Tumba Solutions

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Senior UX Prototyper at Motional. Motional is an American autonomous vehicle company founded in March 2020 as a joint venture between automaker Hyundai Motor Group and auto supplier Aptiv.

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

We had the need for prototyping automotive experiences that are difficult to test in real-life due to their technological, legal and cost restrictions. These type of experiences either don’t exist yet or need a significant amount of research. The goal was then be to provide findings to several teams so it can be evaluated for a production setting. They were profoundly helpful with getting the right people for the job and very open to changing requirements.

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

Motional has worked with Tumba on several internal projects for the past 4-5 years. I've worked with them on several projects, past and current. I decided to work with them because of their ability to distill complex ideas into tangible results. They are the best team I'm worked with during my career in tech.

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

The Tumba team helped develop and design 3D environments, physics examples and automotive feature development. Depending on the project, the Motional team would meet with Tumba to provide insight about the upcoming project. Together, we would discuss the pros/cons of the project, outlining implementation & it’s current impact on Motional. We would then discuss work allocation and understand estimates of the work. This would apply to a sprint structure so we could align with other teams.

As the team worked through their dedicated project, we would meet twice a week to align with Motional teams and with Tumba internally. The final product from these builds would be a standalone 3D application that tested with approved users to better understand the aesthetics and emotional impact of autonomous vehicles. They also have impacted engineering changes by providing new perspectives that were not initially understood or observed.

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

Within the project I worked, there were 3 core members plus a project manager I met with biweekly to learn more about the team. Other resources come and go depending on the project needs. We focus of the construction of the team around Digital Artists and 3D Software Developers.

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

Regarding deliverables, Tumba Solutions was always on time and nailed everything we asked. They effectively collaborated with several Motional teams, sometimes simultaneously, each providing positive outcomes.

Their work significantly affected our research and design process. They provided us with the ability preview automotive CAD that is doesn’t exist yet so we can make better decisions on HMI/ergonomics, created a series of repeatable tests we can test on-site or remotely, and have helped Motional understand the importance of developing modular 3D environments/props for ML projects.

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

Tumba’s project management style has been great to work with and observe. They are very transparent, on-time and openly communicate. They are always to talk through problems to find a middle ground that benefits both sides. We primarily communicate over Slack and Zoom calls.

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

What I found to be the most impressive thing is their attention to detail while maintaining an empathetic balance between reality and tech expectations. Their ability to collaborate with various personalities simultaneously while maintaining a strict focus is very rare.

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

To be very honest, they have been fantastic to work with and I find it hard to find any areas that require drastic improvement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Flowers-Software, a management system organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tumba Solutions?

We needed developers for our internal projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tumba Solutions has provided us with staff augmentation; they lend us their developers to help us build tools, functions, and features. Before starting, we had a 2–4 week trial phase where we had short interviews with the engineers, and we worked together for two weeks. After that, they started working with us fully for a year.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three developers from their team so far.

How did you come to work with Tumba Solutions?

They were referred to us by a friend. We chose to work with them because they passed all of the questionnaires and audits we do before hiring a vendor — everything from their mentality to the annual profit made us think they were a good fit for us.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $150,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Their engineering background is outstanding, enabling them to take upon the challenges of any task.

How did Tumba Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good; we communicate through email, Zoom, and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to quickly understand our needs distinguishes them from other providers; other companies have staff with no engineering backgrounds, making processes take longer than they should.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — my experience working with them has been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep constant communication with the development team to know what’s best for you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior project manager for passenger experience of a self-driving car company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tumba Solutions?

We’ve been working on a few different projects with them such as tablet and Android apps, as well as some virtual reality projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the tablet app, we created a passenger display for our self-driving cars. They worked on the visualization aspects of that, as well as interfaces and buttons to control the vehicles — they also delivered a working app integrated into our system. Then, the virtual reality project has them creating an environment in VR where can do some product testing.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with several people at this point, but our main point of contact is Borislav (Software Development Manager).

How did you come to work with Tumba Solutions?

Tumba has been working with my company for a long time, even before I started working there, so the connection has already been built. We’ve never had an issue and they always did an outstanding job. They’re a very integrated part of our company and when I talk about Tumba, they feel like an extension of my team rather than a contractor.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we’ve spent about $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in June 2019 and our partnership is still ongoing.

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

We do a good amount of user testing where we bring in people who are not educated on the product. They come in and use the product and they’ve always given us great feedback. What they developed is very intuitive and I’ve never had an issue where we experienced any failures testing it. 

Moreover, Tumba’s performance has been great, and they always deliver on schedule. They would catch bugs that come up often, and they’ve always resolved issues before the deadline. They do a great job of communicating what the issue is, how they plan to solve it, and then correct them on time.

How did Tumba Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

There was one point where our company had pulled in a project by a month, and even though the team was flustered and upset at first, they turned it around and were able to deliver despite the late change in the scope and time. We usually communicate through Zoom, and we’ve used several different project management tools over the course of the project — right now we’re using Asana to plan our timelines and tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I find most impressive is their ability to deliver a great product, and their communication. If there are challenges with the timelines and bugs, they’ll let us know about it early — they explain what’s going on and they’re very clear and upfront.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve really delivered on everything. We’ve even pushed outside the scope of their expertise at times where we asked them to bring in different types of engineers. They’ve done a great job of finding resources, bringing them on board, and maintaining their culture so I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Like any engagement, it helps to have clear goals at the beginning to understand what the scope of your work is — communicating about those goals and timelines along the way is also very important.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of the Peer Belt, Inc. Founded in Delaware, we’ve devised a new method for quantifying human behavior, from which we’ve developed multiple products. We help media sites keep visitors engaged longer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tumba Solutions?

We had received some funding, and we made the conscious decision to switch strategies. We abandoned our general product and pivoted to a new one. I wanted to scale faster. Since IT resources are difficult to come by, aside from being costly in the US, I hired Tumba.   

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tumba has provided us with DevOps support for CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery), website design, and backend development. They developed most of our current online presence. 

They integrated with a mobile application startup from the UK. The initial implementation of our app was for iOS on AWS. We experienced difficulties since we were using Kasandra on the backend, and AWS didn’t have inexpensive instances that hosted Kasandra. Tumba conducted some A/B testing for the app, but we were in a hurry for an event, so we didn’t spend that much time on it. 

After the initial agreement, we studied the code and described various pieces. The technical documentation was at a bare minimum. We had daily meetings. The source code was done through a private GitHub repository. We managed various types of assets in AWS, even though the actual service was running in SoftLayer

Their DevOps dealt with finding the optimal solution for CI/CD, which was SoftLayer. Tumba’s DevOps resource handled everything, and I only offered guidance.

What is the team composition?

Tumba has provided us with a website designer, a DevOps resource for CI/CD, and two iOS developers. Their principal takes part in business meetings with potential clients and me.

How did you come to work with Tumba Solutions?

I had worked with their principal way back in 1996 or 1997, and we had a good working relationship. Hiring them for this project was the natural thing to do. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our total investment has been around $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tumba in early-2016, but we had been talking to them months before that. Our relationship with Tumba is ongoing, but it’s very informal, and it’s already outside of the original agreement.

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

We’re still using the website that Tumba developed. 

How did Tumba Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is not a problem with Tumba. We adopted the agile development methodology, and we used Trello, which was a relatively cheap solution at that point. Their resources are good in terms of technical- and soft skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their reliability and quality of service that impresses me. Whenever we deal with tricky items on the backend, Tumba provides us everything we need in terms of processes and information.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We couldn’t have had a better relationship, and I don’t think they made any mistakes.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

You wouldn’t be able to properly discuss the problem in one or two meetings. Trust Tumba and constantly engage with them. They can deliver. There’s no need to micromanage them — you just need to describe your long-term vision for the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director for the innovation lab within Dow Jones.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tumba Solutions?

Part of our innovation lab involves building prototype concepts. We were looking to build a news app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team provided full-stack development for an iOS and Android app. They translated our wireframes and ideas, working closely with us. They used Odyssey for iOS and several of our languages and platforms for the development. The app includes business and financial news and data that users can read within five minutes.

They also built our CMS and the CMS aspect of the app. They’re currently working on another app project with our teams.

What is the team composition?

We work with a local team, including project managers and designers. I had a primary contact for daily interactions and one for business perspectives.

How did you come to work with Tumba Solutions?

They were recommended to us by another company and one of our tech leads. Tumba Solutions has a focus on building concept applications.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $2,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Tumba Solutions began in June 2016.

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

Their team built out the infrastructure quite well using quality code. The app rarely crashed. We have been able to see the results of this based on the crash reports. They take pride in making sure the code is the best possible rather than just washed.

How did Tumba Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they do well. They’re integrated closely with us. We have daily standups, and communication is great all around.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an excellent dedication to quality work. They’re always willing to add more to the concept for enhancement and improvement. It was great to get their feedback throughout the process of building the app.

Their frontend is superb. I didn’t have to create a complex guide because they knew what to do. Their creativity is also quite good, creating an aesthetically pleasing user experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything major. We’ve worked together for quite a while. If we had any issues, we ironed them out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get them involved in the thinking process as opposed to seeing them as just a development house. It helps them understand the importance and goal of a project and app.