Spork

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CPO of a global legal services benchmarking platform that evaluates law firms and provides trusted insights and rankings to help clients make informed decisions in the legal market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spork?

We needed help with the installation of Agile, the design and build of a brand-new frontend, the overhaul of the underlying architecture, and the recruitment and resourcing of a reengineered development team. Our platform was built on outdated architecture and didn’t have sufficient development processes or resources in place to match our ambitious project goals or develop efficiency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Spork was given the challenge of upgrading our web platform, which was built on outdated architecture, and without sufficient development processes or resources in place to match our ambitious project goals or develop efficiency. Spork has prioritized which elements to overhaul first to allow us to maintain BAU and commercial commitments to a high standard. The team has also future-proofed our development team for ambitious development expectations while simultaneously generating an updated, high-quality frontend to replace our dated platform.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 10–15 members of Spork’s team.

How did you come to work with Spork?

We found them through direct sales. We chose them because their pricing fit our budget, they were a great culture fit, and their company values aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

The project's cost is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Spork has released a new frontend to considerable acclaim and overhauled our architecture. The team has also expanded our resources, installed Agile as a basic development process, and enabled new product development. Overall, we’ve received external acclaim for the new platform and internal acclaim for the increased efficiency and transparency of the development process.

How did Spork perform from a project management standpoint?

Spork has effectively managed the project and delivered on schedule. We communicate via in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Spork’s adaptability, culture, and agility are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.

BACKGROUND

I’m the CEO of dotdotdot, a consumer software business. We’re building the future of inspiration, discovery, and decision-making in travel through a single, intuitive platform that effortlessly connects people with their perfect place in minutes, not days.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We needed help with developing the MVP of our travel technology product; a way to prove that our concept was technically feasible before investing further in developing the product, ready for market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

This wasn’t a simple design and build. Instead, it required the innovative use of multiple technology streams, the integration of both static and dynamic data, and custom logic to piece it all together. The objective was to deliver something that could prove the concept of our platform, allowing us to go to market and seek investment to develop the product further.

We managed this in two stages, the first of which was through Spork's MVP in 5 Days product. After a kick off workshop we set out a specific list of deliverables, success criteria, and key checkpoints- all focused on the goal of proving the concept we challenged them with.

After the concept was proven, we tendered a further engagement with Spork to develop the platform further, based on both the learnings from Stage 1 and the direction we wanted to take the platform in. Spork were happy to do this, building a Scope of Work tailored to the direction we wanted to take the product in, and always with dotdotdot's goals at the forefront of our partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went from nothing to something, which was what Spork was initially hired to deliver. We’re now building on this with a real focus on two core areas: efficiency and effectiveness. The platform is set up to deliver the best possible results, and it’s doing so in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

To measure this, we worked with Spork to develop a consistent set of success criteria, the success of which to be continually measured as the platform developed. These success criteria have consistently moved in the right direction, thanks in no small part to Spork optimising towards them at every stage. This has kept us on track and ensured that we’re building towards a common, and effective goal.

Our experience with Spork has been nothing but positive. They're a collective of incredibly bright, intuitive, and technically knowledgeable professionals who don’t only deliver against objectives, but do so in a caring and empathetic manner. 

At the startup stage it's important that founders find agencies who aren't only focused on delivery, but also on partnership. I'm happy to say that with Spork, we found that.