TTT Studios

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a consulting company that provides training in a variety of sectors.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We needed someone to consult us on developing a web or mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used the expertise of TTT Studios in the consulting phase of our app development project. They helped us identify the potential costs, the features to be implemented, and the advantages of building an app — they essentially explored the process that we needed to go through to create the app, and whether or not it was something our company would want to move forward with.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Jose (CEO), a backend developer, and researchers for the discovery phase.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

We initially heard about them from our marketing specialist at the time, who I believe had worked with them in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just over $25,000 CAD (approximately $20,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–May 2021.

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

They did exactly what they said they would do and delivered for the price that was initially agreed upon. The team was generally skilled, knowledgeable, and their level of professionalism was superb.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was excellent. They were very easy to work with so I felt very confident about their process — there were no expectations for me to understand what they were talking about, but I was still able to follow along.

We typically communicated through Zoom and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were very impressed with their level of professionalism.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on their pricing. They were a great option for development if the cost wasn’t so prohibitive. If they were interested in doing more of the actual development rather than the discovery, they need to take a closer look at their pricing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest following their lead because they make the process so much easier and they do their job well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of customer success at Marine Learning Systems, an e-learning software company in the maritime industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We needed their expertise in mobile app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a previous development partner that had to cease business operations, so TTT Studios took over our mobile app development efforts. Their team devised our iOS platform using React Native — we initially wanted it to be solely iPad-friendly, but we reassessed our users’ needs and eventually asked TTT Studios to make it mobile-friendly.

We’ve engaged their team again to manage our mobile app. TTT Studios regularly conducts maintenance services and implements updates on our app features when necessary.

What is the team composition?

We work with four resources from TTT Studios, including a project manager, a developer, and a designer.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

TTT Studios was referred to us by our previous development partner. Apart from being a local agency, we chose them because they were a trustworthy team that understood our needs from the get-go.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000–$200,000 CAD (approximately $120,000–$159,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with TTT Studios in July 2019, and our collaboration is ongoing.

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

We’ve only recently launched our product, so there are no quantitative metrics to share yet. However, our main success metric for TTT Studios has been their ability to deliver a lucrative product, which we can now offer to our customers. Their team has brought our ideas to life, and we’re excited to elevate our operations with the help of this user-friendly application.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email and conduct weekly calls to discuss the project flow. TTT Studios collaborates harmoniously with our internal team — they adapt well to our processes, which results in an enjoyable working experience. We always trust their capacity to deliver quality results on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with their technical expertise and proactive approach, which allows them to meet our deadlines and expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ll appreciate more consistent and transparent status updates from their team. It’s hard to track and evaluate a team’s performance without constant reports to refer to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

TTT Studios is a communicative team, and they’re very keen on establishing a friendly relationship with their client. If you match that collaborative energy, you’ll be able to make the most of your engagement with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior procurement officer for an automotive company in Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We needed someone to develop our mobile application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTT Studios developed our mobile app. It is an extension of the vehicle in itself and all of our customers can use it. The app shows the key parameters of the vehicle like the status of the battery, the miles from a charging station, and more. The app is for both iOS and Android.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

We had a regular RFP process for all our requirements. TTT Studios was one of the companies invited into the process, which had several stages. Based on all the responses we received, it was unanimous that we should go with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–September 2020.

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

We evaluated them on a milestone to milestone basis. We were very keen on understanding the architecture of the project. All these factors were evaluated each and every week. We were very happy with them.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was very good. They were very professional in managing the timelines and giving us a heads up if there is any risk recognition, as well as in their use of software technology tools. They did weekly and monthly reporting and were very timely.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We didn’t have to lead TTT Studios into anything because they knew what they were doing. They had experience from similar projects. They were on top of things when it came to testing. They were also flexible with the requirements and needs in terms of promoting, branding, and news reports. 

They gave us access to the tools they were using, so we were able to monitor everything that was happening on the screen. It couldn’t have been done better based on the situation they were in during the pandemic. They did the best they could, and they were very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. TTT Studios did each and every phase very professionally. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

TTT Studios is a good company to work with. They have great cloud-based services. This may have been the first time they worked with an automotive company, but they were comfortable and they grasped everything quickly. 

The technologies and the project were new, and they had to interface with big, complicated system applications on our side.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Logikoss is a logistics company. We move cargo via air and ocean from Mexico to different places and vice versa on behalf of clients. I’m the director and one of the shareholders in the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We wanted to create a digital platform to offer our services and analyze data better to make better decisions. We hired TTT Studios to help us with this endeavor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTT developed our whole web platform. We had meetings with them to explain what we wanted, and to discuss the progress as we moved on.

The platform displays information on the cargo to be delivered, the clients, and the routes to be used, and it performs data analysis. It logs dimensions and weights, origins and destinations, and preferred routes, and it also provides a list of options based on that. 

Once that’s selected, the customer can track the cargo through the website. On our side, we can use it for customer communication, invoicing, and analysis. TTT Studios developed it on Laravel PHP. 

What is the team composition?

They assigned us a product manager, who was in charge of the whole project. Under him, there was a teammate in charge of design, one for backend development, and one for database content.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

We wanted to do the project in Mexico at first, but we couldn’t find a company we were comfortable with in terms of cost and deliverables. Jose (CEO) used to work with us and knew our business well.

We also knew that Jose was responsible and wouldn’t commit to something that couldn’t be done and that we could have an open relationship with him. 

How much have you invested with them?

The system itself cost us $250,000, and we’re paying an average of $5,000 per month for maintenance and upgrades. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with TTT in March 2018, and the system was delivered in August 2018. We’re still working with them on maintenance and upgrades. 

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

TTT Studios delivered what we wanted, and we’re happy with the system. We haven’t had any significant glitches, and any changes we asked for were made quickly. They finished the project within the time and budget we decided on in the beginning.

We had a system in place before, and this one is clearly better. It allows us to analyze client data more accurately, and it makes us look more professional. Our business has grown fivefold since 2018, and I’m sure part of that is due to the platform developed by TTT Studios.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We used the scrum methodology. We weren’t used to it, but we learned about it from TTT Studios, and it worked quite well. We had some misunderstandings, but everything was solved within one week. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were worried because we’d heard stories about software development, but TTT Studios delivered what we wanted and agreed upon. For us, that’s the most relevant aspect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re in Canada and we’re in Mexico, and that’s always a challenge. I don’t know how they could improve that, but I think it’s easier to overcome now because everyone’s used to Zoom and similar tools. This was not the case two years ago, so it was challenging.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

We spent a lot of time with them, defining what we wanted. It’s important to know what you want before engaging with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the innovation manager at a transportation authority. We’re a department that takes on innovation projects. My role is to provoke innovation and make those ideas come to life.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We had a challenge in an area of our operations in how we process people through certain checkpoints. We wanted to look at all the issues in that process to come up with a software solution to address them all.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I can’t go into too much detail, but we brought in TTT Studios to discover the problem and ideate a solution. We held six workshops and their team had two site visits. We didn’t go as far as development, but we looked at one of their existing software products to adapt to solve our problem.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Jose (CEO, TTT Studios) and Nick (Director of Project Management, TTT Studios) closely.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

We heard about TTT Studios through an individual who works at an organization that innovates with us regularly. We met the TTT Studios team and exchanged information about our services. After they met with our team initially, this seemed like a perfect challenge for them to help address.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $50,000 for their discovery and ideation services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with TTT Studios around October 2019 and finished that initiative in 2019. We’re deciding what to do next and may have other initiatives for them to support.

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

It was great to work with their team. Our stakeholders were impressed by how quickly we moved through the process. If we applied our normal business processes, exploration and ideation would've taken a long time to complete. That was impressive. They helped us to formulate a product vision, user personas and journeys, features and the KPIs of the business impact.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We had regular status meetings. Both of our teams had project managers who worked on this project, making the process smooth. They’re located in Vancouver, so we were close. Their team was fantastic and had great communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They brought a toolset to workshops that was robust, light, and thorough. Their team ran all activities with us smoothly. TTT Studios’ skillset isn’t found in other companies. They applied a new approach to software development that went well. Their team knew what to do and presented their ideas well. They were open to any changes that we had in mind which made it easy to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing sticks out. We had a retrospective with them that went well. There were areas for improvement on both sides that could’ve made us more efficient, but the project was well run.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helps to hold workshops on their site. After we talked about holding workshops here, they came on site but we didn’t have all of the materials to complete the workshop. The next time, we’ll go to their office where they have everything set up.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Vancouver based tech start up company. We are hoping to streamline communication among various industries. My role is the coordinator and director of marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTT Studios?

We hired TTT for the design and production of the clickable demonstration for the application. We will be hiring them also for the full development of the application and web software.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this particular project were to demonstrate most of the capabilities of the application that we hope to create, telling an accurate story of what the experience would be for the user.

How did you select this vendor?

I actually just found them on Google, and after reviewing some previous client's experiences here on clutch. We met with two other app development firms and this firm stood out the most in terms of professionalism, organization, pleasantry, and of course, quality of final product.

Describe the project in detail.

We met with the studio to go over the main ideas of the project and our goals for what we wanted to offer. We then went into some long discovery workshops to fully plan out the user journeys and organize every detail and step of the app. We went back and fourth, hashing out changes and revisions to improve the app flow and 'user experience'. After a few weeks of seeing the progress and going over each screen individually, we finally finished the demo that we had hoped for.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we met with the president of the company (to go over their systems of work) but once we got involved in the actual project, a project manager was assigned to us to be the primary point of contact. We had meetings involving the project manager as well as two other UX/UI designers. This way everyone was on board could keep on track of what was being said/gone over in meetings. The project manager, however, was the only person we ever actually emailed with, as her passed along our requests and delegated appropriately for the smoothest project possible.

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

We are only at the beginning of launching our idea and meeting with stakeholders. However, we have had a very positive response in meetings thus far!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was great. We often met in person once a week to go over the progress together as a team, and to pick out/explain in detail any revisions that were necessary. The project manager was exceptional in being the mediator for the meetings, keeping everything on track and efficient. It is also important to note that they were really on top of their timelines. They never missed a deadline and were always transparent about progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I found the organizational flow to be the most impressive. I also enjoyed how much brain power and effort they put into the meetings. Rather than only listening to what we had to say, they did their best to brainstorm solutions and other ideas to assist us in the process.

Their office is also very comfortable and pleasant to meet at. They definitely had our best interest at heart. They never tried to upsell their services. They were very honest when advising us of the best solution to fit our specific needs, even if it would be 'less' business, work, or money for them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We thought hard about this one. I don't think any of us could think of how this process could be any better. It was smooth, seamless, and as easy as an app design process could be. They were responsive, thoughtful, efficient, and left us with a product that looked amazing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Later.com is a social media scheduler centered mostly around Instagram for small and medium-sized businesses. I’m one of the co-founders and the CTO.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We needed more bandwidth in terms of our app. We have our own iOS team in-house but needed to push through a few more features.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTT Studios helped create our iOS mobile app called Quick Schedule, which allows users to set a recurring schedule for their posts. We assigned certain features to their team, providing a rough wireframe and a spec. Their designers would work on the assignments first, then their developers. Working on the mobile version of the app, they built heavily requested features such as timeslot creation and management.

What is the team composition?

We had regular contact with four people. The team included two major developers, a product manager, and a designer.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

We wanted a local partner in Vancouver, which narrowed our search quite a bit. We also needed a company with a real mobile focus. I knew the founders of TTT Studios from the Vancouver tech scene. After getting bids, we ended up picking two companies and gave them different projects. TTT Studios was one of them.

How much have you invested with them?

When the dust settles with billing, I’d say we spent $30,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first met in July 2019. The project was completed but we have an ongoing relationship with them now.

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

We were going to two companies, trying to figure out which one we worked with best. It was by far TTT Studios. Compared to other providers, they were smooth to work with at the administrative level. The features have worked amazingly. They provided code that was definitely up to our standards.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Slack was our primary method of communication. We also had meetings with them here and there. Our team had a light touch with management, which was nice. We didn’t need to hold their hands. We gave the specifications and they ran from there, getting things signed off by our team along the way. Project management was definitely measured by how much we didn’t have to think about the work and we didn’t have to think about it much at all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We didn’t have to explain what we were trying to do a lot. We dropped them into an existing app, so they had to pick up concepts about our domain model. TTT Studios understood our project goals quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We only had one revision on the code for a few design aspects and TTT Studios received the style guide after the fact. They could have been more proactive in getting our internal style guidelines for the code. That’s about it. We got through it once we did the first revision.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a good spec to provide. We saved a lot of time by providing a wireframe. A rough wireframe beats no wireframe.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a professional services firm. I’m the head of our innovation center.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We’re looking for a way to use technology as a way to check in our guests without the use of human intervention.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTT Studios provided us with a virtual assistant that uses AI and facial recognition to check people in. I approached their team with our challenge, suggesting we use their AI platform. At that point, they were still rolling out functionalities. We worked together to scope out our business requirements to build out the solution based on those. Their team was responsible for designing, building, and deploying the entire solution.

What is the team composition?

We engaged with around five people. The team included a designer, developer, tester, business analyst, and project manager.

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

Their office happens to be right across the floor of ours. Through other opportunities, we have a relationship with them and started to approach them to solve our challenge. Their level of service and skill they have on their team set them apart.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with TTT Studios from January 2019–April 2019.

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

Since opening our center five months ago, we’ve been able to check-in upwards of 4,000 guests. The product works seamlessly with an excellent UX. It’s been extremely beneficial to capture the information of our guests as a way to communicate with them afterward. It has also allowed us to start the conversation about data privacy and the use of facial recognition.

Every time I approached them with another challenge or idea, they’re the first to say that they’ll look into it. They never said no. TTT Studios employs a smart team that’s easy to work with and always willing to go the extra mile. They’ll look into any potential functionality to see if it’s possible.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at following through, giving us regular updates. When we’re going through the project, we scoped out the requirements, and then their team would go off and do the work. Since we worked closely together, we were in constant communication. There was never a time where I felt that I didn’t know what was going on. The deadlines that we established were met, and their team did everything that they possibly could to ensure the portal was live when we needed it to be. I believe they used Jira internally, but I didn’t have any exposure to it because of our environment. We’re not able to interface with a lot of external tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Traditionally speaking, TTT Studios is a mobile app developer. They’ve demonstrated their ability to move beyond that one area of expertise into a different set of technologies. Their team is developing technology that other companies haven’t figured out. Their business analysts are MBA grads that exhibit the business acumen to think through challenges beyond usability and design.

In terms of working with them over anyone else, it goes back to the fact that they’re collaborative. They look at their users’ needs and overall business, wanting to go beyond developing a simple application. Investing in a platform solution that’s going to enable operations and affect the bottom line is something they’re always thinking about.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During testing and building out new functionalities, it is helpful to understand what’s going on. They’ll always say yes to more work, but I also think in certain aspects, it’s almost detrimental to the process. They’ll build and build, and then never have an actual product to send to market. I think that understanding specific functionality and being true to their roadmap would help that in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients will appreciate their honesty and the ease of working with TTT Studios. Listen to them because at the end of the day, they’re experts and the rest of us are not. You should let them do their jobs because they know the product and technology better than you do. If a company tells you to consider a platform approach instead of building out an app, I think their advice is sound, and customers should take it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product engineering for a computer software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTT Studios?

We needed to implement quite a few new features into our main product to make a deliverable with a particular client. The web application was very frontend-heavy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTT Studios provided resources for frontend development using a React and JavaScript tech stack. They interacted with our in-house team here and participated in daily standups, retrospectives, and story estimations. They also provided QA services and kept up with our regular releases and regression tests. TTT Studios felt like a part of the in-house production team we have here.

The team improved the performance and the overall user experience through our app. They did a lot of cleanup in the way we manage our tables and our very heavy user interactions with our data. To be able to display that in a meaningful way to our customers is always a challenge. Taking that information and presenting it in a seamless UI has been very helpful.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers and one QA person. The main points of contact were Nick (Project Manager, TTT Studios) and Jose (CEO, TTT Studios).

How did you come to work with TTT Studios?

I had worked with TTT Studios on a much larger project, and they were the main development team at the time. They rewrote the entire legacy app into a brand-new tech stack using .NET and React. I worked with them for about year, and the experience was very positive. They were very professional, their code was very well-written, and they were a good culture fit and vibe. Given my prior work experience with TTT Studios, I knew I could depend on them to jump on board very quickly and integrate with the team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2017–July 2018.

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

When one person from TTT Studios went on vacation for about a month, we could see a significant drop in the project’s velocity. It’s hard to separate work that only they did—TTT Studios was a part of the team as a whole.

The team was very professional. The developers respected the libraries that we have and the way we interact with them. They stayed flexible and receptive to feedback, and they were willing to wake up early to coordinate with us.

How did TTT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

All the project management was handled from our side. With the developers and QA person, we communicated via Slack. We coordinated hours to do our daily standups together through Zoom. We also used a tool for story estimations and retrospectives. Even though TTT Studios was very far away and our teams never met face-to-face, we really feel their presence here.

What did you find most impressive about them?

TTT Studios was reliable and transparent about what they’re capable of doing. They raised risks early. They were aware of our deadlines and called us now and then to see if we need additional help or if there was anything more they can do. They were very empathetic to their clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I did not see a very well-structured QA practice from them, but it could be due to the nature of the engagement. Their developers could have adopted more of a testing mindset as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re in Toronto, getting to know the team is absolutely essential. Try to overcome the barrier of being in different cities through video chat. In my last engagements, I flew over there to get to know the team better. It then became a lot easier to know who I’m talking to, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and their likes and dislikes. For anyone working in Vancouver with them, get to know TTT Studios. They’re very enjoyable to work with. They can be professional as well as good, friendly people. It keeps things fun and productive.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer of Olive Technologies. We’re building an AI platform that helps businesses buy and sell technology. My co-founder and I come from the enterprise software space, so we’re building a product to automate a large part of the sales process in that field.

What challenge were you trying to address with Two Tall Totems?

We wanted to build a platform that served as a marketplace between technology buyers and sellers. We already had a firm idea of how the app should look, including fully developed designs and documentation for which frameworks and infrastructures to use. Since I wanted to work with a familiar tool stack, I needed resources who understood Python and React.js. We engaged Two Tall Totems to develop the first iteration of the platform and plan to continue developing this version over the next few years.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially went to them with about 70 pages of designs and documentation for how we wanted the app to work. They then went through them with a fine-toothed comb, making recommendations for better practices. They suggested numerous performance enhancements as well as interesting custom-engineered pieces to bolster the app.

From there, Two Tall Totems developed the first iteration of our platform—from the database to the entire application stack—in a flexible, modular way. They built a robust infrastructure and automated all of the processes, making it easier for us to run with the product afterward. There were a couple of complex components in the app, but the team had a good grasp of all of the technologies involved. This included Python, React.js, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and a content delivery network (CDN) storage.

At its core, the platform connects people to technology based on their requirements. For example, if someone wanted a new email service, they might specify needing web access, browser authentication, multiple inboxes, and so on. Our platform checks those requirements against a database of solutions, mixing and matching available technologies to fulfill user needs.

It’s a dynamic process that uses a fairly complex algorithm. The platform rechecks all inputs in the database every time a user submits a request to find an appropriate solution. As a result, there’s a lot of processing involved. We reshuffle the results based on the order: the more requirements there are, the more accurate the solution list will be.

What is the team composition?

We typically worked with a team of four full-time resources: David (VP of Operations, Two Tall Totems), a project manager, a frontend engineer, and a backend engineer. They also assigned a couple of QA specialists as needed.

How did you come to work with Two Tall Totems?

I found them on Clutch. Because we had specific technical requirements for the designs, frameworks, and infrastructure, I narrowed my search to vendors who could work with Python and React.js. In total, we came up with a shortlist of about 20 companies and contacted each to see how they’d handle our project. We wanted to get a feel for the organizations and how we might work together.

Although they weren’t the cheapest, we ultimately selected Two Tall Totems because they were the strongest agency by far, and they were local. The entire team was stellar; everyone either had a Master’s degree or insane engineering abilities. Their communication was startup-friendly, and they were dynamic, young, and fun. We got the perfect vibe from them, and their culture aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $90,000 CAD (approximately $69,300 USD).

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

It’s too early for metrics since we don’t have any clients yet. One of the challenges we face is that we need to have data to populate the system before it’s usable to clients. Over the next few weeks, we’ll go in to load in data so that we can invite beta clients to the platform.

From a qualitative perspective, we do have some preliminary feedback. Before we went to Two Tall Totems, all of our designs were created in collaboration with beta customers. One of their feedback sessions involved capturing workflows and figuring out how a client might use the app. When we brought those design specifications to Two Tall Totems, their team helped us refine them and built exactly what we wanted. Beta testers have seen the demo and also love it.

How did Two Tall Totems perform from a project management standpoint?

The dynamic was great. Their project manager served as our direct point of contact, but we also had access to the rest of the team. We used Slack for all of our back-and-forth communication in addition to weekly meetings.

While we could have had more in-person interactions given the proximity, we didn’t necessarily need weekly contact. The meetings were really focused, and they always had a strong agenda about what they’d done and what they planned to do. This was also an opportunity for them to ask rapid-fire questions. They’d listen to our comments and implement those changes. It was a good way of keeping everything on track.

Considering our strict budget and timeline, they managed to finish the engagement within three months. They were on target with every sprint and met our milestone for the launch. The team even did extra work, making small, unprompted changes that were well-appreciated. Having a regular cadence with just the right amount of back-and-forth kept us from slowing down.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility is one of their greatest strengths, in terms of timing, collaboration, design expertise, and engineering. When we'd come in for meetings, they were always more than willing to facilitate the discussion all the way through to the complex engineering issues. With the designs, they were able to trust us as the domain experts and forego their typical end-to-end development process. They knew we were experienced enough to produce reliable designs, so they felt confident proceeding straight to the engineering phase.

As for the team, they had exceptional skill sets thanks to their engineering and design abilities. Even though we asked them to work with a technology stack that they didn’t often use, they still delivered exceptional results. We actually couldn't tell that they weren’t using their full-time toolset; rather, they produced work that was comparable to firms specializing in those technology stacks, which was great. It’s a testament to their people’s caliber and intelligence.

Finally, Two Tall Totems is just a really cool community. They’re a small team, but they function like a family. Good skill sets and flexibility are key to their success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any direct feedback on anything they could’ve done better. While our engagement was limited, this was due to our strict budget. We had to have fewer meetings and reduce inter-team collaboration to fit the budget. However, they understood what we wanted to do and were transparent on the things they’d have to cut. We knew about this going in, so I don’t consider this a negative.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be flexible with the process because Two Tall Totems has the expertise to run things. We came in with strict parameters and processes but remained flexible. Had I been more hotheaded and insisted that they stick to the specifications, we wouldn’t have received the product we have today. They were able to make recommendations that ran counter to my initial thoughts, but it was for the better. Trust that the team knows what they’re doing.