Virtuosity Consulting

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the Principal Release Manager responsible for shipping On Premise releases of SQL Server and cloud service releases of SQL Azure. This accounted for around $13b YoY revenue for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Virtuosity Consulting?

We needed to find qualified, process-driven, self-motivated program managers to help the full-time staff with the complete spectrum of Release processes. Process covered early planning, daily execution, monthly releases, weekly checkpoints and a large playbook of end-game release process in order to deliver quality on time.

We also needed tooling and reporting/modeling developers to aid in streamlining our release processes to reduce overall cost.

SOLUTION

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

The agency was already being utilized when I took over the contract.  However, I did choose this agency upon renewal, year over year.  In fact, in the last yearly renewal I decided to make a multi-year (3yr) contract with this agency since we were so delighted with their services.  That decision was based on pricing, domain knowledge, quality of candidates, and history of excellent services rendered.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Most of the detail is confidential. I covered this generally in a previous question.  Like all software development, the release cycle is pretty common - early stages of development, beta testing and gathering feedback, tracking feature progress, legal compliance and eventually releasing the product.  The agency was involved in all stages.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

I met with the agency to go over the requirements of the project, or the type of talent we were looking for.  The agency self-selected (based on the criteria) their top 2-3 candidates.  I did a quick interview with their top candidate.  Usually it was a match, since the agency did a great job filtering applications.  If there wasn't a match, I met with the agency to go over the gaps and they refined their search/filtering to produce a better candidate. 

There was never a time that it required more than 1 refinement.  Turn-around time on sourcing candidates was usually 1-2 weeks - well within our expectations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Nothing specific, as the work is all under NDA and confidential.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The agency team was an extension of our own.  They participated in team meetings and other larger org meetings as needed.  I also met weekly with the agency team to ensure there were no blockers that needed my attention and to discuss project status and strategy. 

The agency had an on-site single PoC to lead the team with which I had more interactions with to ensure the right skills were matched to the right work.  The agency team interacted with other full-time employees as needed without needing to funnel every request through me (which would have been a single point of failure).

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

The agency and the candidates they supplied really took ownership of the project.  They didn't just "get the job done" or "do what we asked".  They owned it - which isn't something I've seen with other agencies we've used for other work. 

They really were an extension to the team and went above and beyond to ensure project success AND improve the process along the way.  They suggested changes, worked on tooling to increase efficiency, devised reports to show areas to improve, track work, etc.  That was unique and provided for excellent quality to the work they provided.

The agency was also VERY flexible to adjust to the changing work and demands of the year-long (multi-year as well) contract.  When we needed to reduce budget, they worked with us to off-shore some tasks.  When we needed more developers, or release managers, the agency quickly adapted to what we needed in order to be productive.  Other agencies are willing to change, but this agency did it seamlessly.

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

Nothing that comes to mind.  We were genuinely impressed and pleased with the agency and their work.