Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?
As the code is written and engineers make pull requests, that code will be reviewed by multiple individuals within my team, who are not a part of Selleo. Overall, the quality of the code has been consistently high. The lead engineers on their team follow the patterns that were laid down by the other lead engineers and architects, but they’ve also done a nice job of providing feedback and suggestions about improving the code quality. As we add more folks, not everyone will follow the same approaches and paradigms.
SquadLocker offers a unique type of service. Through customer feedback, we’ve seen how easy the platform is to use, and how much they’ve liked the solution. Aside from customers, we’re also engaging with a variety of brands in the marketplace, as well as large apparel distributors. Every time I’ve talked to these people, they were amazed by our easy platform and clean UX.
Selleo has certainly contributed to our recognition as a market leader by customers and strategic partners. They’ve done this by showing up to retrospective meetings and offering constructive feedback on the process, the design, and the development. As someone who has worked in global software development for a number of years, this is a rare occurrence. Most agencies tend to focus on what they’re being asked to do without offering constructive feedback. Selleo treats this project as if it was their own business, offering great feedback on an almost weekly basis.
How did Selleo perform from a project management standpoint?
Software is a tricky area, and deadlines are often based on rough estimates. As we start the building process, we have to adapt based on new information. In general, I think that Selleo did a good job of hitting the dates we targeted. When that didn’t happen, it never came as a surprise. As soon as there was an issue, Selleo was forthright in bringing it up. They’ve consistently gone above and beyond to finish tasks when we needed.
They’ve influenced our process and tools, as well as the design and development of the software. Selleo is a user in our JIRA environment. As we started to grow our local team, we were trying to find the best tool and went from Pivotal Tracker to Trello and JIRA. Selleo was helpful while making these jumps and offered suggestions as we were building workflows. We use GitHub for a repository and have adopted some of Selleo’s efficient practices. Their team suggested something called Prettier, which assists with some of the JavaScript linting activities to keep everything consistent.
What did you find most impressive about Selleo?
We engage with a lead engineer named Thomas from Selleo’s team, who is responsible for the other resources on their side. For all intents and purposes, he has reorganized his life around this project. There is a 6-hour time difference, and we often have calls at 2–3 p.m. Eastern Time. He consistently takes part in those calls, including some that occur at 11 p.m. his time. Selleo treated this engagement like more than a project and a paycheck. They are emotionally invested in what they’re doing, which, to me, is unique.
Are there any areas Selleo could improve?
As we scale teams, increase the amount of code being built, and extend the offering for the market, some growing pains may take place. Certain choices required Selleo to adjust and adapt. In hindsight, I would have made some different decisions, but I wouldn’t have expected Selleo to change. They’ve done everything I expected—being forthright, offering opinions, citing sources, and prioritizing the best interest of the project.
Selleo is organized and communicative, maintaining regular contact to provide project updates. They’re trustworthy and eager to improve. They sometimes need technical guidance, but the team works well and wants to build the best products possible.