SwingDev

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Mobile Software Company with a mobile application we market and sell

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SwingDev?

They were a competitive bid and chosen for ability and not price. They were contracted to build our Talkaware mobile app. Money was not the object, a premium product was

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a premier product with patented concept to provide a special concept to voice recognition. Through this site it would establish a generous market and profitability.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We spent months trying to locate the correct companies after a few failures. Swingdev presented well and made big promises

Describe the project in detail.

The site was a new concept that would detect when a person was using voice recognition, it would, through its own keyboard, place a symbol in front of the text that was sent notifying the receiver that the sender was using voice recognition. It would allow the user to notify their contacts of what the symbol meant and allow them to also download the simple program so they could benefit from it also.

What was the team composition?

Hannah Mckenzie and Igsaan Salie were the PM and Head Designer. Jo Overline, the owner and salesman

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

This is the outcome. We had to get our attorney to send a letter demanding our payments back. This was Jo's response. Stephen is our attorney! I'll let you judge. We have nothing and were forced to pay another company to develop the project. They moved their company to Poland to avoid Lawsuits but Jo is in California. ---------------------------- Hi Stephen, let's start by saying - we welcome this suit, it's even comical. James's requests, demands, and our deliveries were well-documented from Day 1. We knew from the start what type of person we were dealing with. If you work with James, you know exactly what I am talking about. All deliverables were made as promised and communicated to James's team, and we have it all in writing. He's just too technically-incompetent and detached from the process to literally understand anything. Several times he went completely off the grid for weeks and we got zero communication, and we documented it every time. Your letter shows a lack of basic understanding of the situation. No source code from another company was illegally taken or used. James has no understanding of open source software and the legal use around it (because it's literally used in every software project in the world and 100% ethical and legal). I 100% GUARANTEE his "new" project uses it too. The legal laughing stock you would become making this argument against open-source would be nothing short of epic in the software world. Additionally, we use industry-standard code repositories that literally log every line of code written by every developer daily. There is an entire history of every line of custom code written for James with timestamps and logs, matching exactly his requests, it's indisputable. We are an extremely reputable company, it's widely known. We delivered many other websites/etc to James in the past. It's silly to think we would pick one to defraud him, but deliver on many others. Your claims of fraud are far-fetched and ridiculous, with no basis, but I guess that's what we get for going outside of our usual highly-technical clients and working with a caveman. If you want to talk about fraud, let's talk about how James secretly registered his different sites and hid them separately so he could defraud his insurance company on his policies, or how he illegally imports Kratom from South America and labels it as Yerba Mate Tea, using dummy sites to give it some authenticity in case the border official googles the business. I am sure CBP would like to know about that. Yeah we have that in writing too. In fact, also James talking about it on video - we record all our video meetings, and we disclose it at the beginning of every one with a "recording" text on-screen. This is the type of guy we are dealing with so don't talk to me about fraud. Every effort was made to make James happy and resolve this situation. I know James, i'm not stupid, it's all in writing and documented by every member of our team. In fact, even by James's team, behind his back, confirming he had no idea what was talking about and accepting deliverables as functional, in writing, with accompanying demo videos. FYI we haven't been in California for a couple years after an acquisition. Me, and my entire team, are based in Europe, and our corporate address is now: Swing Development Nowy Swiat 35, lok 6a Warsaw, Poland You can send any official documents to me there. Good luck. you'll need it. You're living on another planet if you think James can bully us, and we have mountains of supporting evidence. If you want to push this further, we are up for the fight, and will even enjoy publicly showing James's incompetence and expose him for who he is. Thanks for the laugh to start the week. Our lawyer, Marzena, is on cc.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Terrible, they kept making promises and delivered on nothing.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The sales up front was very good. Jo could promise everything. The problem was, he could not deliver on what he called a simple project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In every case they need to improve. I cant even explain the cost and waste of time. We were embarrassed and all jo did was threaten us for his failures.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founder of accent.ai. It was a language learning platform that provided customized lessons to users. It was based on a methodology of teaching users the information they need to be successful in their specific situation. For example, if someone were to take a trip to Spain for work or leisure, they could input those scenarios into our system and it would generate a custom lesson. Instead of focusing on generic sentences, the platform taught users practical phrases like how to order food or say “Yes, please.” Information was taught in the form of question/answer pairs instead of individual word lists. The company is no longer operating in a business sense. It’s been open-sourced and we currently treat the platform as a project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SwingDev - (Swing Development Inc)?

We had built an in-house prototype using easy and less-scalable technologies. However, we realized a professional development firm was needed to further scale the platform and build out additional components.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Development of the client-facing application was based-on our minimum viable product (MVP). We wanted to build a cross-platform application using one code base. We didn’t want to deal with the hassles of native iOS and Android apps along with a web platform. Initially, we worked with their chief architect who scoped out the project and determined what technologies we should use. The decision was to use AngularJS on the frontend, and MongoDB on the backend.

One of the first things SwingDev did was build us a content portal. This enabled our content aggregation team to create, edit, and upload lessons through the app’s backend. They used Google Firebase to handle our authentication protocols and password management. The app was primarily built on a MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js).

We had some organizational troubles on our end and had to put a halt on development. That was essentially the last phase of our collaboration, but we’ve gained a lot from working with SwingDev.

What is the team composition?

Six people from SwingDev’s team worked on our project. They allocated a chief architect, two developers, a QA tester, a project manager, and the project manager’s assistant.

How did you come to work with SwingDev - (Swing Development Inc)?

Two years ago, we were a startup of relatively nontechnical people. We had linguists, business developers, and designers, but it’s hard to find quality developers in the web and mobile tech space. We went through a few rounds of working with Upwork and other freelancing platforms to build a production version of the application. SwingDev was referred to us by an investor who had worked with them on previous projects. We got connected and started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested almost $100,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with SwingDev between April–October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SwingDev is a fantastic all-around team. They produced very high-quality work and are particularly skilled in AngularJS. They’re well-organized and efficient when testing, fixing, and documenting bugs.

How did SwingDev - (Swing Development Inc) perform from a project management standpoint?

I had calls with them at 7 a.m. every day. The next day, the entire change log would be complete and we’d continue to make progress. The project manager’s assistant produced weekly reports. They did a great job with everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every person I’ve worked with from their team has a fantastic attitude and personality. The people at SwingDev are there because they’re passionate about making good products and that’s evident in their work. They were quick to respond to my emails. Having a younger staff yields an openness to new ideas and flexibility not often found in larger firms. I’ll be a returning customer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As a young entrepreneur, I might not have understood all the particulars of a technology-based project. SwingDev could focus on the difference between building a production application and an MVP that could be expanded. MVP’s require fewer hours, less technological overhead, and a lower budget. A full commitment to a production version requires details that can affect scalability and deployment. SwingDev offering an MVP package of sorts for startup companies or less-experienced individuals could allow them to deliver an experience tailored to their customer. Breaking the work down into smaller stages would be more efficient for scoping. They’re relatively on par with other development operations in that regard.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a company that provides sales and operations software for manufacturers, distributors, retailers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SwingDev - (Swing Development Inc)?

Our iOS app was a mess and we wanted a reliable outsourced development partner who could deliver a solid product. We wanted to recreate our web app and required an expert in React. We also required a DevoOs pipeline designed and implemented, and our network architecture to be built for scale. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to develop a functioning iOS application, rebuild the web UI, create a robust network infrastructure, automate DevOps, and to create a functional inventory/order management API.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by a friend of mine.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Their team designed, developed, and implemented a robust cloud architecture on Amazon Web Services (AWS) including container management; created a continuous integration solution to deploy software; rebuilt the iOS application from scratch; refactored, completed, and deployed web frontend code using React JS; developed Node API from scratch to integrate with the legacy third-party enterprise resource planning (ERP); and developed inventory and order management API based off of a collective collaboration.

What was the team composition?

Team composition was 1-to-2 experts per subject, and often times CTO would get involved. We worked with a team of 8-to-10 of experts in total. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Their projects helped us triple our product offerings, which brought more value to customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Swing managed the project very effectively. We communicated using Trello, Jira, GitHub, Slack, and they set up a team channel where we could all interact. They accommodated extremely well to our different time zones.  

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Tomek (CTO, Swing Dev) built our cloud infrastructure himself and made the time to discuss a variety of issues with me personally. All of their developers are very accessible and Anatoli (Developer, Swing Dev) stood out as exceptional by improving our team's skill set. 

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There are no areas where they can improve. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re building a two-sided marketplace targeted at real estate professionals. I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SwingDev?

We needed a partner to build a consumer-facing frontend on top of the backend built by our internal team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SwingDev provided frontend development on top of our APIs. The backend system we’ve developed is the core of the product. Their team built the consumer-facing portal that allows people to perform account management actions such as signing up and editing profiles. They built the frontend using React.js and Redux.

What is the team composition?

They assigned two developers and one designer to our project.

How did you come to work with SwingDev?

They came as a recommendation from someone who’d used their team previously. We looked at a few other companies, but SwingDev moved quickly and had a positive reference.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SwingDev in December 2017 and have an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product hasn’t been launched to external users yet, but we’ve been pleased overall with the quality of SwingDev’s code and design.

How did SwingDev perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been happy with the competency of their project management. They’re good at managing their internal processes, interacting with our team, and adapting to our project management style.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good combination of technical competencies and business understanding. Unlike with other firms I’ve used in the past, I didn’t have to spell out every single flow to SwingDev. They were able to comprehend the general flow of what we were trying to build and fill in the items a typical user would expect. After asking them for a signup flow, they can build a modern solution without the need for too many clarifications.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are expensive, but it’s a reasonable trade for the quality delivered.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Dachs, LLC provides a software application for iOS and Android which acts as a middleman between people who need their dogs walked and people looking to service that need.

What is your position?

I am a co-founder of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SwingDev?

My partner and I have backgrounds in business management and sales, but we had a lack of technical expertise for building a mobile application. We went out into the field looking at resources we could hire, but also at higher-end firms in San Francisco and $5-per-hour ones in India and other places overseas. We settled on SwingDev as the best option. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The application is fairly complex, consisting of a frontend, a backend, and a payment processor in the middle. One side of the app is intended for dog-owners who request walks. It needed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for them to setup payment information with bank accounts. The other side is intended for dog-walkers, who need to setup their information for accepting payments, make themselves available, and update their information. In the middle, we use Braintree as a payment platform, which makes transactions securely.

How did you come to work with SwingDev?

My partner and I went out and got a sense of different providers—namely, how much their work coincided with our standards. We wanted a modern-looking, sleek, and user-friendly application and felt that the first thing to do was to eliminate anyone who couldn't deliver on that standard. We also wanted a responsive and personable company. SwingDev put in the time and energy to build that relationship. Cost was a consideration as well, and SwingDev was unparalleled in all respects.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The cost of our application and support tools like Amazon Web Services have come to approximately $100,000 over the last 2 years. SwingDev's hourly wage is around $85, which includes building product scopes, developing our application, and providing support. Considering the scope and quality of the work, compared to San Francisco firms providing similar services, SwingDev's price is fantastic.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SwingDev in June 2015. The work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are mostly talking about soft tangibles since we haven't used SwingDev for help on sales and marketing or on how we could increase our monthly users. Those are all elements which reflect our business activities as an organization. SwingDev's ability to deliver a very good-looking, user-friendly, and intuitive application has made our job easier when actually driving our numbers.

How did SwingDev perform from a project management standpoint?

The firm numbers that we can look at are the costs and timelines projected by SwingDev. On both counts, they surpassed expectations, delivering a first version of the product early and under the allotted cost scoped out by us.

What distinguishes SwingDev from other providers?

SwingDev had the ability to take my partner’s and my weak description of what we were looking for in an application and deliver a frontend product which exceeded our expectations. We had an idea of how users should interact with our application based on other ones we liked like Instacart, but we didn't know how to articulate that for our own project. We spent a lot of time explaining what we did and didn't like about certain apps, pointing out to SwingDev everything that mattered to us in terms of design, including our favorite cars and clothing. All of those things gave SwingDev bits of information about what we thought looked and felt good, so they consumed that information, turning it into something awesome. That was by far their greatest value to us.

Is there anything SwingDev could have improved or done differently?

SwingDev uses very creative people in Warsaw, which keeps costs down. The time difference between that location and the US, particularly San Francisco, has made it tricky at times to sync up with people and have live conversations. SwingDev should find a way to improve the ability of clients like myself to access those resources.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with SwingDev?

I have done a couple of reference calls for SwingDev, and something that I've pointed out (besides cost and quality of work) is the fact that they can build a relationship, which makes the client comfortable in accessing SwingDev as a business partner rather than as a consultant. SwingDev's principal acts as a liaison for all aspects of the organization, whether it's related to the US or to the Polish team. SwingDev has a great way of making sure that the client has what they need and that they understand the process from start to finish before they make any decisions. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop apps helping students navigate the process of going to college. We help them make college lists, recommend schools to each other, prep for SATs and SETs, and ultimately help project manage the process.   I am the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SwingDev?

We had launched an iPhone app and wanted to scale our existing development resources, getting onto the iPad as quickly as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SwingDev was initially brought in for building an iPad version of our iPhone app. The phone version was SAT-focused, and we wanted the new app to work with other standardized tests like the SET and LSAT.

How did you come to work with SwingDev?

We were looking for iOS developers as well as ones who could work on Windows software. We were referred to a recruiter through one of our investors. That person had a good relationship with SwingDev and recommended them to us.

How much have you invested with SwingDev?

The cost of SwingDev's services has been between $50,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SwingDev in mid-to-late 2013. Our work is ongoing; we keep coming up with new projects for SwingDev, and they've been a great partner for the company. We most recently launched a Chinese version of our US app, with updates for the new SAT launched this past year. We are also working with SwingDev on white-labeling opportunities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch an iPad app with ACT testing functionalities, as well as launch a Chinese version of our app. The component I'd attribute to SwingDev is that they're fantastic thought partners in determining how we develop our infrastructure. If we scoped out an app with specific functionalities, SwingDev returned quick and clear feedback on how that could be done, what issues it could create, and how much it would cost. SwingDev provided alternatives for our needs and was great in determining a long-term vision. This is a unique facet for an outsourced company.

How did SwingDev perform from a project management standpoint?

SwingDev provided fast, clear and specific communication, as well as consistently accurate estimates. We have involved SwingDev in some larger projects. Whenever they gave a four-month estimate, the work was delivered in three and a half. SwingDev's team managed themselves as opposed to other developers we used, which needed active project management, even on a day-to-day basis. SwingDev participated in whatever level of reporting we required, from daily scrums to weekly updates.

What did you find most impressive about SwingDev?

If we came with a question of how best to approach something or had a general idea, SwingDev did a lot of research and became engaged in our conversation, coming back with a strong pros-and-cons analysis.

Are there any areas SwingDev could improve?

No. We've had a great experience with SwingDev.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with SEO Brand SwingDev?

SwingDev has a process by which the client's scope of work is interpreted over the course of a week, to come up with a rough working document. It includes all technical requirements, questions which may not have been addressed, what design work will be needed, what the timeline will be, and so on. SwingDev can deliver a very useful roadmap, and I think it's worth it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Advanced-HR, Inc., a San Francisco-based SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] company that provides compensation planning data and services to private companies and their venture investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SwingDev?

As a small company, we rely on SwingDev as our development arm and engaged them to architect and launch a new approach to compensation planning for private companies. Our platform helps private companies understand market data, build competitive cash and equity plan costs over their employees/hiring project, and then budget out to employees. It has changed the way in which companies access market data and drastically reduced planning costs by eliminating a compensation consultant.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were involved in everything from envisioning the initial architecture to developing ongoing features. We used SwingDev for complete design and development of our new compensation planning platform that was launched in Q4 2015. SwingDev was involved in every step – from understanding the needs from a conceptual standpoint to architecting and building the system.

How did you come to work with SwingDev?

SwingDev was recommended by one of our venture firm customers. One of the primary selection criteria was their flexibility and ability to work with our small company culture. They demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm during the proposal process by bringing in outside assistance from the University of Warsaw to aid in their understanding of private company financial models.

How much have you invested with SwingDev?

Our cash component of the development budget does not reflect the services provided, as full payment has been a combination of both cash and equity such that SwingDev is currently an investor in Advanced-HR, Inc.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in November 2014, and we launched our beta in August 2015. We use iterative release; each 2-4 weeks, new features or changes are launched based on customer feedback.

Our flagship data product is currently supported by another contracting firm, and we will be transitioning it over to SwingDev as well. The group at SwingDev is really part of our staff, and we would not enjoy our current success without them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product launched in a timely manner, and all sprints are launched on schedule. Key contributions by SwingDev that have helped ensure platform success include 1) eliminating the need for customers to understand job codes by creating a drag-and-drop company review interface, and 2) creating algorithms to smooth out (sometimes massive) skews in market data that help create usable pay and equity ranges.

How did SwingDev perform in terms of project management specifically?

Good, but our situation is a bit different, as we eliminated their scrum master and manage sprints ourselves. SwingDev was willing to work with us in the way we wanted to work with their team. We use JIRA project management software to manage stories, sprints, quality assurance, and releases.

Working with a group in Poland has proven to be easy, and the team accommodates the time difference with ease. We often get emails from them during our work day and their off-hours, especially in times of urgent needs.

What did you find most impressive about SwingDev?

We found SwingDev’s commitment to understanding our product and user interface needs prior to the design phase to be unique. They have put in tremendous effort to ensure quality throughout the project and are very willing to implement changes to address constructive feedback.

Are there any areas SwingDev could improve?

Some of the design aspects of the product were a challenge during the first six months. However, when brought to the SwingDev team’s attention, they brought on outside design skills to help in needed areas.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with SwingDev?

The SwingDev staff is highly motivated by creative projects that enable them to demonstrate leading edge skills. Involvement in the creation of the product led to solutions that were not apparent to us but provided a better user experience.