PLANEKS

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is one of the world's largest third party ship managers. We provide Technical, Crewing, Opex, Emissions and Performance Management. My position is a Digital Project Specialist in the Data and Performance Management Team, focusing on creation and execution of digital and performance related projects.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We were planning a major web application to provide performance services to our customers (Essentially helping customers with how their ships are performing at sea). We do not have any developers in house, but we do have tech-related staff that has specific set of skills and we were looking for developers who can cater to this.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched through multiple platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr for potential developers. We wanted to work someone with a good track record, and have the specific set of skills we were looking for.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We worked in an Agile environment. So we had iterations of development of the projects. The project kicked off with a meeting and rough plan of the whole process of the project. We had a few prototypes up and we discuss on how it will be executed. The project then turned into an iterative format where we had weekly/bi-weekly updates on the progress and changes required. The project was developed in Python with Django Framework.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were working directly with one of the managing partner, as well as the Chief Technology Officer.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project is currently still being worked on and improved. But we now have more and more customers and end users using the web application. and the number is continuing to grow as we speak.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicated mostly through Slack and this was a good enough form of communication for updates. The team were very detailed with the work they do and the updates they give and it is always on time. On top of that, we will have team's video meetings for higher level discussions, and if there are any major changes required. They do their best to cater to whatever technology that we are more familiar with.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Planeks is very 'Agile' in the sense where they are willing to adapt to the customer's needs even if it is something outside their comfort zone. Alot of partners we work with will try to do things their preferred way, especially if the customers are not familiar with the work they do, but PLANEKS will take the extra step to ensure that customers are comfortable and in the know of the work and once the work is completed, it can be handovered to customers with ease and no confusion.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

- Nil - They definitely deserve more customers, but at the same time I want to be selfish and want them to spend more hours on us and future potential projects that we have.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO and founder of a digital health company that offers our doctor clients software to deliver clear and actionable health data to patients.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

Initial spec was to build the backend application for a POC prototype, with the following spec:

1. Create basic DRF / Django application
2. Create authentication + SSO
3. Establish test driven development pattern for BE
4. Create and test SendGrid and Twilio integration
5. Migrate content database to Airtable and reintegrate with private connection and route through backend 
6. Dockerize and deploy to Heroku

However, the project has since evolved around the needs of the business, and Planeks' team has served as our backend engineering pod responsible for a variety of workstreams including:

• our data enablement function (using RPA, OCR)
• our communication suite (Twilio, SendGrid, custom engagement)
• the underlying programmatic algorithm we use as our core product offering

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Found them through upwork and vetted them against many others - they were by far the best.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Stack Used:

• Python
• React
• Django
• Heroku
• AWS
• Twilio
• Sendgrid
• Open AI (for some of our neural net stuff)

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We're a small team so I'm acting as Head of Product - in that capacity, I interact nearly daily with our backend devs, and on a regular weekly basis with Tony and Oleh, our sponsors who support some of the higher level tech strategy convos.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

• Beta launched in <100 days
• 1000's of patients served in just first few months
• 90%+ product access rate
• hyper-fast product development process

Without them, there's no way we'd be anywhere near where we are today (seed, prepping for a series A in next 6 months)

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They're malleable to whatever you want to use - we use Shortcut and Slack mostly. In the early days they had kanban boards they were managing themselves to keep the team organized (I never asked them to do this, they just did).

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team comes to the table every week prepared with specific ideas on how to overcome the challenges at hand. They also presents new ideas on how we could be doing things better. Translated to startup lingo, they're hungry to solve problems with you, and come to the table prepared. As an example, I recently asked them to make a change to our authentication flow that would remove collecting certain parameters.

This was a change requested for user flow simplicity, but we did not fully appreciate the downstream impacts of this change in having to refactor the backend db. Team came to the meeting on Monday prepared with 3 options we could pursue that still solved our business goal, but simultaneously appreciated the complexity for the system we'd already built.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We share feedback open and honestly and they quickly incorporate, so not really. I think we could stand to document more regularly, our cadence at the moment is roughly quarterly. I'm sure if I told the guys this was the priority, they'd do it more often, but we have bigger fish to fry.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing principal of a company that designs, builds, and secure industrial control systems. We also help digitally transform those systems within industrial facilities.

What challenge were you trying to address with PLANEKS?

We hired them for iOS/Android mobile app development. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

PLANEKS developed the MVP of our mobile app from scratch. It was a solution that relied on QR codes to search for and locate information within a database on industrial equipment pieces. I developed the requirements, and they supported me by handling the documentation and project planning. They also helped develop the database and did UI/UX work.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with an architect, a full stack developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with PLANEKS?

We found them through Upwork. Before we even signed the contract, PLANEKS wanted to understand the scope of the work very clearly rather than just accepting whatever we gave them. That helped me feel more confident with my decision to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost was under $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2020. We’ve recently ended the contract since we’ve completed the MVP, but I plan to bring them back on once we approve that the solution is a valid concept.

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

They were timely with our project schedule. We estimated that the project would take about 15 weeks, which did get pushed to 20 weeks once we added more items to the scope. They allotted us a projected number of hours weekly, which they stuck to, so it was a very good engagement all around.

How did PLANEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

Trello was our main project management tool, but we also communicated through Upwork and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a desire to understand our requirements first before moving forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a good job. I would highly recommend them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your requirements fully written down and spend time early in the project to go through those with PLANEKS. Don’t rush through that phase because it helps the project move along smoothly afterward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of GMDY. We’re a real-time consumer and analytics engine for sports.

What challenge were you trying to address with PLANEKS?

We were seeking to introduce some new features into our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Specifically, we were looking for a backend integration solution with Twitch. Using shared documents and communication platforms like Skype, we got on the same page about the backend design we wanted. Then, we partnered with them on the frontend design. Much of that step was already done, but they helped us establish how doable it would be.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two of their leaders, and I felt confident in their abilities.

How did you come to work with PLANEKS?

We posted the job description on UpWork, and they were one of the many agencies/individuals that reached back out. I got to know them and understand their philosophy. They offered their take on the solution and I was excited to see what they produced.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $1,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April until May 2020.

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

They rolled out the service in the time they estimated it would take, as well as under budget. They were able to make a couple of adjustments to the UI very quickly based on initial feedback. It wasn’t just a release and move on; they continue to reach out and ask how things are going.

How did PLANEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a 5/5 or a 10/10. They’re fantastic. I would certainly work with them again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did some initial research to understand how successful they were going to be in the project. If they hadn’t felt comfortable, then they wouldn’t have accepted the project. Plenty of agencies will accept any project for the money, but PLANEKS did their due diligence to ensure that we, collectively, would be successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be perfectly clear as to what you’re trying to accomplish and what the end-results are expected to be.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am founder of Game Boost Analytics. Game Boost Analytics is a company where we are helping gamers get better at video games through data and analytics.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS?

We needed web developers to help develop the minimum viable product website so that we can start to gather users.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build something functional, but not perfect to determine quickly/cheaply if there was good product-market fit. We needed the team to use Python/React coding languages because we needed to build off of some of the work we had done already.

How did you select this vendor?

Planeks was recommended to us by Upwork.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The Planeks team wrote all of the code, and helped us create the website at gameboostanalytics.com. They worked with us to define requirements, write the code needed for the website to function properly, and finally deploy the code to testing and production servers.

What was the team composition?

Primarily we worked with one engineer (Andrii) on the Planeks team. When needed, Anton (Founder of Planeks) got involved to support requirement scoping and provide input on more complicated concepts as it related to the GBA MVP.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We wouldn't have been able to build our website/product without this team!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Trello to organize the project and handle most of our communication. It worked very well overall. At times, there were a lot of things happening in parallel and it was a little challenging to stay organized. That said, it's because the Planeks team was able to handle a lot of work all at once.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I thought they found a really strong balance of communication and progress. They provided daily updates on everything that they worked on, and also made substantial progress in the 8 hours they invested every day.

Are there any areas for improvement?

n/a - I thought the project went very smoothly overall.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is manufacturing measuring devices that are used for high precision measurement tasks in industrial environment. I am working as an external software engineer that supports the company in developing software solutions to improve their production.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS?

We hired PLANEKS to implement a cloud based Processing System for customer orders. In order to keep track of the processing status for each order at any time.

What were your goals for this project?

The solution had to be cloud based with an intuitive user interface. Furthermore it shall provide an API with which order from 3rd party system can be synchronized with the Order Processing System. The manufacturing process shall be transparent at any time.

How did you select this vendor?

PLANEKS had a great rating and other customers highly recommended PLANEKS in terms of technical skills and customer communication. In total we interviewed 3 vendors for this projects. We choosed PLANEKS since they quickly understood the task and made very good recommendations on how to improve the software. Overall PLANEKS was the most professional vendor we interviewed for this project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

After choosing the architecture and the cloud platfrom, based on the recommendations of PLANEKS, we separated the whole projects into single tasks which where then realized by PLANEKS in several sprints. PLANEKS provided great tools to always keep the status for each task transparent. After one task was finished, we could test the solution directly. Furthermore PLANEKS provided a great documentation of the code itself and the deployment process. Questions has been answered by PLANEKS in very high detail.

What was the team composition?

We had one main contact during the project, that was always available and he communicated our requests to his team. Which was for us very convenient. In case we had some more detailed questions an expert of the team was available.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The manufacturing process is more transparent and therefore saves more time and improves quality. The manufacturing process is now transparent for everyone at any time, less clarification is needed.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management by PLANEKS was as best as it could be. The status of the development was clear at any time. PLANEKS always anwered in short periode of time. They made clear statements and keept the time plan perfectly. Besides that it is worth mentioning that PLANEKS also gave us recommendations on how to improve our internal software development processes, which we highly appreciated and which helped us as well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

PLANEKS is very well organized, and they have a very professional way of working. The communication with PLANEKS was perfect at any time. One can tell that PLANEKS has a lot of experence in what they are doing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot think any improvements, working with PLANEKS was very good at any time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a diversified media company, where I work as the general manager on a number of editorial and software projects

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We acquired a legacy infrastructure with little documentation, and were having trouble finding a specialized engineer that knew the certain framework intimately. The system was already in production, so it was important to find a vendor that could methodically document all the moving parts and carefully make changes without disrupting the existing users

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found PLANEKS to be specialized in the specific database and framework, and they were quick to articulate some of the unknowns. They are good communicators and were able to begin working almost immediately. Over the months of continued success it's like we've augmented our team. The time difference between our staff has not been an impediment whatsoever.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Without going into too much detail, as we are a publicly traded company, the technologies used were popular publishing database and bespoke CMSs using a popular framework and dependencies. These systems were used as custom endpoints to feed websites and native mobile apps. Knowledge of JS and React were helpful.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We primarily worked with a 3-person team, where one worked as accounts and quality assurance advisor, the developer, and the senior technology advisory person.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The overall speed and stability of the project continues to improve, and the product is showing clear signs of improvement. Our product is a lot more responsive overall.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We primarily communicate via Slack, Google Meet, and tasks were organized through Trello and Jira.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive thing about the company is their ability to get the job done exactly correct when clear instructions are given. We see rock-solid deliverables from Planeks every time.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I've already asked them to staff up as we can send them more work!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Operations executive at a financial services company providing working capital solutions to small and medium sized businesses.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We identified the need to improve our investor application forms by adding them to our website and making them clearer, simpler and more logical.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

One of our team members had used Planeks in the past and recommended them highly. The deciding factors for choosing them were their track record, and straightforwardness.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

There were a couple of introductory meetings where we broadly explained what we wanted. During these exchanges, Planeks made plenty of helpful suggestions and asked insightful questions that proved useful - leading to a great outcome.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Two. I would describe them as a developer and a project manager. Both were very approachable and provided valuable input and guidance throughout.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

It's too early to measure any outcomes yet, but we're very confident this project will prove worthwhile.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We received regular, detailed feedback mostly by email, and whatsapp. Zoom calls were easy to schedule at short notice, which we greatly appreciated. All communication tools were chosen by us.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive thing about them is their honesty and integrity. They did what they said they would do.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder and CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

Planeks was instrumental in taking my vision from concept to a fully working web-based software system. Goal was to develop MVP but Planeks worked quickly and efficiently so much so that we ended up building more of a Beta 1.0 rather than MVP.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I searched through UpWork and liked what I saw in the profile. Anton from Planeks response to my job posting was by far the most detailed and in-depth.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Planeks did all the back and front end development on my web-based restaurant management system.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There was my main contact Anton, Oleh (Senior Back End Dev), Andrii (Front end Development) and accountant manager Irina.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

They were ahead of schedule and built far more advanced than expected!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication was prompt and clear. They used Trello which made things super clear and easy to communicate. Loved the way I could see the work being completed and what was on task for the day. Prompt e-mail responses as well.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Professionalism, efficiency, clear communication and willingness to think outside the box to complete the tasks within fewer hours and at a higher standard than expected!! I will be working with Planeks for any future software development.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Product at MusicTeam, a platform for a new era of artists to efficiently manage the metadata and splits of their musical works and sound recordings for distribution.

For what projects/services did your company hire PLANEKS, and what were your goals?

We hired Planeks for developing an MVP for managing music rights for the musical works and sound recordings of independent artists. We reached the MVP quite fast and we are now working on a second release of the app.

How did you select PLANEKS and what were the deciding factors?

The past experience and specialisation in the Django framework. Also, upon having a conversation with them, their professionalism was really put forward.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Scope: Building an efficient and reliable way of handling splits and metadata on digital assets including, integrating multiple APIs.

Key deliverables:

• custom backend
• custom admin functionalities and user flow
• custom UI
• building an API
• integrating with multiple other APIs
• in-app notifications
• integrating a custom subscription management API
• building custom exports (XMLs).

Technologies included:

• Django framework (python-base code).

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

4 people worked with us, including a project manager, IT director, 2 programmer

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our app needs quite specific knowledge and there is a big learning-curve, to which they have adapted quickly. Every deliverable has been finished in time and with great quality. All expectations were met and beyond. We are about to launch the MVP in the next few weeks.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We use Jira for project management and Skype for communication.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their teamwork and ability to understand complex business problems, business logic and how to efficiently address those problems in our code.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We don't have any suggestions for areas of improvement because we are very satisfied with all the work they have done.