thoughtbot

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Warriors for Humanity, a global citizen movement that provides a platform for people to make a difference and leave a legacy.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We wanted help with a concept that promotes writing handwritten letters and honoring the legacy of people like teachers, community members, and coaches while they’re alive. The movement encourages people to write to these figures and acknowledge their legacies and the impact they’ve had, and then plant a tree to honor that legacy. 

The goal of this idea is to have a personal and environmental impact. Moreover, we thought we could create this initiative on every continent. After identifying the challenge, we wanted to narrow down the idea and go to market. We hired thoughtbot to help us create marketing ideas and concepts.

What was the scope of their involvement?

thoughtbot has created product design sprints to help us uncover our value proposition. They’ve conducted customer research to gather information and test our ideas. The team has also created a clickable prototype of our website to see what the product will look like. They’ve helped us create materials and talking points to help us navigate future stakeholder and investor conversations. 

First, we spent 4–5 days scoping out the idea and brainstorming. On the first day, we met to start defining the concept and narrowing down our messaging. We then had two days of workshops where we refined the messaging and defined what the concept would look like in terms of marketing. Then, we collaborated to develop user flows for our website. From there, they helped us design comprehensive product market research and surveyed potential customers using SurveyMonkey. 

After that, thoughtbot went through the product design phase, where they created the clickable website prototype from a number of angles. When that was finished, they invited 5–10 market researchers to test the prototype and give us feedback. Based on the testers’ feedback, the team is helping us tweak the user flow. Additionally, they’re developing a slide deck for us to present to investors. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a product strategist and two designers. 

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

A few people recommended them and put me in touch with them, and I knew one of their teammates going in. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000–$30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

The impact of this engagement has been massive because we now have a much deeper understanding of my customers. Moreover, the prototype has allowed us to get feedback on our initiative early on and understand where to start in order to make the most impact. thoughtbot provided influential senior testers with the right background that we couldn’t have gotten without them. These testers were really honest and provided useful feedback. 

As a result of our work with thoughtbot, we have several investors interested in working with us. We’re also more confident in our business plan and have a far more compelling story to tell based on the design sprint findings. The team has helped us find nuggets of information and a strategy that I couldn’t have come up with on my own. Overall, I’m happy with where we are and excited about the future. I’m confident we’ll get the investment we need to get off the ground. 

The team works independently, which is wonderful. Additionally, their flexibility is really impressive, and it has allowed us to walk through the stages in a way that adapts to our time availability. 

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

I give their project management a top rating. They use Miro for brainstorming, planning sprints, and storyboarding. Additionally, we use Google Docs, Google Meet, WhatsApp, and email, where we’re in regular contact. We also talk on the phone and have a regular conference call. They’re always available to take our calls or messages. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

thoughtbot really cares, loves the concept, and wants to educate us on why they do what they do. They’re very proactive, friendly, and genuine in their interest in what we’re doing. The team is very sensitive in terms of how they approach advice and direction. 

Their design sprints and the uncovering of the value proposition have been amazing. The team’s research and prototyping work are also really strong; thanks to them, our story for our investors is far better. I also appreciate the way they’ve walked us through the storyboarding. Additionally, thoughtbot’s customer relationship management is fantastic. They’re interested in me as a customer, our product, and relationship development between the individuals involved. I can’t speak highly enough about them; they’ve made us feel valued. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been top-class. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Regardless of what stage your idea is at, the thoughtbot team can help you. They care and will work to educate you on why they do things the way they do. To work with them, you must have the time and buy into the process. Trusting them will save you time and money; by the end, you’ll have a clear, concise, and compelling story. 

This is an exciting process to go through because you’ll work together to create something. Plus, it takes you out of the weeds, and you get a helicopter view of where you stand. You’ll also get an expert opinion that yields amazing feedback and suggestions. In all, the nuggets of gold you’ll get from them will be invaluable.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm one of the cofounders of Baton, a two-sided marketplace for small business acquisitions, helping small business owners understand the value of their business and work towards a lucrative sale.

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

We're a seed stage startup and needed to build our Minimum Lovable Product for a beta launch in September. Our Head of Engineering has a backend/data focus so we were looking to augment the team with Front End resources to support us until we're able to make full-time hires. We brought on the Thoughtbot team to build the front end of our small business owner onboarding flow from scratch.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had worked with a Thoughtbot engineer previously at Kickstarter and had a great experience, so I thought of Thoughtbot for this project for a few reasons. I knew we wanted to bring on senior engineers who could make architecture decisions and set us up for long-term success, as well as bring a high attention to detail and ability to work with a high degree of uncertainty in an agile fashion given how early we are. It was important to us that the team was embedded with us day-to-day and could participate in sprint ceremonies so they'd have proper context and collaborate with the rest of the team.

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

We kicked off the project in late June, and at that point, we essentially had user flow wireframes. From there the Thoughtbot team scaffolded the front-end application, setting up the React codebase and integrating Storybook and other tooling. We built out backend support in parallel to the front end work, building react components along the way, integrating with several 3rd party tools, implementing behavioral tracking, and then finishing with implementing our new design system.

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

We worked with two senior front-end engineers as well as an account manager. The communication was great and we really enjoyed our collaboration from start to finish.

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

We're about to launch these new features but the impact of this work is extremely high for us as it is the first custom feature work we're putting out into the world with our new branding. Our north star goal is focused on owner acquisition, so this onboarding flow is critical to us hitting our goals for the year. We've been getting excellent user feedback ahead of the launch, and once we've released, this will empower the growth team to scale up top of funnel efforts.

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

We had daily standups in the morning, as well as weekly grooming/planning sessions, bi-weekly retrospectives, and weekly design reviews. We used slack for daily communications, JIRA for project management, Notion for documentation, and Github for version management. The engineers were very self-sufficient and often filed and groomed their own tickets, which was a huge help. We had a fun time working together!

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

The engineering team has great attention to detail and is product-minded, often thinking about complex edge cases and communicating often about their needs and blockers. I've worked with a lot of agencies and this level of communication and attention to detail are rare to find.

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

When we got started, we only booked one engineer and got feedback a few weeks in that we really needed to add a second resource to get the scope implemented in time. We had a limited budget and they worked with us which was much appreciated given we're a pre-seed company and need to be cautious with resources.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Health Match 360. We’re a tech-startup that’s building a therapist-matching platform to help clients get matched with mental health therapists.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

Our biggest challenge was to redesign the beta version of our platform. We needed to spruce up the UX and UI.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked through a one-week design sprint, and the first two days were spent coming up with essential ways to solve the problem. They walked us through each step of the process and identified the assumptions we wanted to test during the eventual user testing stage. On days three and four, we worked with the designers and developers to build out the prototype. Day five was user testing. In the end, they gave us a PowerPoint and a number of spreadsheets that outlined all the information they gathered.

One of the capabilities we wanted to build was a way for clients to schedule a free consultation with a therapist. That got really good feedback, so we’re going to build it out how they designed it.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with three people, including a marketing director and two of their full-stack developers. There was also a designer, who facilitated the first two days. There were five total people. The last resource was a senior client success manager.

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

One of my mentors told me about a program thoughtbot was launching: a one-week pro-bono design sprint for start-ups. They were looking for start-ups founded by traditionally under-represented founders, as well as those who faced tight deadlines.

How much have you invested with them?

It was funded under a pro-bono grant, but the estimated value was $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together for one week, spanning the end of November to the beginning of December 2020.

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

I didn’t have a really clear idea about what to expect, but I wanted to have a new design for each page of the platform, and possibly some rebranding and user testing, by the end of the project. We got much more than that by the end of the project. The prototype they delivered was beautiful, they did rebranding that I loved, and the user testing was more than I expected. They also did a nice job of educating us throughout the process so we could do our own user testing in the future. I have a much clearer idea of how to do that on our own just thanks to watching how they do it. It was pretty awesome.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

Before we started, most of our communication was by email, and then we had a Zoom intro meeting right before we started. During the design sprint, it was all done on Zoom. They used a couple of other tools, including a digital whiteboard, as well as Figma.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their vibe stood out to me. I know it’s cheesy, but they were all so pleasant, warm, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. We all meshed; it felt like we were on the same team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was my first-ever design sprint so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but they blew me out of the water.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them sooner rather than later. They helped us test our assumptions, and that’s something I wouldn’t have gotten to until later down the road after sacrificing time and money building out things that wouldn’t be useful. They’re invaluable.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior product manager of the therapy product at Relias. We develop online healthcare education content.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We assessed all of the changes that were happening within the healthcare system and realized that there were some gaps in our offering. We were providing education to healthcare providers, specifically physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists. However, in order for therapists to get the best outcomes, they needed tools to help them engage with their patients.

We wanted to develop two mobile applications with thoughtbot. One would be for therapists to use to prescribe exercises. The second one would be for patients to receive those exercises.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we defined the problem that we were trying to solve. thoughtbot was very flexible and designed a mini-sprint with us. We had already done a ton of formative work for them to accelerate the process. Instead of going through a full five-day sprint, we only went through a one-day sprint.

After that, we validated the problem through rapid prototyping and user interviews. We finalized the designs, validated them, and built the iOS and Android apps. thoughtbot did the frontend of the app, and our in-house team built the backend.

What is the team composition?

The team composition changed quite a bit for a whole variety of reasons. In total, we worked with five people from thoughtbot.

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

My company put out a request for application (RFA) with a highly competitive bid. We liked that thoughtbot definitely had the level of expertise that we were looking for.

They were very clear and well versed in how to run design sprints, design thinking, and rapid iterative prototyping, which are things that our company was embracing. That was the deciding factor. They had a process and system in place that we wanted to adopt. We were really interested in working with them and seeing how they use those tools.

What is the status of this engagement?

We formally worked with them from October 2020–April 2021. The initial phase of the project is done, and we’re on hold for a little bit.

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

We internally had some challenges, so our app is not fully functional at this point in time. However, the frontend of the app, which thoughtbot developed, is done. We’ve experienced a couple of minor bugs, but they were immediately fixed.

Despite the app not being a product ready for people to buy, we’ve been validating it in the market as a fully functional frontend. We’ve gotten really positive feedback from the therapists working in this space and our end-target patients, which are older adults.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

We set up a superefficient communication system. We had a standup meeting with thoughtbot once a week.

thoughtbot was extremely attentive, flexible, and they addressed everything immediately. They integrated into our team exceptionally well and were easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

thoughtbot didn’t bring any preconceptions or misconceptions to the table. They were really good at listening and understanding the project. We worked together to identify the problems. After that, they let our end-users dictate the direction of the project, which was really powerful.

Sometimes, there’s a tendency to put in features to make things look super snazzy. However, they understood that we needed a clean and simple design because that’s what our end-users wanted. They were excellent about sticking to that and didn’t misdirect us at any point.

Any advice for potential customers?

The processes that we put in place together and the way they attended to our daily engineering standards helped significantly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I support our parent education and support program at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We engaged thoughtbot to help us develop a website for our educational program that parents could easily access on their phones.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thoughtbot walked us through a design sprint process and helped us hone in on what our goals were for the website before going into development. In the process, they helped us conduct user testing, interviews, and hosted a parent education workshop, so we could incorporate additional feedback into the build.

They then developed the site from scratch, using Ruby on Rails and other technologies, and helped us develop some of the interactive scripts and content we wanted to include.

What is the team composition?

We work with the owner, as well as a designer, developer, and a couple people managing the sprint process and project as a whole.

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

They responded to our RFP and were also highly recommended by someone within the Planned Parenthood network. Their vision aligned with ours and we also liked that they were local, so we could spend a decent amount of time with them in person.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged them in March 2018 and conducted a design sprint week in June. The site launched in September, but we continue to work with them to make updates and small changes as needed.

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

Even though we just recently launched, users are already very excited about the site and we've received a lot of positive feedback.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very accessible and responsive by phone or email. We also track projects and make requests through Trello, which has made the whole process rather seamless.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They ask good questions and have a strong initial process to help clients hone in on goals before going into development. They've been patient with our lack of technical knowledge and are very accommodating overall.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so. Any issues we had initially were resolved very quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep an open mind to their processes. We found their approach to be very valuable in the long run, despite some initially challenging tasks we had to walk through to figure out the best approach to designing our product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the senior engineering manager for an online platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We needed to hire more senior staff with skill sets beyond a standard background in iOS and Android technology.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most of the work we've given thoughtbot has involved cleaning up our existing code for both iOS and Android consumer-facing products. They've rewritten and updated much of the code in Android's Kotlin language.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager and about four developers on their team.

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

I wanted to work with them at a previous company I worked for, because I was so impressed by their work. I had also been interested in working for their company in the past, because I really liked their business model and how they continue to develop their employees.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $100,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for over six months and the relationship is ongoing.

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

We're 100% confident in the coding work thoughtbot has done thus far. The quality of their work has even helped boost the morale of our own engineers, who now feel more empowered to take ownership of their work and learn from thoughtbot's team. We've very much enjoyed having them work with us on site.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been flexible and responsive throughout the engagement thus far. Despite the fact that many of them work remotely most of the time as consultants, we haven't had any communications issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their engineers are very enthusiastic and proactive when taking on new projects. They're also very autonomous; I don't have to micromanage anyone on their team. They even come up with lists of recommendations, which has been very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, but I'd like to see them expand their staff so we could work with them even more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their team from the start of the relationship, because they truly know what they're doing and will work hard to meet business goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of a ratings and reviews platform for women to rate the places they work. We collect ratings from working women about companies and then we make job and company matches based on that data.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We wanted to create an application that would be complementary to our online platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came with a pretty fleshed out idea as well as early mocks of what we thought the app would be. We went through a design sprint, but essentially it was more of a getting everyone on the same page sprint. It was a week-long group of meetings where we met and came up with different ideas. I created more mocks based on what was talked about in the design sprint, and I created wireframes for user testing, but they essentially facilitated the conversation.

Our online platform is pretty big and the mobile application is a companion to our regular product. We went with React Native and built it to work on Android and iOS. For the most part, we made use of their frontend developers on a day to day basis.

The main features that we ended building into the first pass of the app are a customized home feed where users are delivered what we call, a “daily drop” of content such as articles, polls, questions, links to other things and every day the user gets a new one in their home feed. We also have a job matching section that utilizes the company’s existing functionality to match women to jobs but it delivers them in a more of a daily batch of 10 jobs at a time.

We also built the ability to respond to those jobs in sort of a “Tinder-like” way; not actually swiping, but the concept is swiping up on a job. We also built a community section, which is kind of based on existing functionality but with some changes where people can post questions to the community, get answers, and get notifications about answers to their questions. Finally, we built a profile management system where people can update a résumé in the app.

What is the team composition?

We worked mainly with one developer who they embedded in the office with us. He came into our office half the week to work here with us. Nearer the latter part of the project, we added a second frontend developer who worked on the mobile app for us. A third ran the meetings but wasn’t really plugged in on the day-to-day. There was a fourth person who ran the design sprint at the very beginning but then was hands-off for the rest of the time.

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

Their company has an office in the same co-working space we use. We met one person from just around the office and when we decided that we wanted to build an app with a third party, we contacted her.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent approximately $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June – November 2019.

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

We have hundreds of beta users currently using the app. It is a pretty small number, but we are trickling it out. We are seeing increased engagement numbers for the users that are using the app. Engagement is up as far as the number of times they engage with it in a month compared to what we had before.

Our team of developers are mostly backend developers, but they left it in a good state and they worked with us in a way that we have been able to continue working on the app and we have added quite a lot of functionality ourselves. They gave us quite a good foundation for doing that and a good understanding of how we can continue working.

We worked really closely with them the entire time. The end result is something that we are all happy with. We have continued to meet up with the developer that worked with us in-house. We go to lunch with him every once in a while, and it is still a friendly relationship.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

There wasn’t much project management on their end, since we ran most of the project ourselves.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The second developer they added was able to plug in very quickly and hit the ground running even though he was remote. He was a very good addition to the team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were occasions where we expected them to give more expert advice throughout the project. It didn’t feel like they were pushing on some of those decisions as much as we maybe thought they would. I say that with a caveat, as we had some issues at the beginning of the project that potentially scared them and made them hesitant to push on decisions. Acting more as experts, would have been a real help to us on a lot of things since we didn’t know what we were doing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you can host the developer in-house, do it. If you feel hesitant to do the design sprint because you feel like you already know what your product is and you don’t need to do it, do it anyway because it can be helpful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and founder of Real Simple Energy. We’re a startup energy shopping agent.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We initially hired them to build our website, which had very specific needs, so we couldn’t do it ourselves.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For our first project, they built our website from scratch. We’ve had three different engagements with them, though. Our subsequent projects have been big design and backend improvements for the original website they built.

The site is written entirely in Python with a Django framework. They created a completely customized retail energy search engine for home electricity purchasers.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a backend developer, a frontend designer, and a frontend engineer. We have one point of contact, but also speak a lot with Dawn (Designer & Managing Director, thoughtbot).

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

We were referred to them by two completely different contacts. Neither one of those contacts knew that the other had recommended them, which just reinforced the recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $80,00–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project lasted from January–April 2018, but our most recent build-out lasted from October–December 2019.

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

It’s hard to measure the impact with metrics because we started from scratch. They took our vision and turned it into a reality. They created a totally bespoke website—nothing else is like it, so that has enabled our business to thrive.

We’re very pleased with how it worked out. Since the project ended, I’ve considered what we paid them, our engagement, and what the competition could have done for us, and I don’t think the project could have gone better.

We have a really solid and reliable product and we paid a fair price. We easily could have paid twice as much for a lower-quality site.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication throughout the project was excellent. They regularly updated the Trello board so we could easily see what was going on. They were very responsive and answered all questions we had about the process. We used InVision early on, and then Slack as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by the developers’ confidence and ability to execute. They weren’t afraid to tell us that something could be done in a better way or if something else needed to be a priority. As someone with little development experience, that was very valuable.

They did an excellent job managing our budget while creating a solid MVP. At one point, we wanted to add ten more features, but could only afford five. They were great at talking us through that and helping us narrow down the features we needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be really nice if we could also hire them at an hourly or daily rate. Right now, they charge by the week and they encourage us to let issues build up until they can put a developer on a project for a full period. Of course, the rates aren’t cheap and a week can add up.

There also isn’t a huge difference in price between senior and junior developers. I think that the rates should be more commensurate with the seniority of the developer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the two co-founders of Hotshot. We make videos and other learning materials to help lawyers learn and help organizations — whether it’s a law firm or a law school — provide training programs.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We have a SaaS-like product, since people have to log into our website to be able to watch our videos. In this regard, the web experience is fundamental to our business, so we worked with thoughtbot on the development of our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial engagement with thoughtbot involved the development of a website from scratch. Their team built it such that we, as administrators, could upload videos, manage users, and manage customer permissions through a CMS and an administrative interface. They also developed it in a way that could allow users to track their own progress.

Over the course of our partnership, we also worked with thoughtbot on several other projects, mostly involving the addition of features to our SaaS platform. We asked them to give it a scalable, modern, and high-end design since we have a prestigious customer base. The quality, professionalism, and simplicity of the interface were as important to us as the site’s overall reliability.

What is the team composition?

We usually work with 1–2 people at a time. Over the years, we’ve interacted with a total of 7–8 people from thoughtbot. 

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

I was looking for high-end web development agencies on Quora and spoke to about 3–4 different providers. Of them all, thoughtbot seemed to be the best people to work with. We really liked the way they operated and ran their engagements.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $500,000–$1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I first found thoughtbot in Q2 2015, and we are still engaged with the team.

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

The thoughtbot team has developed a very stable platform that experiences very little downtime, if any at all. It’s also highly flexible seeing as we’ve been able to add several features to it with no issue. Though we don’t have the numbers for it, the user feedback we’ve received has been almost universally positive.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good in terms of project management. We use Zoom and Google Meet, but Trello and Slack are our main, day-to-day communication tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve got really high-quality developers and designers. Though they follow an agile methodology, they’re not dogmatic about it; their processes are well-balanced. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing for them to improve upon. We’ve been very happy with their services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Different web development agencies have different approaches and price ranges, so you have to make sure that the provider you hire is a good fit for your organization. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product for a network for public policy professionals.

What challenge were you trying to address with thoughtbot?

We needed a company to develop our iOS app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

thoughtbot took the concept and idea of our product and guided it through the whole development process. We now have a working beta and are anticipating a native iOS app launch this fall.

The app is built around a directory of congressional staffers and registered lobbyists in Washington D.C. over the past 10 years. thoughtbot took these data solutions and united them. They plugged legacy data into our live data streams that we update weekly. The database serves as a directory and a social networking site. Staffers can find and claim their profile and then participate in the network.  

When the project started, I met thoughtbot in their office in New York. We ran a five-day design sprint to create a prototype that we began testing and building the product towards. We’ve just finished up another design sprint with them last week where we focused on the lead generation, getting users, and the initial marketing page and user onboarding flows. We went through the same type of sprint procedure and ended up with a clickable design prototype. 

thoughtbot has become a part of our team in their way of thinking and advising. They took our concepts and helped shape them into actual prototypes and products. They’ve also helped to change the way that we think about our business plan and how to build out the product in a way that mitigates risk, challenges, or assumptions, and helps us go forward. They really forced us to examine our value proposition and our business goals.

Product owners and clients like us can often have very strong biases towards features, objectives, or items that they think are going to work. thoughbot has helped us to label them as assumptions and challenge them in a very healthy way. We’ve reconceptualized the way we look at our product priorities and opportunities. They have had a monumental impact on how our business functions.

What is the team composition?

There are two full-time people and a project advisor who runs retrospectives every week and works with the managing director there. We’re soon going to be bringing on a fourth person.  

How did you come to work with thoughtbot?

They were working for the company before I started working here. One of the original partners with the firm had worked with them previously, and he recommended that we use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $1 million–$5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015, and the work is ongoing.

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

We have great feedback from our beta users. Several power users have really taken to it and use it for their jobs every day, finding the right people in Congress to talk to in order to move their legislation or gain support for their offices’ initiatives. We haven’t done much marketing at all other than in-person, grassroots-style outreach to individual offices. We’re focusing now on testing the user onboarding and marketing page experience and validating our work based on past user interviews. We’re very excited about how this polished experience will essentially sell itself.

We’re scaling up our thoughtbot team to launch our iOS app in the next few months, and then we will lean on thoughtbot to help us build our internal team. They allow me to focus on hiring people into an existing system, with an existing culture and robust practices and workflows. They way they built the app and maintained the code makes everything very transferrable to the next person who will work on the project. thoughtbot is increasing the breadth of knowledge across our organization about our project. They’re doing internal code reviews with the rest of their team before they deploy it to our QA site. Whenever we shift or move to a new developer or designer, it’s a seamless transition. Everything is done in a way that makes me feel very confident in the way they’re building the application and preparing for an internal tech team in the future. The last person we’ll need to hire is a CTO. thoughtbot plays the part of a really experienced, seasoned CTO and an entire technology team.

How did thoughtbot perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is excellent and highly constructive. We have daily morning standups and retrospectives at the end of every week with thoughtbot. Even when there are tough decisions we have to talk about, we’re able to have those conversations with them in a very structured and beneficial. It’s never a drag to have to speak to them.

thoughtbot uses Trello and GitHub for project management and code management. We use monday.com internally, and the team joined our tool and could integrate nicely. They can view things that we’re working on and contribute when needed. The way they have set up their Trello boards is amazing. I’ve never seen a system so meticulously created and maintained. It’s extremely simple but incredibly developed. It’s seamless to use the tools they’ve set up. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way that thoughtbot treats each other and treats us is something I want to emulate in our organization. The way they hire and develop their talent also stands out to me. For their typical hiring phase, they bring a new developer and a new designer onto their team and put them through an apprenticeship phase. I’m very impressed with the high level at which they are thinking about and producing their work. Everything—from the way they run their company to the way they organize their office—is set up in such a mindful, intentional way. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be fantastic if they had an office in Washington D.C. Working remotely with them has been seamless though. I don’t have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Evaluate your project idea by doing a product design sprint with them. It’s a five-day process where you are in a room together and go through the process of structured brainstorming, assumption listing, mind mapping, and storyboarding. You start with these relatively amorphous ideas and assumptions, but those first 3–4 days are truly paradigm-shifting. thoughtbot then builds an actual design prototype that you can test with users during that week.