SoftFormance OU

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I help customers build applications, put them together, and get them working on the web. We are an ISP [internet service provider], and we have a bunch of different customers, from mom-and-pop to large organizations. We maintain their applications out on the internet, from the bare minimum up to cloud infrastructure, it doesn't matter, whatever it is. I am the Lead Technical Architect.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftFormance?

In this case, we needed some improvements done for a particular customer. We no longer had the in-house skills, and we looked outward to hiring a third-party to help us out. It revolved around a local framework. It's a Python-based framework. It's an older set-up but, they were able to tackle it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

A customer needed some improvements on the old framework, and they did dedicate a particular resource in the process. We worked with both the owner and one of his resources directly over the contract. They were able to fix all the problems and also maintain a bit of support after they were deployed.

How did you come to work with SoftFormance?

Originally, we put a job out on Elance before it was bought. They did a bid. They weren't the cheapest, but based on how they presented themselves and answered the questions; I felt like they had the skills to do the job. We did a few more Elance jobs together and then, from that point on, we've been working with them directly.

How much have you invested with SoftFormance?

It has been between $10,000 and $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We're in contact. There is a bid for another job, but our customer takes a long time to execute. It started in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When driving the scope, they were able to deliver exactly what we needed. SoftFormance was very well-organized and handled through the whole process; deliverables, the knowledge, they knew exactly what was going on. It was never a pause in the request or on what was taking place.

How did SoftFormance perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided a job-tracking tool. We didn't have set rules all the time. I let them do what they needed to do. When they were done, we would validate it and then run the results and send it back, not very much interaction was needed. We didn't have weekly SCRUM meetings or anything.

What did you find most impressive about SoftFormance?

A lot of the Elancers we've worked with in the past were third-party outsourcing work. SoftFormance is very professional. They would scope out the task ahead and present it to you. There were no questions about what was going to be done. It wasn't vague. I think being straightforward was a very good thing.

Are there any areas SoftFormance could improve?

No, nothing yet.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

GIS Center is in Academia Sinica. It’s a research center for humanity and social sciences. I am a research assistant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftFormance?

Because my project is almost based on Plone CMS, including some GIS spatial modules and based on the CMS [content management system] we tried to implement and include some useful modules and packages into the project. Some of them are throughout the site and some of them are the project-based technical integrations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The CMS is a Python based software called Plone CMS. I’m also a Plone integrator. So I use this as a base to deploy on our projects. I needed a developer to help us implement some extra packages. They are all based on Python language. On our team, I am the most technical one and we have another colleague for digital design and requirement analysis. SoftFormance provided one to three people to help on our project.

How did you come to work with SoftFormance?

I found Vitalia on oDesk. He told me about a group of developers in his company. He told me their name is SoftFormance.

How much have you invested with SoftFormance?

More than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them three years. We still work with them occasionally. Sometimes I can deal with the projects on my own. If the project size is bigger than I can handle, I will contract more tasks to SoftFormance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My experience isn’t much about recruiting the developer on oDesk. I find that Vitalia is one of the best developers I’ve ever met. Not only is the quality good, but the documentation is also good. That’s also important. We work together but separated. We communicate completely via email and documentation. Vitalia and his team are very responsive. The first version took one week. If the result is not perfect, that’s OK because we can do improvements. That’s what I want.

How did SoftFormance perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a program to track the progress of our requirements and also the local developers' time working. So when it’s done, we can calculate the working hours and track the rate. We can clearly find out the result and its corresponding working hour. Sometimes there are some small parts, so we can track them on the issue tracker. Sometimes I pay the money one or two months later, so the project management issue tracker is very important for us to track the project details.

What did you find most impressive about SoftFormance?

The responsiveness and the quality. I compare it with my other experiences. I find that Vitalia and his team will do what they say. Sometimes he’s busy and can’t deliver the work, but he will respond and we can reschedule. Every time I discuss requirements, we can iterate and communicate what is best for me, even though we don’t know the end result, yet.

Are there any areas SoftFormance could improve?

It’s not a problem, but SoftFormance is growing. The team members are paid by the hour, so they lose some flexibility. It’s a common situation for companies. For me, I need to make sure the project is on budget. For example, one time a project was in its early stages and so the budget was not predetermined. I thought he would maybe not charge for this requirement gathering stage, but he did. It’s OK. However, it’s not a common thing in our country. We had to pay for time spent gathering requirements. That was my first time experiencing that.