Melon

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

We’ve established a long-term relationship, and Melon is guaranteed to deliver on our projects. We're not aggressively onboarding yet. The few customers we're working with have shown us a few things we should change. 

As of today, we have 2,100 content creators on our site who have connected their social media and signed up. We’ve identified a much more extensive database of 30,000 influencers, but they haven't joined yet. We’re still focused on achieving significant traction.

How did Melon perform from a project management standpoint?

We spent the first 2-3 months getting acquainted. They missed a few deadlines because we'd underestimated the scope. Once we understood each other better, we found an effective system of communicating and gained momentum. Everything became much smoother month by month, and they started delivering. 

We use Trello to define tasks from the commercial side. Their project manager skillfully translated our business needs from plain English to technical tickets on Jira for the developers. Our communication was seamless. The entire team is very well-spoken and understands our needs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I most appreciate Melon's human element. We have a healthy business relationship. In the cases I've asked them to go the extra mile with me, they always have. Whether it's an extended credit period or billing negotiations about bugs, we always have transparent and frank conversations. Our open dialogue helped develop credibility on both sides. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Allocating resources properly would help them improve. Not all the team members have stayed constant, which I would have preferred. Melon eased my concerns about staff turnover by bringing in credible people. They adjusted the billing to account for new teammates' 2-3 week learning curve during onboarding. 

Their web development team is excellent, but their mobile app team caused a two-month delay. We either underestimated the scope or the resource managing the project wasn’t senior enough. Once they noticed this problem, they jumped in, fixed it, and delivered in the end. They even footed the bill for the delay.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Transparency is key. Have well-defined tasks prepared to assign Melon.

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

They have developed a countless number of features on the platform, and I have been mostly satisfied with their work.

How did Melon perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been very good at project management. We have daily stand-ups over Skype and on the phone, and I am able to talk with them on the weekend as necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When you outsource to a company like Melon there can be a lot of turnover, be we haven’t had that. Their employees have strong English skills, and we have been working with good people there for a long time. I am very pleased with their developers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like to see them make their hiring process faster. I know it is a competitive market there, but they are sometimes slow at getting me developers when I need more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need a good project management infrastructure and communication policy in place in order to manage remote resources effectively. We have a decent process of documenting features or bugs and assign our workflow well. This helps us take advantage of the time difference, because what I mark as needing work at the end of the day is taken care of by the next morning.

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

The quality has been great. We have been very happy with them. They did the photo sharing in a low-cost, agile way which made it possible to go live with a large solution for little money. It was impressive that they could handle the Bookatable site from end to end. They made a great service that also became extremely popular. They worked on it for many years, and after 6 years, it was decided the technology should be taken in-house on that project. They handled everything to run a full-fledged web service.

Occasionally, we had an issue with a few developers, where someone was not performing well enough. They replaced them with someone else, and they compensated me. Of course, in all projects there will be issues or problems, but in general, they are very good at handling the issues. We didn’t have any huge issues resulting in more time or cost than agreed upon. There have been a few times when things turned out to be lighter than first anticipated. In general, it was handled well.

How did Melon perform from a project management standpoint?

It was very easy to communicate. It was nice that we were in the same time zone. They gave me direct access to developers and others in case there was something requiring urgent attention or if it was just faster so I didn’t have to wait for the project manager to reply. Their English was also very good compared to other outsourcing companies that I have worked with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The CEO is a very amiable person who is nice to do business with. He’s reasonable, pragmatic, and solution-oriented. When there were issues, there was good communication; I could speak very directly and we worked toward solving the issues together.

The first time I met them, when we went over the specs and the ideas, I liked how they responded. I like that they take part in the early phases of writing the specifications of the work. They had very good ideas, and they were able to think independently. This was a loose idea at the moment, and they were able to work on an idea level. This is something I have appreciated with them on other occasions too, that they can think for themselves. They’re not just doing whatever the specs are saying. Right now, I have another project that we plan to use them for. They are part of the planning for what we need. I don’t need to do so much on my own. I can send them brief material, and they can develop ideas out of that. Then we discuss it and decide if it’s something we want to move on with or not. I like this way of independent thinking.

I also liked the idea of having access to a huge network of different people because they have a lot of different skills within the company. They do programming, QA, and many platforms and languages, etc.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s been a couple of years since I worked them, but I don’t know if they are on top of all technologies. Some projects are relevant to do with them, and other projects are less relevant because their competencies are not as strong in those areas.