The Widlarz Group

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder / President at FlexPro Grip of FlexPro Grip

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Produce a testing/training device and mobile app to reduce risk of elbow/forearm injury, aid in rehab, and improve athlete performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Widlarz Group to accomplish?

• The main objective of the FlexPro Grip project was to enhance the strength, endurance, and explosiveness of baseball pitchers by developing a mobile application that works in tandem with the FlexPro Grip device.
• The project aimed to reduce the occurrence of injuries, aid in rehabilitation, and improve performance metrics for athletes.

SOLUTION

How did you find The Widlarz Group?

Bart, owner of TWG reached out.

Why did you select The Widlarz Group over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Other

How many teammates from The Widlarz Group were assigned to this project?

The number has varied over time, but we typically have a project manager and a developer

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

TWG has worked in conjunction with FlexPro Grip for over a calendar year delivering on a diverse crop of projects.

Change the number of reps in Strength Training A, Strength Training B, and Strength Training C from 4 to 3
Change the number of reps in all Rehab Strength Training (10% of Max through 70% of Max) from 5 to 4
Change the History heading in the ioS app and website User Dashboard for even numbered strength training exercises from "… 4 rep average" to “…3 rep average”.
 
Change hold time from 5 seconds to 3 seconds for all strength training 100% mvc reps
Change rest time in Strength Training between 100% MVC reps and training reps from 12 seconds to 10 seconds
In RFD Training shorten the rest time after exercise 1 to 10 seconds
 
In Strength Test, switch the order of ulnar and radial deviation in both the warmup and the test
Make rest time between all Strength Test exercises 10 seconds
Set hold time to 3 seconds in all Strength Test reps instead of 5 seconds
 
Change warmup (remove some exercises) on strength test and training, rehab strength test and training, (+A,B,C)
Allow for redo of all warmup exercises
Create an option for a player to skip warmup before any protocol
 
Create a Rapid Strength Test (will require saving to History on mobile and User Dashboard + adding protocol to mobile pick list
 
Make RFD Training a 12 session cycle
Make Endurance Training a 12 session cycle
Add option to rename a device on the profile page prior to connecting the device
Remove option to connect to device from protocol screen
Remove the text above the connect the device button
Add spanish translation for “forgot your password?” on login screen
Change copy when leaving a session
Add active protocol tab on protocols page
 
(Step 1) Temporarily remove mvc and % rows invisible in force matrix. Restore when perform Step 2
Localize improvement:
1)Adding SourceMap upload to Sentry with every release
 [Improvement] History refactoring on BE (getting rid of separate tables, switching to JSON storability and throwing away this manual counting)
 
Add “All Strength Training” row to Player’s History page above Strength Training A
"Add “All Rehab Training” row to Player’s History page above Rehab
Training A"
"Create selection box for “Both” for an option to view data for both
hands on the graphs/charts – THIS APPLIES TO ALL PROTOCOLS"
Create additional column in charts for hand used during session – THIS APPLIES TO ALL PROTOCOLS
Place Rapid Strength Test below Strength Test on Player’s History page
The exercises labeled in the legend on right of graph on graph page should match the column titles from chart at the bottom of the page
 Swing speed protocol add
Readiness Test Change - new
The ability to set training targets

Phillies Protocols
Rapid Strength scoring - additional items

Add additional “Test” protocols in place them in the following order & 2) Remove Readiness Test 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• A 93.62% increase in the average monthly repetitions performed by users since May 2023.
• Positive feedback from users, emphasizing the app's role in injury prevention, rehabilitation, and enhanced training routines.
• A 189% growth in user adoption from May 2023 to December 2023.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We have a constant running slack chain and regular Zoom calls. This enables screen shares and a smooth back and forth of information.
Projects are generally on time. If they are not, we receive routine updates on what may be delaying the process.

What was your primary form of communication with The Widlarz Group?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They always seek objective feedback and constructive criticism. They want to be told where they are failing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Widlarz Group could have done differently?

We have discussed this internally with TWG, but mapping out what is on the house vs what is added cost is very important. We now error on the side of oversharing.

Additionally, we wish we knew upfront about some documentation shortcomings. This has been addressed internally.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Closer

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Closer ia a virtual selling platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Widlarz Group to accomplish?

Our primary goal was to enhance the Closer widget and sales platform, ensuring an optimized experience for users searching for products in e-commerce platforms. We needed to meet tight deadlines for the roll-out of these new features.

SOLUTION

How did you find The Widlarz Group?

Referral

Why did you select The Widlarz Group over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from The Widlarz Group were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

TheWidlarzGroup was engaged to expedite the development of new features in our Closer web app, a widget designed for e-commerce platforms to facilitate direct communication between salespeople and potential buyers. 

They assigned two developers who integrated into our team. Their involvement ranged from building screens based on Figma mockups, handling global state with MobX, implementing a complex multi-step form, writing unit and integration tests, to collaborating with our backend developers using the Swagger API.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Thanks to our combined efforts, we successfully rolled out the enhanced features of the Closer web app. The widget now offers an improved experience for users in e-commerce platforms, enabling smooth communication between salespeople and potential customers.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team we were working with immediately understood our challenges. Their developers delved deep into our React-based app, employing TypeScript for precise static typing. They managed the global state, ensuring the app's reliability with detailed testing, and were thorough in fixing bugs and fine-tuning ahead of the release. 

Their ability to translate our Figma mockups into functional screens was impressive. Moreover, their implementation of the complex multi-step form and constant communication with our developers ensured our objectives were met.

What was your primary form of communication with The Widlarz Group?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

TheWidlarzGroup's ability to seamlessly integrate and collaborate with our existing team, coupled with their profound React expertise, made them stand out. Their proactive approach ensured a smooth project journey.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Widlarz Group could have done differently?

Given the successful outcome, it's hard to pinpoint significant areas for improvement. They were responsive and adaptive throughout the whole project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of SmartCourt

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We create system for live tennis performance analysis. It consists of on-court hardware device, cloud processing units and a mobile app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Widlarz Group to accomplish?

• The goal was to make the SmartCourt app better by adding real-time mapping, better ways to handle information, and cool graphics using SVG
• A significant part of the work was focused on making the app look better, run smoother, and work great with all new features
• Another goal was to clean up and improve the application code to make it better.

SOLUTION

How did you find The Widlarz Group?

Referral

Why did you select The Widlarz Group over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from The Widlarz Group were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We aimed to add some features to our React Native mobile app. TheWidlarzGroup supported us in various ways to enhance our SmartCourt app. They played a significant role in creating a real-time map that displays the court based on player movements and hits during a game. This not only improved the look of the game but also made everything run more smoothly. 

They also helped set up a system to handle additional features in the future, making our app ready for new developments. Our goal was to use SVG in a unique way for the graphics in SmartCourt. This helped address the challenge of managing numerous hits during a match, making it visually appealing and efficient. Additionally, they worked on refining the code to enhance its quality and optimize the overall performance of our app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

In a fast two-month stretch, TheWidlarzGroup made a real difference in improving our app. They cleaned up the code, making it respond faster and work better. They added Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), not just boosting performance but also making the app look better overall. We are really pleased with what they accomplished! 

We wanted more people to like using the app, so TheWidlarzGroup added cool things like QR code scanning and implementing a dynamic court map. It worked - more people started using the app, and it made the whole experience better for everyone. TheWidlarzGroup made our app ready for the future by setting up a flexible way to manage its state. This smart move ensured the app could handle new changes and improvements easily. 

The positive feedback from clients shows that it worked well. We especially liked how TheWidlarzGroup cleaned up the code – it not only made things work better but also made it easier to keep the code in good shape.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Working with TheWidlarzGroup was just like we thought. Their team did a great job and knew their stuff. It went as we expected. We met the deadline thanks to TheWidlarzGroup. They effectively managed the budget, and the outcomes have been great, earning positive feedback from application users. 

Like in any project, we faced small issues, such as performance problems and refactoring the codebase. However the team quickly and efficiently dealt with these challenges, keeping the project moving smoothly.

What was your primary form of communication with The Widlarz Group?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

If I were to mention one thing, it would essentially be their expertise in React Native. As a CTO and a developer myself, I really appreciated the technical proficiency of their service.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Widlarz Group could have done differently?

TheWidlarzGroup team stayed focused on the job, did it really well, and stuck to the planned budget and deadline. It's tough for us to find things they could do better.