RootQuotient

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering for an agriculture technology company in North Vancouver, Canada. We primarily service agriculture customers and growers in the global greenhouse industry. We have a SaaS platform for our customers, which is delivered through a web and mobile application.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We engaged them to increase our development speed or the amount of work we could deliver on our roadmap for enhances and features inside those applications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially contacted RootQuotient and talked about different options. Then, the stack engineers were assigned to the project, and we started to work. We had an existing platform and API, and they came on board to extend it. They joined our team and worked with us using React Native on the mobile app and React.js and JavaScript on the web app.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager and the two engineers assigned to the project. Additionally, we had a delivery manager in some meetings.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We were looking for a Canadian-based company with React Native mobile app development expertise. We searched on Google and found many different reviews on Clutch. Then, we filtered them down to RoomQuotient and contacted them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $100,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–August 2022. It was a four-month contract.

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

They came on board quickly and were able to come up to speed and be part of the team. We had great engineers; they were responsive and worked embedded in our team. At the end of the month, we’ll achieve everything we wanted to accomplish.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

We managed most of the project. Although they were in a different time zone, they worked remotely and were seamless and quick. Regarding time management, coordination, and communication, everything was excellent.

We added them to our Jira and communicated through Slack as a messenger tool. Also, we used Zoom and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and speed were outstanding. Moreover, we had experienced people on our project — they were notably fast and better than anyone we’d seen before.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of their people had to go on leave. We don’t hold them accountable for that, but we still had to work around it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We recommend them. They had clear communication and were very straightforward. We knew what was going on, and they were efficient and productive partners.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Messy.fm. We offer a SaaS for internal podcasting for organizations.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We needed outsourced development services for our SaaS business.

What was the scope of their involvement?

RootQuotient provides us with ongoing development services for our platform; they help us develop new features, fix bugs, and build custom integrations. Our platform is developed on the JavaScript technology stack, so we mainly use MongoDB, React, and Node.js. Additionally, it is a cloud-based service powered by AWS. Although we haven’t officially required it, I know that RootQuotient also offers SEO, and we’re in the process of starting with those efforts.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with 4–5 people from RootQuotient, three of whom I work with on a daily basis — a project manager and two developers.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

I found RootQuotient through a Google search. I don’t remember on which site I found them, but it maybe was Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, and our development work is ongoing.

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

I’m very happy with RootQuotient’s work. What they build is used by other organizations, so we always get immediate feedback from those clients. So far, the feedback has been very positive. Whenever there is a bug or an issue, RootQuotient is always on top of fixing it.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

I really like that RootQuotient assigs a project manager, so I work very closely with them. Additionally, I can talk directly with the two developers when needed. Of all the other development firms I’ve worked with, they’re definitely the best on the project management side.

Every month, we assign their team lists of tasks, and we talk every day about the progress of those tasks. We also meet every week to see if any of the features they’re developing are ready to be launched. We use Slack to communicate, Microsoft Teams for our meetings, and Google Docs to assign tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

RootQuotient is reasonably priced, offers very good communication, and delivers solid work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. I’m really happy with them; that’s why our relationship is ongoing. Of course, we’ve requested changes on some things that don’t work as expected, but they always fix issues, and we always launch bug-free features.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Providing them with predefined tasks is very helpful, even if the project is ongoing. Constantly giving them tasks and deadlines will help you prevent scope creep.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development manager for FussMobile. We have both business and individual customers, and we mainly focus on technology development; we invest in the company while developing our product lines for specific target markets. 

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We hired RootQuotient for their mobile app development services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

RootQuotient has built our mobile app for both Android and iOS. This app is unique and focuses on leveraging near-field communication (NFC) technology. It’s also a counterpart to our NFC tags. Essentially, it lets users choose what digital profile or information to share with other people. 

For instance, when they buy one of our tags, they can program the tag and link it directly to their digital profile in the app. They can share any social media or contact information they want; they can decide what details to share with others. In terms of technology, we’ve used Flutter. This language allows us to target both iOS and Android platforms with one code. 

RootQuotient has also designed the logo and graphics of the app. When we need new designs, the team first gathers our requirements. Then, they provide us with designs based on our brand and colors. After we approve their outputs, their resources start developing them on iOS and Android platforms. We use the same process when we want new app features. They often share what they’ve done with us, and our team reviews their outputs and provide feedback. 

Moreover, RootQuotient runs our staging environment. We use this to test changes before moving on to the production environment. After fixing any issues or bugs, we create a final production build. Once everything works as expected, we go live with the changes and updates. They also handle the implementation and launch of the updates in the app stores.

What is the team composition?

We work with 4–5 people from RootQuotient, including a project manager, developers, and DevOps specialists. The composition depends on what we’re doing at the moment. Usually, we interact with either two developers or a product manager; we deal with 1–2 DevOps when we’re launching updates to one of our production environments. 

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We found RootQuotient on Clutch. I checked multiple companies and looked into their reviews and the products they’d worked on in the past to know whether or not they could deliver what we wanted. This was particularly important because the features we wanted were highly technical. In the end, we chose to engage with RootQuotient. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our company has invested close to $13,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement around March 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

Our app is now live and downloadable via app stores. The current deployment doesn’t have many downloads yet because we’ve had to fully rebrand and relaunch it with a new app name. We haven’t started our onboarding campaigns to gain customers. 

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

RootQuotient has managed the project well. We’ve experienced delays, but they mostly move faster than we expect, compensating for the delays. Their project manager, account manager, and the rest of their team have also worked well with us. Even when things get tough and the timelines aren’t met as expected, they still manage to deliver. Some tasks have been more difficult than others, but they’ve provided reliable-quality services. 

To communicate, we have a shared Teams channel. Some of our exchanges are done through emails, especially those that have something to do with invoices and payments. However, most of our regular interactions regarding any ongoing work are done through Teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver exactly what we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

RootQuotient can improve the time between receiving our feedback and getting our requests done. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want. Other people may have a different experience with RootQuotient because they’re not clear on what they want. In our case, we communicate quite fluidly with the team. Since our ideas are clear to them, they can deliver according to our expectations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and sole proprietor of Tiger Testing. We’re developing quick technical hiring tests, where companies can use eight-minute multiple-choice questions to determine whether or not a candidate has the basic software skills they say they have on their resume. 

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We needed RootQuotient’s software development services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

RootQuotient initially spent time understanding our problem. We went through an extensive requirements collection phase, and then they handed me an eight-page document outlining all the features and functionality of the software. The document also presented how things should work out, giving us a clear understanding of what we were building, what was required to do it, and how much it would cost. From there, they built everything from scratch. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least six people. I had two project managers; I also worked with a UI/UX designer, a data architect, and two developers.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

I did an extensive vendor search in Eastern Europe, India, and the US. In fact, I’d used Clutch for some of those searches. Ultimately, I talked to at least nine companies, and my choice to pick RootQuotient came down to the cost certainty of the app. Since I was using my own money to build the software, having a fixed price bid was truly important for me. 

On top of that, RootQuotient was able to customize the app environment based on what I told them. For comparison, other companies often defaulted to React Native. By contrast, RootQuotient took their time to understand what I was doing and proposed a software architecture that had the right tech stack. As a result, we decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from March 2021–March 2022. 

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

Since the platform only launched recently, I don’t have any numerical metrics to share yet. However, RootQuotient produced a working piece of software for me; the MVP worked in the staging environment, and I could use it to test my market hypothesis before spending another $100,000 on the product. 

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

RootQuotient’s project management was great. Everything was documented and went to Microsoft DevOps. I had a weekly call with the project manager, and we also communicated via emails and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They cared about the project, so they took the time to understand what I was building. They also made suggestions and improvements that were truly smart. In fact, they even gave me a logo for free. Overall, they paid great attention to what they were doing. 

On top of that, their resources were professionals. Their designer was great. I’d worked with a billion-dollar telecommunications company, so I could also tell that RootQuotient’s database architecture was built correctly. Overall, they did everything by the book.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project took longer than we expected compared to the requirements put on paper. That didn’t reflect the quality of their work, however. 

Part of the reason for the delay was the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India — in April 2021, the situation was bad. At that time, half of their developers were somehow affected, and that put a bit of a dent in the timeline, understandably so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let RootQuotient do their job. They’re a full-service company, and I don’t see any gaps in their portfolio of people — they have designers, database specialists, app developers, and project managers.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a research project manager at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We received funding for the development of an application that aimed to help patients, families, and medical staff communicate seamlessly with one another, and we needed RootQoutient’s team to build that platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve kicked off the engagement with back-and-forth scoping discussions. RootQuotient has then finalized the app’s design and built a mock-up that they submitted for our approval. After we’ve submitted the mock-up to our stakeholders to gather further suggestions, and RootQuotient’s team has proceeded with the initial front- and back development. 

Some of the core features of our platform include a step-by-step guide on a patient’s medical procedures, built-in notifications for calendar events, staff-family communication channels, and access to integrated patient-learning materials. RootQuotient is currently finalizing some backend solutions, and we’ll start the UX design process soon.

What is the team composition?

We work with their project manager, developers, and designers.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We had a vetting process for local and North America-based providers, and we chose RootQuotient because of their unique understanding of our needs and flexible partnership options. The cherry on top was their team’s friendly and upright approach during our initial meetings.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration with RootQuotient’s team commenced in February 2021.

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

We’re still in the process of building the product, so there are no quantifiable metrics to share at this point. From our team’s perspective, RootQuotient is a highly reliable partner that does thorough research and accurately utilizes software platforms in order to deliver our exact design needs. We’ve shown bits and pieces of their work to our partners and staff, and everyone agrees that it flows seamlessly and logically.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?
They’ve been extremely communicative and attentive to our needs — I’ve never seen another company that possessed the same quality of project management skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What sets RootQuotient apart from their competitors is their accessibility. I can’t say enough great things about this team — they’ve always been approachable, responsive, and dependable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing constructive I can say about their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their process and decisions, and you’ll be rewarded with the exact results you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of finance and operations at an orthodontics clinic called Smile Elements. I look after the general day-to-day affairs, operations, and financial aspects of the business.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We hired RootQuotient to build our technology platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The main purpose of our cloud app is to manage our standard practice workflow. Internally, we want our team to effectively oversee booking appointments with patients, manage the time of doctors, follow up with patients, manage contracts, manage payments, and more. On top of being a patient management system, we want our platform to deal with the technical and commercial aspects of the entire patient journey. 

As a result, we’ve asked them to integrate a 3D charting app along with a data analytics and visualization tool, which will allow standardized treatment nodes to be generated. On the part of patients, we want them to easily book their medical appointments, review their treatment progress, and raise any concerns or questions regarding their treatment.

What is the team composition?

We primarily communicate with a dedicated project manager, and a technical team of at least 3–4 developers supports him.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We performed a rigorous review on about 10 companies through a detailed request for quote (RFQ) process. We selected RootQuotient because they had experience in dealing with 3D anatomical objects. Additionally, they offered a competitive price. Overall, considering the technical and commercial parameters of our project, we decided that they were the right fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $250,000 CAD (approximately $196,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in January 2021, and we continue to work together. We wanted to finish by September 2021, but there were changes to the project plan. As a result, we moved the target end date to December 2021.

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

We review RootQuotient’s progress on a weekly basis because we want to see the features they’re developing for every sprint. We then check the performance of the features they’re developing and identify issues — if there are any. In relation to that, we have no concerns right now because we’ve been progressing reasonably well.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, we have had a smooth experience with them. They keep us informed of any challenges to meeting deadlines, and their project manager is always on top of things. We have regular meetings with RootQuotient to assess the progress of their work, and we follow agile methodology to manage the project. They use tools such as Microsoft Azure and Jira. Overall, their performance has been consistent since they started.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team’s technical expertise and project management skills have been impressive. We worked with other vendors in the past for other projects, but they weren’t as experienced with 3D anatomical objects so we faced a lot of technical challenges.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could perform more unique testing during their presentation because we had instances where we identified minor bugs. It should be fixed before a product would be demonstrated to a client — having said that, it wasn’t really a functional issue but a presentation issue.

However, we want to emphasize that we have a good and healthy working relationship with them. Our constructive feedback is something which they could consider for their future clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get your scope right before you embark on the journey of developing your platform. In our case, we’ve spent money so that they could conduct a deep discovery phase.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT program manager for a health research institute.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We have an application with a CMS that was built to help patients surrounding transition of care. Our previous partner built the app, but we needed someone to take it over, improve it, and add a large number of new features.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The mobile app is built in Unity and works with iOS and Android, but it also functions with web-based navigators. It’s supported by our CMS and it has a dashboard that enables reporting using Power BI.

We gave RootQuotient the user requirement specifications, and they did an analysis of the application, ensuring that everything the previous vendor had done was fine and making their own suggestions.

On the portion that we’re now creating from scratch, they’re gathering feedback from our patients as well as collaborating directly with us. Specifically, they’re revamping our UX/UI with the goal to enable proper CMS functionality. Additionally, they’re introducing uploading and downloading capabilities.

What is the team composition?

There are 4-5 people on the team. The CEO is our main point of contact — there’s also a project manager who reports to me weekly and a Unity designer.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We were looking for partners that had a base in Canada and experience with research and medical solutions. We also wanted someone that had knowledge of Unity and JSON5. Root Quotient had what we were looking for.

We did a Google search and took recommendations, which included RootQuotient. From a list of 20 companies, we invited about 10 into an RFP process. They presented their proposals after making an analysis and reviewing the source code. RootQuotient was the best, by far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2020.

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

We’re launching the app and doing user acceptance testing right now. Tests have revealed that the CMS is functioning properly and transferring to the application correctly, meaning the servers are communicating well.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is perfect. They couldn’t be gentler or more on time — they’re punctual. We communicate over Microsoft Teams, email, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very easygoing, humble, and transparent. Whenever something doesn’t fit, RootQuotient tells us right away. Their manner is extremely polite and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since we’re in Montreal, it would be good if they had multiple resources with skills in French. That’s all I can say. So far, they’ve accommodated our schedule, including some delays we had with legal issues and payments.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We already knew what we needed very well, and RootQuotient has been very proactive in helping us. They have a lot of experience. This applies to whatever company you’re working with, but it’s good to have things clear from the beginning. The UI/UX should be very well defined.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We do brand events with large clients, taking annual brand objectives to create strategies surrounding the consumer market. Whether it’s a retail push or a product launch, we come up with a plan to launch these ideas. I’m the owner of the company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We needed to create a mobile platform in the form of a web-based app for a project my team was doing with a bank. In Canada, we need to be very stringent with data: how it’s collected, managed, transferred, and disposed of. We were tasked with doing a national program across Canada where we were engaging with customers who were telling their stories in relation to our client. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

To execute this project, we created a six-by-five-foot screen that presented these consumer stories, which were all about Black History Month. The right screen was about able people telling their own stories about what Black History Month means to them, and the other side of the screen depicted iconic individuals in black history.

As people inputted their stories to the project, we wanted them to appear on the screen. They were responsible for the app and backend development work that made this possible. The app allows us to moderate, edit, and approve stories on the backend, allowing them to go live on the screen during the event. The product had to work very quickly because people at the event would expect to see their stories on the screen after submitting them.

Their team created everything for that event, including the UI/UX design, backend, moderation, a Salesforce integration, and more. Our client took the event across Canada. 

What is the team composition?

There were three people, including key developers and a main point of contact.

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

After doing some online research, I narrowed my selection down to three companies. They all did a pitch and briefing with us. We landed on their services based on that process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000 CAD (approximately $39,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and our work together is ongoing. The project itself launched in February 2021, and we’re just maintaining data with them now.

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

When we started working with the client, there were roadblocks in data security and the Salesforce integration. We’d about given up in our efforts to get the API functioning properly. They worked night and day to get this integration going. While the client was technically responsible for the API and integration, their team figured it out before them. At that point, we were only 2–3 weeks out from the launch of the event, so that was a huge success. It made us look very good to the client, which was great for our relationship-building. Their UI/UX was also great, so it was easy to get approvals and walk clients through the app. 

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great communicators and always met deadlines. The plan of action came well in advance of scheduled deadlines. They kept track of all of that information in a shared Excel document. Meetings were planned out ahead of time as well. They were always available for calls and quick to respond to email, so it was a phenomenal experience. We also used Microsoft Teams to communicate on an ongoing basis.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication, accessibility, and willingness to work through problems were all very impressive. Many outsourced companies limit their support through billable hours, but they care more about doing their job very well. They care about the quality of their work and want us to succeed as their partner. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything at this point.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as you give them a solid brief, they’ll deliver. I’d recommend that you write out your brief in full to make sure you get the most out of their process. They’re great at coming up with creative ideas and solutions, but I’d advise not wasting time defining objectives upfront.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a boutique law firm that works mostly within the investment management space. Our clients operate funds and are typically looking to open accounts or get financing from banks. We negotiate those agreements and documentation.

What challenge were you trying to address with RootQuotient?

We were looking for a development partner that could build a bespoke software solution. It’s a web platform that would help our open accounts with banks and negotiate agreements.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

RootQutient is creating an operational workflow solution that would help us walk our clients through their banking and negotiation needs. This has involved tracking and simplifying that operational process. 

Our second requirement is to make sure that the platform can store documents once those banking agreements have been executed. The documents and their key clauses should be readable, searchable, and available, which would allow our clients to analyze the information in their contracts in a much more powerful way.

Currently, we’re building out the UI/UX in Adobe XD, which is really important to us. It needs to be very user-friendly and in line with our branding. We’ve already designed the wireframes to establish the look and feel, and they’ve been executing it exceptionally well. Next, we’ll start working on the backend using Ruby on Rails, and the whole platform will be hosted on Google Cloud. We use Azure DevOps for version control.

What is the team composition? 

From the sale to the actual project, there have been 4–5 people involved. Srivatsan (Director of Business Development) was our main point of contact in the beginning, and we also spoke with Rajagopalan (Co-Founder & CEO) who was more on the technical side of things. Since the project kick-off, the main responsibilities have fallen on Ranjith (Business Consultant) and Abhish (UI/UX Designer). 

How did you come to work with RootQuotient?

We did an RFP process, reaching out to about 15 software companies that found online in the US, Canada, India, and Ukraine. For each candidate, we provided a detailed, 10-page document that outlined what we wanted our partner to build for us. 

RootQuotient stood out immediately to us. Unlike the other companies we looked at, they were willing to put in the frontend work and effort to assess our project even before we officially hired them. They responded very well to our proposal, both in terms of their response speed and the level of detail that they had when looking through our document. The team provided us with their own proposal of what they could do, the cost estimates, and a potential timeline — it was very professional.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget for this project is $40,000 CAD (approximately $31,100 USD). We’re working at a fixed rate, so they’re not tacking on extra fees. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with RootQuotient in October 2020, and we’re still collaborating.

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

We’ve built about 60 screens and have started showing some of our clients the wireframes and how the platform works. Our clients think it’s really cool and innovative.

What we’re doing isn’t completely unique or new in the sense that this technology exists in other industries, but we’re tailoring it to our field. The few competitors we have are a lot more limited in scope, and their solutions aren’t as powerful as ours. The design isn’t as intuitive, either.

How did RootQuotient perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, we’ve been on target. RootQuotient is transparent with the steps that we need to take to accomplish the project, so we understand clearly where we are in the process. Every week, we have two meetings with Ranjith and Abhish to discuss questions they may have as well as prepare for the next phases. 

Other communication tools include Microsoft Teams, email, and even within Adobe XD directly. If we have comments about specific points on a slide, we can leave notes, which has been very important. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

RootQuotient really has that perfect mix of capability, attention to detail, and focused professionalism. They’re good partners to us — they’re not just trying to develop software, charge a fee, and then move on. I feel that they really care about getting our project done right so that our business succeeds.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Explain specifically what you want out of the project in a lot of detail. As I said, we had a 10-page document of our scope that wasn’t a light read. Many providers barely looked at the document before speaking to us, which was frankly a waste of my time, and others wanted to charge us a fee to even look at it. 

However, if you give RootQuotient a lot of information about the project and how it would elevate your company’s mission, it’s going to help them. They’re a pretty young firm, so they’re looking to partner up with companies that they believe in. They want a partnership that’s going to be viable in the long term. That’s an important part of their company culture.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a fintech startup, developing an innovative app for retirement planning. I am the founder and CEO.

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

We had developed the MVP of the app with another provider but there was a fair amount of work left to convert the MVP to a real application.

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

Our top priority was the technical competency & communication skills of the team. We needed a team that could take over a "rescue project" and build on that foundation.

They needed to really understand our project in order to come up with a plan to take us from the MVP version to our final objective. They communicated those early steps well and offered to do the project at a reasonable cost.

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

The scope of the work involved:

• Code review of the current application
• Design/modify different UI elements to make the app more user friendly (Adobe xd)
• Addition of a page to the app to calculate and graph retirement amounts (Javascript)
• Moving the backend code from Node.js to Python Django
• Socked implementation to improve latency issues in the backend
• Adding user registration/login modules to the app
• Integration of backend with frontend via custom APIs

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

We worked with five people in total; the deliverables and scope were mostly discussed with the account manager and the project manager. But for specific items we worked with one designer and two developers.

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

The final delivery is happening next week but they have been able to deliver on the promise so far. In particular, we had scheduled a few product demos with interested parties and they gave us a stable product to demo which was very helpful in getting initial feedback.

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

We mostly communicated through Teams, with project updates in Excel. They use JIRA internally as well but they said this is a small project and can be managed in Excel.

In retrospect, that was a bad decision as it made it difficult to track the bugs and feature requests. Nevertheless, we have been in constant communication and we are on the schedule.

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

Access to the team, particularly in the design step, was a huge help in expediting the process.

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

I believe they could use a diligent QC to compare the development with design. We usually found typos or spelling errors after each deployment which could have been avoided had they followed the design documents more thoroughly. This has been communicated to the account manager and they are improving it.