Moreover, we’ve launched a recent project 2–3 months ago. While we’re still figuring the results out, everything has been great so far. We’ve received wonderful feedback from the community and stakeholders. Everyone loves the work that we’ve developed collaboratively and the work that Kalamuna has done. 

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

I work heavily with Kalamuna, so we collaborate directly on JIRA. I also participate in their weekly scrum standups. They’re extremely organized from a project management perspective, and I appreciate the process they’ve established for all of our projects.

On top of that, they’ve been a strong partner from the very beginning, and they have a pretty talented group of designers. The Kalamuna team also has great engineers who execute things on time and on budget. Our agencies are very like-minded in terms of creativity; we’re a fairly creative agency and so are they, and that’s something that we very much enjoy. 

Finally, in all of our work with them, any sort of slowdowns haven’t been their responsibility. They’ve been great in keeping things on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Kalamuna’s creativity, responsiveness, and quality of research for design and development distinguish them from other providers. It’s a pleasure to work with them every day, and I look forward to attending my meetings with them. 

Moreover, they're very thoughtful and kind, and I appreciate the way they think. We have high-quality standards for ourselves, and they’re one of the few agencies that see us eye-to-eye in terms of such standards — theirs might even surpass ours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I were to be very critical of Kalamuna, I'd say some of our larger third-party clients have contractual needs that they tend to push back quite aggressively during the onboarding phase. I understand that it’s for the protection of their business, but trusting the client a bit in the contracting phase can move that process along a bit quicker.

That being said, this isn’t something that would prevent us from working again with Kalamuna in the future. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Kalamuna does a good job at communicating, setting expectations, and sharing what they need. As a result, you should be as open and honest with them as possible. They will always return the favor and might even lead with it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the associate director of marketing for Rocketship Public Schools. We’re a nonprofit network of 20 elementary charter schools.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

We weren’t happy with our initial web developer, so we switched to Kalamuna. They’ve helped us design, develop, and maintain our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve maintained our existing WordPress website, but have also supported us through a rebranding process by enhancing the site’s design. They’ve also updated the site’s functionality. For example, when COVID-19 hit, we decided to implement new content portals on our website. Kalamuna helped us build a content portal for families looking for information on distance learning for their kids.

We replicated that system to do something similar that holds professional development content for teachers.

Initially, we had two websites — one was in English and one was in Spanish. Kalamuna used a plugin to integrate both of those websites so we could operate them through one platform.

What is the team composition?

I work with Lily (Strategic Account Manager) and now it is Sean (Technical Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

We did some online research. We wanted to work with a partner who had experience in the social change nonprofit sector, and Kalamuna had the skills we were looking for.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $20,000 a year for our maintenance package. We used to pay them on an hourly basis, but now they work on specific issues or enhancements.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2018 and our partnership is ongoing.

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

Our website is a lot cleaner now and it flows much better. We’re happy with it.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been really organized. We have regular phone calls with our project manager, but they bring developers onto calls whenever we need more context. Every month, they provide a report on the hours they spent working on our system.

They also use an internal project management system in which they take note of all the outstanding items. We also communicate via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been great partners so far. They’re really easy to work with. Our previous development company created a weird power dynamic between our team and theirs, so we really appreciated that Kalamuna listened to our needs and executed accordingly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Now. We’ve been really happy with all of the work they’ve delivered up until this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have the capacity and experience to support several different projects. So if you’re thinking about enhancing your platform, they can provide really great advice and support you no matter what your goals are.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a nonprofit community college, and we serve anywhere between 10,000–20,000 students per year. I'm the director of web and digital strategy. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

We were following a curriculum initiative that was supposed to help us retain students and give them a clear direction towards their degree from a community college. However, we didn’t have a way to communicate this online. As a result, we contracted Kalamuna to work on our website and grow our enrollment, recruitment, and retention rates. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t have an information architecture that supported our new curriculum. With Kalamuna, we created a new theme on our existing platform and redesigned our current site. To do this, they used our existing structure, which was running on Drupal 8. We were previously hosted on-premise, so they also worked to get us up and running on Pantheon, a WebOps platform. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Crispin (Director of Design & UX), Mike (Senior Architect), Squiggy (Web Developer), Patricia (Senior UX Designer), Kristin (Director of Projects), Lily (Strategic Account Manager), and Graciela (UI/UX Designer). We didn’t exactly meet Rob (Former Director of Technology), but he worked on the project, too. 

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

We found Kalamuna on Clutch. I was reviewing vendors, and when I found them, I reached out and asked if they would consider bidding for our RFP. 

Eventually, we selected them because they were incredibly detail-oriented, and their bid had more transparency — they were transparent about the project, workflow, budget, and how they forecast work. 

Moreover, Kalamuna was thorough in the types of work that they’ve done with other organizations. On top of that, they were open to collaborating with us; they let us offset our expenses by allowing our own developers to work with their team of developers. They were flexible in what we wanted to do and focused on collaborating, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

From start to finish, we spent around $184,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The discovery began in November 2019, and we ended up going live with the final product in January 2021. This was an extensive project, so we'd gone through many phases, including the discovery, mood boarding, wireframing, and actual technical implementation.

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

After the site launched, we ended up seeing a 305% increase in traffic on our programs page. As a result, we had more people viewing our academic offerings than ever before. We also doubled the traffic to our applications page and had unprecedented numbers in terms of SEO and accessibility. 

This was one of the biggest technological wins for our institution because Kalamuna was able to launch the product on time and within budget — this has never happened before with any tech project. Before launch, the Kalamuna team met with each stakeholder to discover what would be a success for them, and they implemented their feedback in meaningful ways. 

Another thing that we were particularly impressed with was Kalamuna’s ability to migrate between existing and new fields and modules. They had a great migration path, and they were experts in not having to build from the ground up. 

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

We used JIRA and Slack to communicate. One of the most impressive things about their organization was their attention to us and their efficient and effective communication. We’d shoot a question out there, and they’d respond nearly immediately. The level of attention and importance that they brought to our institution was truly phenomenal.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was blown away when they truly became an extended part of our team. Our priorities were their priorities; our mission was driving their work. It very much felt like we were sharing a product, and it was incredible how much they took our mission and what we do to heart. They were committed to getting the best product out there for our institution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. I worked with several vendors over the years, and my experience wasn’t anywhere near the level of quality and professionalism that Kalamuna had. Aside from being a great vendor that delivered on time, they were also fun to work and collaborate with; we enjoyed working with them throughout the whole process. In fact, we’re trying to find a budget so that we can continue working with them because they’re elevating our site so much and driving a lot of success for us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just jump in with Kalamuna. We spent a lot of time reviewing a ton of different vendors, and now I wish we could’ve started right away with them. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the former VP of technology for a private utility company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

We've used them for a number of projects. The initial one was a redesign of our customer-facing website. We wanted to make it ADA compliant, responsive, and easier to use in mobile and tablet environments.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged them for a complete redesign. They worked with our stakeholders throughout the process, all the way through to actually updating the site to Drupal 8 and implementing a new version of the CMS. I would call it more of a migration than an update, as the codebase between Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 is pretty extensive.

The old site was not responsive, but the new site was. It was also fully compliant and had more features. One of these was a tool that they helped support the development of. In California, there are a lot of water retailers who provide tap water. Depending on where you are, it isn’t always easy to find who your retailer is. We built a tool internally that helps the potential customer find their actual water utility provider. The whole project was a significant change from all facets, in particular from the standpoint of going from the old site to the new site. Business continuity was also key for us.

We engaged them for quote support as well. That means that there were a certain number of contract hours set aside where they helped us upgrade the CMS, implement additional enhancements, and provide recommendations for site improvements. That was something we really wanted out of the partnership.

What is the team composition?

I left the company about a month ago, but I had no direct communication with most of the people there. I delegated most of the communication to a manager that worked for me. The two people I primarily talked to were Andrew (CEO & Co-Founder) and Kristin (Director of Projects). We had bi-weekly stand-ups with Kristin that I would attend occasionally, and Andrew was the person to contact in case I had challenges that Kristin wasn’t able to solve. I rarely talked to Andrew; it was more on the business development side. Kristin was definitely my primary contact there. She is a jack of many trades.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

They found me initially through a cold call that happened to coincide with our need to redesign our website. I talked to a number of designers, but we ended up choosing Kalamuna because I believed that they would serve as a strong partner to us. We didn't want to work with a "churn and burn" type of company that would just give us a site without talking to us. I wanted the partnership to be mutual and not just a really fast website redesign. It was a big initiative for us, and we needed help with the ADA compliance piece in particular. We wanted to make sure that the company we used would be responsible and take care of us. As a boutique company, they're definitely not the cheapest, but I knew that they would be successful. That was my larger concern, and that's why we chose them.

How much have you invested in them?

The initial engagement was a little more than $250,000. We pay for site support as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2017–January 2018. Since then, they have done one more site for us, and also are going to be doing another site later on this year.

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

The key metrics were related to ADA accessibility, and they introduced us to a tool called Siteimprove to help us objectively measure them. We were able to actively monitor and compare stats from the old site to those from the new site. They also helped us see how our site ranked against those of other companies within our industry. That was the objective way to measure those results.

Outside of tracking these metrics, they engaged with end-users to help optimize the design of the website. They got a lot of feedback from customers, employees, and other stakeholders. This feedback was more subjective, but it helped our upgrading work to be based on more than assumptions. They worked to create something that best represented this feedback while also taking any changes needed for ADA purposes into account.

I really had a lot of faith in them going into the engagement, and they definitely delivered. Some of the requirements weren’t outlined initially, but they worked with us through the entire process to keep the project on budget while still delivering what we needed. They didn’t cut any corners.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

It was run in an agile framework using the scrum process. We had a deadline we were working against. They always had that in mind and worked towards it, but there weren’t any directed deadlines on each deliverable. They were definitely strong, responsive communicators and ensured that communication wasn’t lost. I think that all went really well, and they had a good grasp on the stakeholders as well as the people doing the work.

At least from a scrum standpoint, at times there was some confusion as to where we were in the process. That got better when I talked to them and let them know we weren’t totally clear on what was happening. I think that initial confusion was probably the one rough patch. We wanted to ensure they weren’t going too far in a direction just for us to say it was the wrong direction. With agile, you get much more just-in-time feedback which is pretty important. A lot of stakeholders try to make sure that their voices are heard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are definitely service-oriented and aren’t afraid of scope creep. They won't try to lowball you, give you a site, and run away. They care about your success as well as their reputation. They know that understanding the customer’s needs and working with them for as long as it takes to truly complete the project is essential.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest hurdle we had initially was around project management. Things got misaligned at times, but in no way do I think it got really bad. I think they could have done a better job using the agile scrum methodology. Thankfully, the communication helped to mitigate the lack of clarity in some areas.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a nonprofit foundation in the disability rights field and we classify as s 501(c)(3) organization.As the director of communications, I have the responsibility over our web presence and social media channels.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

Because of a strategic shift in the organization, we were undergoing a couple of transitions simultaneously. We needed to refresh our web presence and go through a whole technological transformation from an outdated CMS to a Drupal platform. 

We were looking for an organization that had a strong commitment to accessibility and inclusive design — as this is in line with our mandate, mission, and audience — so we decided to work with Kalamuna.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kalamuna helped us with the major website redesign and began by walking us through a robust discovery process with our staff. We were primarily using their team for design and project management services, but they wound up collaborating very closely with our programmers to give valuable advice during our transition. While we ended up building it ourselves, we got a lot of help in making the backend system able to support Kalamuna’s new design.

They also helped us think through the content and rebranding strategy, changing the language that we used. They conducted audience research in order to test out ideas that we had generated during the discovery process.

What is the team composition?

Crispin (Director of Design & UX) became our day-to-day project leader because it was primarily a design project. He also played a big part in the project management aspect.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

I met Andrew (CEO & Co-Founder) at the Drupal track of an M10 conference.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked things off in June 2018 and are now on another project. For our centennial celebration, they are working on the components of our subsite, sticking to our existing style but adding some new features.

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

There was such a massive overhaul so it’s a little hard to pinpoint which is a definite and direct outcome of the Kalamuna’s design work. However, overall, our online donations have definitely increased since the redesign. 

One of our goals was to have the site look more modern and convey that we are an organization that relies on donations. Since there’s often a confusion caused by the word ‘foundation’ in our name, we wanted to make it clear that we needed people’s help, and Kalamuna achieved that for us.

I’m a big fan of their work. Everyone I’ve met from their team has been easy to work with, smart, creative, and responsive. I think their processes are very good, so it feels like we became a collaborative team very quickly, which I appreciate.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

We had accessibility and usability requirements that weren’t typical and went beyond the standard, so we asked them to work around it. To Kalamuna’s credit, they were very interested in learning more about what did and didn’t work for us and readily adapted their workflow.

For the redesign project, we used Slack and made some adaptations with Jira. Kalamuna populated a Trello board with items from the Jira board to make it more navigable with an app. They even went as far as making sure the prototypes and presentations were well labeled and accessible.

One of the things I also like about them is they’re very goal-oriented and user-driven. I didn’t feel like they came in with a trend or an idea for the design that they wanted us to get excited about. 

They run very focused meetings and always make it clear what decisions need to be made, what next steps need to be taken, and even how much an undertaking is going to cost. The communication has always been very open; we never run into surprises with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with other service providers who’ve been excited and willing to learn about accessibility, but Kalamuna’s project management skills really stood out to me. The way they approach projects, get very clear about the goals, and stay on tasks to meet the objectives have been really impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the earlier days of working with them, they were so excited and had an eagerness towards a mission-driven project, but they bit off more than they could chew. However, in the past couple projects, we’ve worked through it and are taking steps to address the problem. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do your homework and come ready to think and be creative, because it’s not just going to be a hand-off of the project. We came in with very clear goals, but Kalamuna still asked a lot of us. Some of our staff members and stakeholders were surprised that they still had to do something, but we were excited to be part of that process. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the technology director at a company that does media and events for sustainability professionals through our website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

We needed a partner to redesign our website and migrate it from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 after a sudden break with our old web design partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

After a discovery and planning process with a lot of collaboration and back-and-forth from our end, they executed the redesign and migration of the website, and since then they have continued by adding new features and performing general site maintenance for the past two years. The migration and redesign was a pretty large job because the site has a lot of historical content, some of which dates all the way back to 2006. Some of the features of the site now include a comments sections, an overhauled process for handling speakers and registration, and a new program display. They also got us started using Paragraphs in Drupal, which was a big change, and they made the site mobile-friendly.

What is the team composition?

The exact number varies and sometimes we've had multiple teams, but generally, I work with about four or five people. They usually pull in team members who have particular skill sets when they need them. I speak to all of them and write tasks in Jira, so I am the de-facto project manager.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

They were selected before my time here but I suspect they were hired for this job because of their expertise in Drupal, their location, and the fact that they see their work kind of as a vocation, to help nonprofits and companies that are trying to do good things in the world.

How much have you invested with them?

I don't know exactly, but probably in total somewhere between $500,000 and $800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work began in 2013 and is ongoing.

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

We've been able to scale our events to be larger since our site has increased traffic and thus more people deciding to attend. The difference between Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 is absolutely huge.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

They are definitely very strong. We've been working together for a while now so we are in a good rhythm, and they are quite responsive. Their approach is very holistic in that they can answer almost any technical questions we have relating to the website, and they are open to our suggestions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They care about what they're doing and they'll speak up if they feel like there's a better approach. They have really high standards for user experience and user testing. They also must treat their employees well because they have really awesome folks on their team, and they've stuck around for a long time. It's nice to have that consistency. They are also accommodating to our tight budget as they are honest about the time they spend and will work hours pro bono if they feel like they've made a mistake.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not exactly. We would like to be able to do more, but we have a limited budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate frequently with whoever the account person is. Make sure they understand the objectives really well and don't be afraid to let them into the design process, because they are experts.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of administrative computing at a university engineering department.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kalamuna?

Our website hadn’t been redesigned or reorganized since its launch. We wanted it to be more professional and easier to maintain.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project had highly-involved discovery and information architecture phases. We used analytics to review content and identify audience demographics. Subsequently, they did visual design during the development and implementation stages. Per our agreement, the team created the site’s skeleton on Drupal 7 but did not assist with content migration. While we have an in-house development team that does some Drupal work, their imported our events calendar data into the frontend. We expect to use this system until the eventual Drupal 9 launch.

The team linked our in-house databases – which we use to generate static web pages – with our backend to blend content created with CSS and JavaScript. The menus on our static pages and live site are refreshed nighty, which has proven to be a useful feature.

What is the team composition?

There were 7 members on the team, but not all were engaged at every phase; only a couple people worked on discovery and information architecture. We moved into implementation and development with a separate team. The development team included: a backend developer, a senior developer, and a frontend developer. Andrew [Co-founder, Kalamuna] served as project manager. However, he was more involved in development than discovery and information architecture. Overall, Kalamuna’s resources were very stable with significantly less turnover than other companies.

How did you come to work with Kalamuna?

We had 6 companies submit proposals through a formal RFP cycle and met with 4 finalists. Coincidentally, Kalamuna submitted a proposal for another project the year before, but did not get the contract. But we chose them this time because their size was appropriate for the collaboration and scope. Furthermore, they had the requisite Drupal expertise and a good work culture. Prices were reasonable and cheaper firms did not possess the same skill levels.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $160,000 and $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started September 2015 and the site launched July 2016.

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

The site is responsive and visually appealing across multiple devices. Our faculty was unanimous their praise. I felt proud that they approved.

How did Kalamuna perform from a project management standpoint?

They had good communication skills; we used Slack. I participated in the weekly standups, which helped me work with individual team members more closely. I would have preferred the project be done in smaller redesign and migration phases, but its urgency prevented that option.

However, there were some problems. They underestimated the time certain tasks required as well as the final cost. We experienced delays and went over budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While I’m not convinced about Drupal, I do know that I like everyone on their team. They’re good people; I trust their integrity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were too optimistic about expectations for scheduling. As a result, their assessments on time allocation and deadlines were not always accurate. We also went over budget for similar reasons, but I had anticipated that happening with money set aside.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Factor in wiggle room for the schedule and budget. While they’re very good at communicating progress and rationales, their timeliness and budgeting are not completely consistent.