Kultprosvet

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the publisher and main responsible person at a large tech media company. This month we had three million page views and over one million users.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

People consume news differently now, so the behavior of readers has changed. Our first challenge was to redesign our media to answer the needs of our readers and get new readers and a new target audience. We also wanted to increase how many pages per visit readers visited.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Kultprosvet for a few years. Their work has consisted of design, technical implementation from concept to realization, and more. We’ve shared our Google Analytics with them, and they keep an eye on it all the time. They’ve been able to find out information and come up with ideas.

For example, Kultsprovet found that most of our readers start reading our articles from other pages, so they never see our actual main page or how many articles we have. Now, if someone visits our website and reads an article, they scroll down and are back on the main page again. 

We’re currently working with them on a new startup inside of our company. It’s a unique marketplace for technical talents where people can look for a job in stealth mode. For example, if an engineer is looking for a job but doesn’t want to do it officially because there might be problems if their current boss finds out, they can search in the marketplace. When there is a good offer, they can open their profile to the recruiter, and there’s a fee for the deal.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five people, including Yaroslav (Website Developer), who is our JavaScript developer, Anton K. (Chief Delivery Officer), Zhanna (QA Engineer), another developer, and Anton T. (CEO). I also know Anton T.’s brother, who is the CTO. He has helped us solve difficult questions, but we usually don’t work with him a lot.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

I’ve known Anton since college. I didn’t know that he had his own firm, but he had a good reputation in my network. I’d previously worked with IT teams within companies, but this was my first experience working with an outsourced team. I compared prices with other vendors, and they had a market price.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

There is always a difference between a product company and an outsourced company. We don’t expect them to find new features or compare us with our competitors; that’s something that should come from us internally. We only expect them to deliver, meet deadlines, and provide assistance when we need it.

However, Kultsprovet thinks about a lot of things that we haven’t thought of. For example, we finished a new design for the desktop version and forgot about mobile. I wrote to them and mentioned it, and they’d already prepared it without us asking. That has been really important for us.

Moreover, they’ve helped us to make each visitor session better. The number of pages that people read per session has doubled.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

We have two tracking systems. They have their own Jira, but I haven’t followed it because I don’t want to see hundreds of tasks. On the other hand, we have our own Trello board with more general tasks. The project manager manages everything inside their own Jira, and then he comes to our Trello and updates it according to what has changed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team cares about us. If there is a real problem with the site, they help us at any time. It’s not like it’s 7:00 p.m. and the engineer says he can’t help us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything specific. We don’t expect anything but delivery from them, so the only thing that could be better is from our side. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with the core team every week. They have many people that work there, but this team is good.

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the CEO and founder of Bettercare Ltd. We’re a startup software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

We had an application started by a previous developer, and we were looking to partner with a more professional and effective development company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kultprosvet has worked on design and frontend and backend development to improve the functionality and UX. They’ve also made recommendations for optimal performance, as well as QA and cyber security following government requirements.

The app is a managerial system for caregivers who treat elders in institutions and the community. They have the ability to set times for different shifts, and so on.

The app was initially only for Android, but the team is currently working to build the app from scratch for iOS and Android, as a more high-end application. They’ve used Java, PHP, and React for development.

What is the team composition?

The project manager is our main point of contact. We have a team of 6–7 people, including developers, designers, and engineers. In addition, we occasionally interact with the CEO for managerial things.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

My friend recommended them, and I reached out. They had good prices and were a young, professional, and ambitious team that stayed up on the newest technology and tools.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around September 2019, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

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

Since working with Kultprosvet, our customers are much happier with the product and its UX. We’ve been able to dramatically update our products, which is critically important. They’ve added flexibility where the system was previously rigid, and they take full responsibility for the project, quickly fixing any issues that arise. In summary, our company wouldn’t be where it is without the work they’ve done.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate well, and they always find a way to make things work. Team members are fair and accurate. They respond quickly and are always available, even on weekends.

For project management, we use a board to track tasks and documents. We communicate via Slack, WhatsApp, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re smart, honest, knowledgeable, and reliable. Moreover, they’re strong partners who genuinely care about our success. We’ve had a great experience; way better than with the previous provider.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I would change what they’re doing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as partners and listen to their advice. Be honest, transparent, and fair. They’ll help you achieve your goals and treat you in the same way.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Gifted, an employee recognition and gifting company based in San Francisco.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

Kultprosvet started working on this project as an outsourced service for our development team, and they ended up helping us build an extended team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kultprosvet is helping us hire our engineers and building a team that they manage for our software development. We started off by working with them on project-based contracts, so they did some development work for us.

Later, we realized that the scope of work that we had was a lot bigger than we expected, and Kultprosvet started hiring engineers for Gifted. They’ve got to the point where they’re managing our engineering and development team. They’ve been expanding that team from a single engineer to the five engineers that we have now.

Our product is a very complex system that we’ve been developing over the last 10 years. We’ve transferred most of the development work to the team that we created with Kultprosvet, so they’re developing the core of our product.

For this development, we’re using PHP, Laravel, Ember.js, and Vue.js, and the databases are in MySQL. We have our own design team, so Kultprosvet is not involved in the UI/UX design. However, we have a design system, which includes the design elements and guidelines, and their team is working on implementing the features based on the design that we created. There’s a UI/UX aspect to it, but we’re the ones that are providing the overall guidelines of what the platform is going to look like.

We’re developing really complex platforms on this project. One is a gifting platform that does complex commission calculations and payouts to the bank accounts. There are reporting systems that work at a scale of thousands of client dashboards. Those reporting systems provide real-time data about the current state of the overall system in terms of revenue, commissions, and percentages.

We also have gift sending flows and tools for the customer success team to work with. There’s a lot of work going on. Some of it is around maintenance and small fixings to the system, but most of the work is around major feature development on which our system is based on.

What is the team composition?

We work with a pretty substantial part of Kultprosvet’s team. We have a really good relationship with Anton T (CEO), and that’s how we started. Anton K (Chief Delivery Officer) is our project manager, and he’s probably one of the most talented people that I’ve ever had the chance to work with. Within a couple of months, he completely understood the scope of our project — that’s probably the most important part of working with them.

We also have dedicated engineering teams working for us. Andrey (Team Lead) is part of our QA team, and we work pretty closely with Klim (CTO) as well. He helps us in cases where engineers need support and technical backing.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

Kultprosvet was a referral — a contact introduced them to us. We were looking to find an outsourced engineer to do a small project, and we realized that the scope of work justified building an external team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working around January 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

There are a few aspects of the engagement that we measure. First of all, we measure the quality of the code that’s being written. We’re doing a code review of what they develop. The idea is to build a system that is really capable of scaling in the long term as our company grows — it’s not just about building features that work; it’s about building features that work and can support tens of thousands of users. That’s one of the metrics that we’re looking into accomplishing.

The second measure, which is the most important aspect for us, is the pace and quality of their work. Over the last 7–8 months, we’ve released a lot of features and a complete revamp of our project, including a huge partnership that we have with Wix. We built a gifting solution for them that went live within three and a half months. In less than four months, we already had 9,000 merchants joining the platform and using our services as part of their projects — it was really successful. Quality and time to market are the most critical measures for us as a growing startup.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

For project management, we work with Anton K, and he has probably the most crucial role in terms of the success of the last year and a half of working with Kultprosvet — he has a good understanding of our system. We’re a B2B and B2C platform, so we address different markets and target audiences, and everything is interconnected. For us, the idea of having someone that quickly got into the project management aspect of it and understood the full scope of the work has been the key to our success.

Kultprosvet uses their own tools for tracking all the tasks, and we use Notion as part of the task's management. They were flexible and started working with the tools that we were already working with, which was really critical. They, of course, work with a specific system that they have, but they’ve been accommodative to the collaboration tools that we use here.

The communication has been really good. We have daily calls in the mornings and evenings, and we communicate through a joint Slack channel with the whole team — it has been really, really good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Kultprosvet’s most impressive aspect is that they have a total understanding of not just the technical aspects of the project, but also the business side of it. When I work with Anton K, he doesn’t see things from the perspective of fixing the issues, but he also sees the issues on how they impact every aspect of our business technical-, financial-, and reputation-wise. That’s the biggest advantage of seeing the full scope of what needs to be done, and not just performing specific tasks and finishing a specific technical checklist — they can see how everything impacts our clients and have a much broader scope.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing that has been hard is finding engineers that speak fluent English. This is not specifically Kultprosvet’s fault, and they’ve done a great job, but it hasn’t been 100% perfect.

The engineers that they hired speak English, and we communicate really well, but their level of English changes. They actually have an English school within their development company. Every engineer that joins them receives English lessons, but it depends on how motivated they are to learn.

This issue happens only when I communicate directly with the engineering team. The project management team is amazing. They speak fluent English and understand everything, so it’s not a problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend clients to build their own team within Kultprosvet and not work on a project basis. You can do that only if it’s a very defined project. If you’re looking for development services, Kultprosvet’s ability to hire people, train them, and get them to be really productive is incredibly more effective and efficient cost-wise than working with them on a project basis.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

It’s an app schools organize themselves and helps parents get more insight into their child’s performance.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

They helped me build out the web app. The last development team made a lot of mistakes, and we needed to fix it. I’m working as the product designer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

So far, they’ve published some things on the App Store. Currently, they’re working on building out the web app.

From the beginning, I looked at the app and built out the designs and features that are required. Then, I chat with their project manager, and he goes back to the team with the scope of work to figure out how long that is going to take. Then they get back to me with a breakdown of what it will cost, and I give them a yay or a nay before they build it out. Usually, they say it will take about two weeks, and they normally deliver on time. If it falls out of the expected delivery time, they let me know.

In that process, they walk me through each scenario. They go a little bit further to look at cases, cover various scenarios, and help solve the problems.

What is the team composition?

From the very beginning, I’ve worked with three developers and one project manager. The project manager has been the same since the very beginning and has worked on all of the projects.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

I found them online while I was doing research on outsource companies. Through my research, I found that eastern Europe is affordable and I could get experts with a lot of talent. The first company I worked with wasn’t delivering what I wanted, so I needed to find another partner.

I liked Kultprosvet’s website, the cleanliness, and their professional presentation. Then I looked at their portfolio and saw that the work they did was similar to what I wanted to do.

For about two weeks we went back and forth on Facebook Messenger before hopping on a call on WhatsApp. Finally, we did a video chat on Google Hangouts.

We had a good connection with them and I felt very at ease with them, so that was it.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent about $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020.

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

If I had to score them on a scale of one to ten, I’d give them a 9.5. They’ve come very close, if not identical, to the prototype that I gave them. They were able to clean up the mistakes from the previous company that I worked with.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is great .We talk on Slack all the time and hop on calls most morning. We even have a call this morning. They’re always in contact with me. Even though there’s a time difference, the project manager will stay late to talk to me. He goes above and beyond to chat with me at night. I give him a lot of credit for that, because not everyone wants to do that.

Then we walk through the project together by sharing screens. Their project management is impressive, and it was exactly what I needed from a partner. I wanted to be clued in throughout the project, and they keep me involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and transparency are clearly strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. The sky is the limit with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you know what you want to produce, a full prototype always helps create a clear path so they know what you really want. It helps you explain things better so they understand your goals better.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a real estate software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

We needed dedicated development resources.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kultprosvet mainly helps us with software development of a product with an analytics dashboard, onboarding form, and fully digitized offering memorandums. Their developers are deeply involved in the product’s development. The frontend developers use React.

What is the team composition?

There are two developers. We’re going to hire an additional developer sometime between September and October.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

I met Anton (Founder & CEO) a few years ago at my previous venture.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and it’s ongoing.

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

I’m very satisfied with both of their developers. The developers were highly involved during parts of the process with our customers, and they did great work. We managed to achieve KPIs and milestones that advanced the company.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m in constant contact with Anton. It’s great working with him; he’s very responsive and responsible. His pricing is very competitive, and he does high-level hiring. He meets our requirements.

Their developers communicate directly with my co-founder and CTO and with me on an ongoing basis. We talk on a weekly basis; the communication is very fluent and flowing. They achieve the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have quality developers, and the pricing is good. They provide an all-in-one package; I’m highly satisfied with them. They’re very motivated and work hard. They have a good future ahead of them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent and know how to define exactly what you need. Anton and the team will know how to answer these needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a writer for a tech blog.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

We needed to upgrade our tech stack and move everything into a separate server. We had a WordPress CMS, but it ran on a super old template. Our hosting was expiring, and we didn’t want to renew it; it was not very good. 

As we grew our user base, we knew we needed something that would improve our site’s positioning and SEO. We wanted to stay on WordPress but move into a dedicated server. We also didn’t have the SSL certificate. We needed to do the change quite fast.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kultprosvet upgraded our tech stack. We like to give small projects to tech teams we work with to see if they can take on bigger tasks, so this was like a test.

What is the team composition?

Once we started working together, I was in contact with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

I’d worked with Kultprosvet on another project and knew they were good. I contacted Anton (CEO) and Klim (CTO) on a Friday, and they were super responsive. On the following Monday, they put me in contact with the project manager.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $500–$600.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in April–May 2020.

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

Kultprosvet did an amazing job. I was really satisfied because they did the work super fast. They’re very skilled. It was a good experience.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was really fluid. They were super reactive. They also provided good advice and tips; for instance, we wanted some tasks done on a Friday afternoon, and they advised waiting a couple of days because when you work on migrations, you might see issues over the next 48 hours. They over-delivered, in a sense. The task was quite basic, but they didn’t treat it as if it were a small task.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a well-rounded team that knows their stuff. They communicate super well. This combination of having affordable prices and really knowledgeable people that communicate well is really good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The communication with project managers was really good, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to speak with the developers. That communication wasn’t as good. It wasn’t necessarily bad, though; also, project manager is there to handle the breach between the client and the devs. Their first language is not English, but I don’t know if they could improve upon that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on the nature of the work, I’d come with really detailed instructions, which was the case for us. Our team is super communicative, and we do the work ourselves before going to the devs. Their team is really full-stack and has a lot of skills, but it’s better if you come with some well-prepared mockups, a road plan, and everything broken down to save time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Alexander Podolyan! I work for RDO UKRAINE, a leading dealer of agricultural machinery John Deere in Ukraine. I am a technical specialist. I am engaged in optimizing the work of service engineers who service the equipment.

For what projects/services did your company hire Kultprosvet?

We needed to receive data from our service engineers in real-time, optimize their work and remove paperwork. To do this, we decided to develop a mobile application that would solve these problems.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to receive data on the work done by our service engineers quickly and immediately into our analytics system. This would save us from unnecessary work with papers, entering data with losses. We also wanted to enable service engineers to receive data on their tasks and their statistics in real-time.

How did you select this vendor?

We had a technical assignment ready, but it was not completed. We selected 5 possible companies that were found on the Internet and had positive reviews over long periods of time. After we sent inquiries to all 5 companies and compared the approach, price, terms, and support.

The choice was made by the company Kultprosvet, the guys immediately established themselves as experienced specialists. They advised a lot and quickly responded to our requests. In finance, they were on par with another company, but the approach to the work of Kultprosvet was at the highest level. That is why the choice was obvious.

Describe the project in detail.

Our communication with Kultprosvet has been excellent since the beginning of our collaboration. We had several conversations on Skype, where we discussed all the important details. Kultprosvet immediately connected me to trello and slack. I was tasteful of all tasks and we had an instant reaction to all possible problems.

What was the team composition?

From RDO UKRAINE, I was the only person responsible for this project. On the part of Kultprosvet, project manager, two developers, a tester. Most of the time I talked with Anton, he was a project manager. But I had access to the whole team and several times we talked all together. This is a well-coordinated team in every way.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The application increased the speed of receiving data by 4 times. Data loss was reduced by 10%. Ineffective tasks decreased by 7%. The percentage of errors in the documentation and filling in the data fell to 1.4%. Response rate to customer request increased by 23%. Our customers have seen significant increases in efficiency.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

At the highest level. Any issue was resolved within a few hours. We were very comfortable working together. We used Slack in 90% of cases and this was enough. There was not a single time when our question was not noticed or remained on the sidelines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The ease with which we found a common language, the responsibility with which they approached the solution of our problem and development. They are the best team we have ever worked with. The jokes were always on time and very funny, we had a good time when discussing the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not sure if something needs to be improved. They are high level professionals. In terms of price / quality / result - they are the best.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an online content company. We provide content in 14 languages and have more than 200 freelance employees worldwide.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

We had been working with developers in India, and there were delays all the time; also, the development wasn’t good at all. We needed a company to help us with a new version of our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We showed Kultprosvet our website and code, and they started to investigate. People can go to our website and place an order for written content. After five business days, they receive their content. We had been releasing a new version every six months before hiring Kultprosvet. Their first challenge was to develop the 3.7 version of the site, and they did it very quickly. They added a feature on the customer side and the admin side. 

We also have an app on Wix App Market that our previous development team from India had built. Kultprosvet helped us fix the app, which had a lot of bugs, in 10 days.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

Anton (Founder & CEO, Kultprosvet) approached me on LinkedIn. I spoke to him over the phone and decided to give them a try after a year of being with the other development team. I also met with him last month in Israel. I had them start with one small project, and everything went very well. They cost more than the previous company, but it’s worth it.  

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

I was amazed that they finished the new version of the site and added a feature in just one month. I didn't have to wait 6–7 months for one version like I had to in the past. Then, we did some smaller upgrades, which they also did very quickly. Everything started working very smoothly. 

Their quality of work is great. The team is very responsive, which has impacted our work here as well, because time is money. I’ve very happy with their work.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager is responsive, and he explains everything. If he doesn’t understand something, he asks. They’re in touch with me on a daily basis to check how everything is going. We use email and Slack. If I need something, they always answer the phone. It’s been really good; everything is transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their founder is included in emails and tracks everything that is done with the project. If there are any problems, he jumps in.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could lower costs, but their prices are reasonable compared to my own company. They’re very professional and do good work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on exactly what you want. Have a plan, and they will do it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a GDPR compliance tool.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

The tool started as a side project and grew into a full-fledged, cloud-based GDPR compliance solution used by four companies. I couldn’t maintain it by myself anymore, so I brought in Kultprosvet to help.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Because I’ve had some bad experience with outsourced companies in the past, I gave Kultprosvet to small tasks to start. They knocked each task out of the park and were responsive and easy to talk to throughout. Their involvement grew from there. Kultprosvet recently built a complete feature module without any problems.

The team works on the tool’s backend—built in PHP and Laravel—and frontend—Vue.js.

What is the team composition?

I only needed a junior developer for my task. Still, due to a language barrier, I ended up working with a project manager, a senior developer, the CEO, and an account person. For day-to-day operators, I only work with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

I found Kultprosvet on Google. One of the main factors I was looking at was how fast a team responds to my message. Kultprosvet responded within hours to my inquiry. I never have to wait for days for a response.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €1,500 (approximately $1,700 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2019 and is ongoing.

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

I’ve been extremely happy with Kultprosvet’s work so far. They’ve made a few mistakes, but those are largely due to some communication glitches. I’m a busy client and sometimes forget to give them the full details. In other cases, the language barrier has gotten in the way of them understanding my requirements. Since we started working together, I’ve made it a habit to be more explicit in describing my tasks. After all, they can’t read my mind.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

Kultprosvet has been very open with the tools I’ve selected for project management. We use GitHub and another tool to track issues. The team always responds quickly over Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Kultprosvet has done a great job deciphering my code and replicating it in their own work—a very difficult task. We’re still getting to know each other, and I’m assessing how they respond when they make mistakes. From what I’ve seen up to now, they’re quick to acknowledge and fix any issues no matter whose fault it is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The language barrier is by far the most challenging thing about working with Kultprosvet. I’d love to be able to manage the full-time junior developer I’ve hired myself, but they didn’t have the English language skills to make it happen. However, Kultprosvet handled it really well. I now have a senior developer for the price of a junior developer and access to a project manager for free. I’ve been impressed that they are so dedicated to finding a solution that works in my favor.

Any advice for potential customers?

Kultprosvet has been more than helpful, considering my exacting requirements. So long as I have the funding, they have my business. I wouldn’t think twice recommending their team. In fact, I already have.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a small tech company. In our projects, I oversee client management and specialize in working with application APIs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kultprosvet?

We needed more manpower for our many projects, so we were seeking an outsourcing partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For this specific project, we needed to create an application using React Native and we didn’t have in-house expertise. Kultprosvet assisted in a large project that was for our client in Norway. It’s a car-sharing app, and we needed to smooth out car status management as well as its accounting ledgers.

Their team coded in React Native. While it was a very cooperative project, the app’s concept and usability are all thanks to Kultprosvet.

What is the team composition?

We currently have one developer who works full-time and writes the code for us. Previously, we had other smaller projects and collaborated with a QA person, a frontend developer, and a PHP developer.

How did you come to work with Kultprosvet?

My colleague found them under incidental circumstances. At the time, we were shopping for providers to ease our workload. We realized that the coding work didn’t have to take place in Norway, where costs are much higher.

We’d previously outsourced work to different outcomes. We’d interacted with a couple of companies from Ukraine, Poland, and India. One of our smaller, earlier projects with an offshore provider went very well. On the other hand, I had worse experiences with several companies who couldn’t deliver on their promises.

How much have you invested in them?

We pay them $4,000 monthly, and we’ve spent around $20,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in February 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

They’ve been doing a great job. I was able to save a significant amount of time by not having to learn React Native myself, and their work has allowed me to focus on other things. They’ve bridged the gaps in my knowledge, especially the iOS and Android-specific aspects of app development.

It would cost me three times as much to hire a developer in Norway, so I’ve been able to save a lot of money through their work.

How did Kultprosvet perform from a project management standpoint?

Kultprosvet’s project managers are eager to understand the situation before offering a solution. They’re very direct and forthcoming about their ideas, which I seriously appreciate. For this project, though, we’re just in touch with our developer. Communication has been very smooth.

I’ve never met them in person, but we have daily meetings and communicate through Slack every day. We also communicate through video calls and use Bitbucket to track any issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a cohesive team with lots of experience. Although I’m currently only working with one person, they work as a team when any questions come up. Relative to past developers who say yes to everything but end up failing to provide, they’re very communicative and competent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re working on it, but their team varies in their level of English proficiency. I’ve gotten lucky with our current developer, but another developer may not know English as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise you to have a project manager because I think this helped me understand how they work and what I can do for a successful project. Prepare the work for them, and don’t expect to approach them with work on short notice.