Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
We are on what is called a fixed-fee month model where we pay them a fixed fee based on the days they work, based on hours. We manage the sum total of the deliveries, so we don’t hold them accountable to come back and say, “This is the metric you have to stick to.” This is more on a build-operate-transfer [BOT] model, so their people act as our employees. We set the expectations, but we don’t have quantitative measures.
We are working with a large construction company that is a Google partner. Their feedback on the development that has happened has been very good. People have been very happy. They’ve been very responsive. One piece feedback we get is that they are extraordinarily productive and respond to our needs very well.
How did Kellton Tech perform from a project management standpoint?
We actually literally treat them as an extension of our staff. For that reason, we don’t manage by objective, where you must adhere to “this” to get “this”. We think that’s old-school management; the new school is more about quality and delivery, so we are motivating them. They are involved in all of our discussions. They understand what we are doing. They’ve become a trusted partner.
What did you find most impressive about Kellton Tech?
They keep the culture of the company very sound. People tend to stay there a lot longer than many of the other companies I used to deal with.
Are there any areas Kellton Tech could improve?
While they hit all the internal targets that we set in terms of schedule, we always concentrate on the quality issues. We train them on how to test and how to build. We actually take them as an extension of our staff and train them.
That’s an area where perhaps they can run some non-standard account management. Today, account management is all about, “hey, are they doing well and how can we sell more?” I think their account management has to shift to, “are they doing well and how can we do to even do better?” To that extent, I must also admit that they have started doing some audits, which were very helpful. They came back and asked me the kind of questions that you are asking, which is very good and very proactive. I met the CEO and he’s a very dynamic young leader. I think he’s going to take them in the right direction, so I don’t see any issues.
They learn fast, and their productivity is incredible. When you have very high productivity, you do compromise some quality. For quality, I am sure they need to do some homework, but I have no cost complaints.
The client has been pleased with the proactive communication used in managing the project. They note that a client communications portal may be a good addition to Kellton Tech's project management practices.