Redops LLC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a supplier of web-based service management solutions. Our typical customers are companies which employ field engineers for the installation, repair, and maintenance of anything from railway tracks to air-conditioning units and telephone poles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MagicDevs?

We were in need of iOS development skillsets. We have our own development team, and had built an Android application, but needed more advanced iOS knowledge in order to get the project over the line.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MagicDevs was given our working Android app and was asked to help with the migration to iOS. I don’t have visibility into the development team itself. All our interactions are with their president, Tigran Aslanyan.

Our software manages the workers of a large utility and transportation service. Those workers are in charge of fixing underground tracks every evening. Up to 100 crews of 10-15 people each get their work assignments through an iPad, and all the health-and-safety documentation needed by them is included in the app. They’re told what section of the track to go to across the city. We lose coverage underground, but the app can switch to offline mode, continue to manage the crews overnight, and collect specific information including photographs, signatures, attendance records, procedure plans and more technical items like shared notices. Each crew used to have almost two suitcases-worth of work to bring on each shift, but they’re now paperless.

We’ve had a number of other engagements with MagicDevs, mostly for iOS integration of our solutions at different levels. They’ve written a number of web services, and we’ve had logic discussions on how the data transfer can be handled on the mobile side.

How did you come to work with MagicDevs?

I believe we came across them a few years ago on a dev site like Freelancer. MagicDevs had a decent portfolio, and we had an initial conversation with Tigran, who understood our concepts quickly. We typically use freelancing websites when we’re overloaded, and had worked with teams from Asia, who promised everything, but didn’t have a portfolio to back it up. MagicDevs was able to provide reasonable estimates and demonstrate similar types of work to ours. In a sense, they had more credibility than the others, so I decided to give them a small project and try them out.

How much have you invested with MagicDevs?

I don’t have an exact figure, but I’m guessing that the cost of their work has been between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first correspondence with MagicDevs was in October 2014. We have constant ongoing projects with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The bigger customers we’re dealing with have tremendous amounts of scope creep, which is not an issue related to MagicDevs. In general terms, they’ve hit deadlines within 5-10%, and with 90% of the work passing quality testing on the first attempt. I never heard complaints from our project managers about the performance of a developer. We measure our own developers against those of MagicDevs, in terms of quality, fail rates and QA.

We front the relationship with our customers, so they don’t actually know where the software is being built. They’re heavily dependent on applications, and around seven or eight customers have been using the work done by MagicDevs. In terms of live apps crashing, our only issue was related to an expired Apple distribution license that would not allow us to roll out updates; it was our own fault.

How did MagicDevs perform from a project management standpoint?

I am responsible for setting up the relationship with MagicDevs. Our own project managers come to me with financial and big-picture matters. Our two-to-three project managers and developers have all had a good working relationship with MagicDevs.

We have a reasonably good process of drawing up scope documents. MagicDevs has normally met our time and budget estimates. The scope creep is due to customers, but we generally try to avoid it. We generally lean towards giving MagicDevs work, rather than our own team.

MagicDevs does have a couple of tools in place, and they have given us logins, but we use workflow management software which we’ve built in-house. Our primary communication channel is Skype, which is used for meetings.

What did you find most impressive about MagicDevs?

There is solid delivery at competitive pricing on their end. From time to time, when we were under pressure, Tigran jumped in to help us.

Are there any areas MagicDevs could improve?

We are working project-to-project, but we should elaborate more strategic roadmaps with MagicDevs. Currently, we work by defining specifications and, based on need, making an update down the line. A bit more of a strategic collaboration method and R&D based on customer needs would be an improvement.

It would also be nice to sit down with their team in the same room from time to time. We’ve worked through this, but there’s definitely a drop in efficiency of 10-20%.