Appinventiv

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder & VP Product Dev & Sales of Kozee Labs.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Kozee is an on demand procurement/management app for homeowners and home service providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Take specific requirements and execute
• Develop robust mobile/web applications
• Deliver fully functional complete products

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Take detailed and comprehensive/specific requirements and execute fully on a robust end to end residential home management mobile application. iOS and android homeowner fully mobile based application. iOS and android Home service provider mobile based application. Internal business ops platform management web based application to monitor and manage all mobile applications. Homeowner mobile applications closely mirror an uber model of procurement and management of professional services as managed end to end. Connect with vendors via instant requests, hire vendor, track job progress including gps tracking, see complete job details, and pay/complete job in app while storing service history.  Pro/vendor mobile application. Home service providers can sign up and download mobile application onboard easily. Once onboarded they can go online and offline as they prefer for instant on demand service request beacons from home owner mobile app. No fee per lead, pay a small percentage of job total to Kozee admin via app.  web platform for Kozee internal management/it team to oversee,adjust,revise and manage mobile application technologies and user activity.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bi weekly sprint deliveries complete with those detailed and agreed upon feature milestones with as few of bugs and issues as possible. 

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

Assigned pm was communicative. Our experience when working on site in person with the team was an overall success. Once we flew back to America and left them to continue in India is when the issues starting arising. Pm assigned to the job was essentially stringing us along on issues and progress while pushing to ensure payment intervals were met and up to date from us. Pm rarely delivered fully functional products/sprints. Ultimately the entire product and engagement was an overall failure. Virtually no part of our technology worked properly. 

What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Initial and on site working and communication. 

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

Built a product that actually worked as intended within reasonable budget initially quoted. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of a sports technology company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a sport technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Develop mobile application
• Develop backend CMS

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

Online Search

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Development and support of a mobile application and platform for users to access mental fitness and performance development content for student athletes. This included:

• Tech Stack 
• Program Languages for IOS and Android
• IDE
• Supporting OS
• Database
• Designing Tools
• Q&A
• UI/UX

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Having a fully functional software to work in App Store and Play Store. Our ability to generate seemless content on the web application to use in the mobile application.

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

• Slow response time. We recall multiple instances where product feedback given during a live call was not implemented, so questions around documentation and attentiveness to detail were common on our side.
• Discrepancies between published versions, staging and production environments, and access to proper test environments made it difficult for our team to track feature development until a full release came out.
• Periodic issues with billing, scope changes, disputes between the accounts team and the development team as to how to proceed with us, a lack of true involvement and oversight from AppInventive leadership in our account all culminated to a feeling of us not being a priority account.
• We are discovering now a reliance in the codebase on "lazy" methods where entire modules were built with little regard for scaling and security, and a likely dependance on AI coding tools that, while not problematic in and of themselves, are not a substitute for well-constructed code with proper developer oversight.  We will now be paying someone else to rewrite or completely redo components of our products accordingly.

What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

NA

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

If we look back on the total financial and time investment in the products, we find ourselves wishing for better usability, more stable coding, more parity between device types, and just in general, far more bang for our buck.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the product lead, operating officer, and one of the founders of a US-based startup. We've launched a networking tool for professionals that allows users to efficiently discover others and schedule times to meet for virtual coffee chats, as well as to manage the relationships they create.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We needed to develop our MVP to prove our thesis and the product's market fit.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Appinventiv to help us with the front- and backend development of our mobile app. They built it in React Native, leveraging Firebase in the Google Cloud for a lot of our backend services. The app required third-party integrations with services like Stripe for payments and Twilio for communications. It also required an integration with our website.

Initially, we provided Appinventiv with our designs and Figma files, as well as with user story requirements for all the experiences we needed to build. From there, they built the app for both iOS and Android devices — that's why we chose React Native to build it.

In addition to the integrations mentioned, Appinventiv also helped us with a Mixpanel integration to instrument and track usage. Additionally, they provided project management support to track developer deliverables and help us do incremental coordination with our accounts team.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three team members from Appinventiv: a backend developer, a frontend developer, and the project manager who offered intermediate support.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

Appinventiv came as a recommendation from a couple of friends who have also worked with them on their own startup. Previously, we had shopped around and cold-called a couple of service providers, but we had no success. After speaking with our friends, who spoke very highly of Appinventiv, we decided to give them a shot.

The other thing that sold us on the relationship was their flexibility in working with us on the contract terms and making adjustments to the contract itself to help us complete this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The contract with Appinventiv was in place for about 16 months. We started working together in March 2023, and we wrapped up the engagement in July 2024. Now, we're planning to revisit a larger contract with them once we raise funds and have the ability to prove product market fit by growing our user base.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Appinventiv was very helpful in developing our mobile app from beginning to end and completing the project as we defined it. Throughout the project, they were very receptive to feedback and addressed bugs quickly.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

Appinventiv delivered on time and on budget. Still, the success of our project was highly attributed to our regular communication. The team put a lot of our requirements in a Trello dashboard, where we were able to track the project on a sprint basis. We also had stand-up meetings every business day.

Moreover, we received task report updates at the end of every day. Whatever Appinventiv told us they would work on each day, they would send us an update via Slack at the end of that day to tell us what they had accomplished and what not. In addition to Trello and Slack, we also used Skype and Google Meet.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

We worked with a number of developers from Appinventiv throughout the process as they were cycling in and out of the project. Still, the developers who were able to demonstrate a lot of growth and contribute a lot to the project, both in execution and strategy, were Harpreet (Former Senior Android Developer) and Nishant (Software Engineer).

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated Appinventiv's flexibility. We released an alpha app and received a lot of feedback and lessons. Then, Appinventiv's team was able to extend the contract to complete all the beta experiences that we needed to implement based on that initial feedback.

Still, their most impressive quality was their intent to cultivate a relationship with us and invest in not only us as a team but in our product as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The biggest thing is regular and frequent communication. Based on my years of experience, throwing requirements over the wall isn't enough. Meeting with the engineers daily, getting regular updates, and clarifying requirements throughout the development process led us to the success of our relationship with Appinventiv.

Communicating regularly helps both parties stay on the same page, so the more frequent communication you can have, the higher the probability you'll have for success.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Plandid

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Photography Marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Develop iOS Application

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Our experience working with Appinventiv to develop the iOS app for Plandid was nothing short of exceptional. Entrusting them with the task of bringing our externally designed visions to life, they exceeded expectations at every step of the development process. Collaboration and Adaptability One of the standout qualities of Appinventiv was their remarkable ability to collaborate closely with our design team. 

Their willingness and ability to adapt to the designs provided, and their commitment to preserving the integrity of our vision while navigating the technical intricacies of iOS app development, were commendable. Their approach was always solutions-oriented, ensuring that the final product not only aligned with our designs but also adhered to the best practices for iOS apps. Technical Proficiency and Execution Throughout the development phase, Appinventiv's technical proficiency was evident. 

Their developers demonstrated a deep understanding of the iOS platform, utilizing their expertise to implement features exactly as envisioned. They tackled potential challenges proactively, ensuring that the app was not only visually faithful to the designs but also robust, scalable, and performance-oriented. Communication and Project Management Communication with Appinventiv was seamless. 

They ensured transparency and maintained regular updates, keeping us in the loop on progress, challenges, and solutions. Their project management was impeccable, adhering to timelines and delivering milestones as planned. The team's responsiveness and openness to feedback made the entire process smooth and collaborative. Final Product and Support The final iOS app for Plandid was a testament to Appinventiv's commitment to quality and excellence. 

They delivered a product that was not just a direct reflection of our designs but also a high-performing, user-friendly app that stood out in the market. Post-launch, their support was unwavering, with the team readily available to address any tweaks or enhancements needed. Conclusion Partnering with Appinventiv for the development of Plandid's iOS app was a strategic and rewarding decision. 

Their expertise, adaptability, and dedication to our project played a crucial role in turning our vision into a reality. We highly recommend Appinventiv to anyone looking for a reliable, skilled, and collaborative app development partner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

To track the progress and success of the Plandid iOS app development project undertaken by Appinventiv, we established six key milestones. These milestones served as our benchmarks for measuring outcomes and ensuring that the project was advancing as planned. Achieving each milestone represented a significant step forward in the development process, reflecting both progress and success in our collaboration. 

The completion of these milestones within their respective timelines and to the specified standards was instrumental in gauging the project's overall success and the effectiveness of our partnership with Appinventiv.

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

Appinventiv's project management was generally effective, delivering items on time with some exceptions due to occasional delays and misunderstandings. However, they were responsive and quick to resolve issues, ensuring we were always on the same page. Their commitment to clear communication and problem-solving was evident in how they addressed our needs and managed the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What stood out most about Appinventiv was their exceptional ability to blend technical expertise with proactive problem-solving. Their team not only delivered high-quality work but also anticipated and addressed potential challenges efficiently, making the entire development process smooth and effective. This proactive approach was both impressive and unique, setting them apart in the app development landscape.

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

An area for improvement for Appinventiv would be ensuring a more precise alignment with client designs from the project outset. Initially, we experienced challenges with the team accurately matching our screen designs. Over time, this issue was resolved as Appinventiv adapted and refined their approach to more closely meet our specifications, demonstrating their commitment to quality and client satisfaction.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.
I am the Director of Neem
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.
We are enabling people to document, share and define their own cultural heritage, on their own terms - to safeguard it for themselves, for their communities and for the future of humanity.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Android development
• Website development

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?
2-5 Employees
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Android Application design and development 
• Webspace 
• Admin panels. 

The work has been cut across 8 areas of expertise: 

1. Project Management 
2. User Android 
3. User Web 
4. Super Admin(Web) 
5. API+DB 
6. Mobile Designs 
7. HTML + Web designs 
8. Testing

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Appinventiv has over-delivered from day one, and we have exceeded all our goals in very difficult circumstances, engaging users in remote and conflict affected parts of East Africa. Firstly, Appinventiv were able to build advanced features into our minimum value project, well beyond anything that could have been reasonably expected. 
Second, we were able to achieve the very difficult task of rolling out a trial in remote parts of South Sudan and Sudan, testing and enhancing as we went along. As a result we engaged some 60 hard to reach communities in each country, covering 98 languages, some near extinct. This was not easy and was only possible due to the dedication of the team, and perfect project management.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?
APPinventiv assigned a project manager par excellence. He understands and plans for surge points, knows his resources in and out, is honest and realistic. And beyond all that a thoroughly wonderful person. I count ourselves extremely fortunate to have been linked up with him and any success we have had, is his and his team. Our phase I project was especially tough, due to juggling a need to roll out features of the APP whilst still developing others.
This required urgent responses on all sides and Appinventiv never left the project wanting for anything. On the contrary, the whole Appinventiv team went far beyond the call of duty to get us through that stage, and it was because of that we laid a foundation on which we could build into the future. I have nothing but admiration and appreciation for everybody who has been involved. I have no hesitation to recommend APPinventiv to anyone seeking a technical partner.
What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?
Virtual Meeting
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Project management, culture of support and loyalty to clients, and huge range of skills within the company.
Are there any areas for improvement or something Appinventiv could have done differently?

I have loved working with APPinventiv. In order to answer this question I am searching for something constructive. If I was to select an area and I would it is possible that design skills could be more on trend.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of TaxiCoin

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are digitalizing the taxi industry by personalizing and improving the user experience through an app for ordering taxis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Develop the Taxicoin app
• Desgin and implement the server arquitecture
• Make improvements over the finallized app

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

Referral

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The development of the whole app has included many important tasks to have it finished. Such as implementation of Google APIs, payment gateways, calling and messaging interface, a complete administration panel, and many more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a working app that fulfills its purpose. We have been able to improve the UX over time and we are getting really good feedback about it.

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

Appinventiv has an efficient system for communication and delivery of the items they develop. They adapted to the needs of our project regarding deadlines and communication.

What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We've found Appinventiv's exceptional development skills and outstanding efficiency to be the most impressive aspects. Their ability to deliver a high-quality app within the set deadline showcased a level of professionalism that exceeded our expectations.

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

None that we are aware of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of the company. We sell car spare parts that are mainly tires and batteries. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

Our website was developed using WordPress. The platform was limiting, and we had so much trouble with its updates; we had to do nonstop updates manually for the website. As a result, I reached out to Appinventiv to help us find a new solution. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appinventiv has recommended Magento as the new solution for our website, so they’ve migrated the site from WordPress to Magento. They also worked on giving the website a new look and feel. They’ve developed new functionalities, too. Given that, the project has become a complete website revamp. 

For features and functionality, the website serves as a marketplace for various vendors that sell tires and car parts. Those vendors can use our website as a platform to sell their products. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve been in contact with three teammates. However, our meetings usually have 4–5 teammates, including the project manager. Sometimes, their director is also involved. One person takes the minutes of the meeting. 

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I found Appinventiv through a friend’s recommendation. I spoke to my friend about my website problems, and he recommended them. I connected to the team, and they replied quickly to get our requirements and provide solutions. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $43,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in November 2022, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website hasn’t gone live, so we don’t have specific metrics yet. 

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

Appinventiv has a great project management approach. They document everything and try to keep everybody on the same page. The team is helpful when we need to make changes on the website, providing timelines for our requests.

There have been some delays in the project for reasons from both our teams. On our side, we have many official holidays. Sometimes, we take a three-week break and ask them to pause the engagement. On their side, they’ve delivered some things that don’t perfectly align with our requirements, but that’s only because of miscommunication; they aren’t done on purpose. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are great at providing the solutions that I need. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their accounting team focuses more on deadlines instead of whether or not my requirements are completed. Sometimes, they go by the timeline even if our requirements haven’t been fully delivered. They keep bugging us with emails and daily reminders. 

Moreover, their technical implementation is great, but they sometimes don’t have the best business wording on the website. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your requirements and document everything you send them. This way, they’ll completely understand your needs. Overall, ensure they understand your needs exactly before implementing anything. 

In our case, we explained some of our requirements verbally and had some miscommunication. The results would've been better if we’d provided them with documentation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President, IT & Enterprise Architecture of Pride Mobility Products

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Pride Mobility Products® Corporation is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of mobility products including Jazzy® Power Chairs, Go-Go® Travel Mobility, Pride Mobility® Scooters, and Pride® Power Lift Recliners. The Pride® family of companies also includes Quantum Rehab®, a leader in complex rehab power chairs, as well as Stealth Products®, the foremost manufacturer of positioning components. 

Headquartered in Exeter, Pennsylvania, Pride also has operations in Las Vegas, Mississippi, Florida, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Pride is dedicated to providing expertly designed, engineered, and tested products incorporating technologically innovative features enabling consumers to achieve the best quality of life and mobility goals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Appinventiv to accomplish?

• Built a B2B Mobile App to keep us competitive in the industry

SOLUTION

How did you find Appinventiv?

Dominos App

Why did you select Appinventiv over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Appinventiv were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The scope of work was to develop a B2B Mobile Application for in the field technicians, Clinicians and providers/business partners. This app was to help them immediately have information at their fingertips without having to carry around a laptop. PQ-365 includes all the Pride Mobility® and Quantum Rehab® resources needed by providers and clinicians.

 The free, easy-to-use app helps busy professionals stay up to date with the latest information from Pride and Quantum and access all our content in one quick and convenient place. Features include serial number and order number lookups, a quick-search option, 360-degree product views, a comprehensive order tracker, fillable order forms, push notifications, news, events, specifications sheets, etc. 

Key Deliverables: 

• Interactive Wireframes 
• Scope of work documentation 
• Business flow diagrams 
• iOS application 
• Android application
•  iPad/Tablet application 
• Web based responsive CMS 
• QA test reports 
• Analytics Dashboard (3rd party integration)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• When entering into the eCommerce market, we worked with Gartner to help us derive our roadmap for success. This mobile app was a key component for this strategy. It gave us a competitive edge in the marketplace. Due to Appinventiv's due diligence in understanding our business, on-time delivery of key features for the initial and subsequent launches of the mobile app gave us an improved Provider/client experience. 
• Reduce Calls/Emails into Sales and Tech Services: - Easy and intuitive functionality allows for Universal & Quick searches for Serial numbers, Order tracking via Order, Invoice and/or PO numbers, bar code scanning, product information/ specs, videos, images, and documentation are all available at your fingertips. 

• Integration to several 3rd party solutions and our eCommerce Website SSO have been integral to the overall end user experience, ensuring security and allowing automated Products and Parts ordering. None of this would be possible without the timely attention that was required to gather requirements, successfully complete end-to-end and User Acceptance testing, and the communication and collaboration that was visible on a daily basis. 

  All of the above features in this mobile app were so successful and positively received that we launched to our International Orgs. We are in the process of working with Appinventiv to build out additional apps and websites with the use of the Content Management System (central repository) that can now seamlessly be used across our suite of products.

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

They worked closely with our team throughout the project to ensure we hit all of our milestones. They remained on target with the budget, even though we made several scope changes along the way. If our scope changes were large, they gave us a separate LOE to address them. Timelines were always in the forefront of their minds, even when we kept changing scope. We worked together to determine a new timeline that worked for both parties. 

They always listened to what we wanted and offered their advice and the PM offers viable solutions/suggestions as they are becoming quite knowledgeable of our business, products and intended needs. They haven’t steered us wrong over the years.

What was your primary form of communication with Appinventiv?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The Appinventiv team is extremely response. Due to great communication tools, recurring and Ad hoc meetings, we have slowly matured our process across the past 3 years. They help us improve as a company.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Software Development Manager at an Australian startup working in the IoT space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We needed help with IT staff augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use Appinventiv as our development team; we use them in a time and materials capacity.

When I joined the company two years ago, we were already using Appinventiv for project-based delivery. After a while, we transitioned to time and materials so we could run the team in a full sprint process.

Appinventiv provides more than developers; they have frontend, backend, iOS, and Android engineers, QA personnel, design resources, Odoo and ERP engineers, and project managers. We also use them for DevOps 24/7 support. In summary, we leverage whatever they offer.

What is the team composition?

We've grown the team to around 12 members over the two years. We interact with everyone on the team, but we mainly interface through their project manager.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

A previous colleague had worked with them before and recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

Our average monthly spend has been between $10,000–$40,000 for two years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve used Appinventiv since January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure our success by how well the team works. As an engineering team, Appinventiv follows the engineering process, delivers a quality product, learns from mistakes in general, and refines the process as we go.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

We estimate sprints and deliver them; there are none of the issues with project-based models. Sometimes it takes longer, but on the whole, Appinventiv is pretty good at estimating what they do.

We use Microsoft Teams internally and do video calls once a day or messages multiple times a day, depending on when we need it.  They also use our Jira for issue tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with how well they’ve grown as a company. When we worked with them in a project-based capacity, there was no actual scope for an engineering process. Since we’ve changed to time and materials, we have the ability to budget and do all of the overheads we need to do to deliver a quality project.

Moreover, the team members were shy when we first met them; they wouldn’t communicate directly with me. After two years, the teammates are at a point where they can lead the team and talk to me on a daily basis. Overall, Appinventiv has worked internally and communicated across their organization to further their engineering process. They’ve also launched a DevOps division, which now offers 24/7 monitoring.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The main difficulty has been the language barrier. Since I’ve started working with them, individual team members been more active about coming to us, but there’s still occasional miscommunication. I don’t think that’s a weakness specific to them; it’s just the difference between the cultures and this occurs with almost all teams, especially fully remote teams. Overall, Appinventiv knows to ask us if they don’t understand something.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d 100% recommend doing time and materials and having an engineering lead in the company to drive Appinventiv’s team. Without clear engineering direction, Appinventiv could make something that doesn’t need to be made because they were told to.

Not knowing what you want is the biggest weakness of bespoke software development. I recommend hiring a senior engineer or software development manager before going to Appinventiv so there’s no direct interaction between a very non-technical person and Appinventiv’s team. If you’re all over the place with constantly changing requirements, scope creep, and a poorly thought out business plan, the engagement will have less desirable outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CPTO of a large recruiting and staffing agency in Asia Pacific region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We identified an opportunity in the market to serve short-term job workers better and provide a better service to businesses that needs them. We wanted to build a mobile first platform that streamlines the entire experience starting from job searching, shift assignment to salary payment for workers. At the same time provide an almost-instant job fulfillment experience for businesses that are looking for workers in short-term roles. We needed to build this solution in a very short time frame, getting a MVP out to market for rapid learning, refine feature sets and build momentum starting with selected industries.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through Google and chose them after comparing against another vendor. The deciding factor was their past experience in the similar domain and their clear communication during the deciding phase.

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

The project scope includes early exploration of ideas and solutions, defining key features and targeted users, agreement on critical business outcomes and creating delivery milestones that is achievable. Once project requirements and scopes are finalized, the development process starts with wireframes, design systems, screen designs and eventually moving on to agile user stories and continuous releases of completed features.

Towards the end of project, production release readiness includes stress testing and load testing to ensure platform performance can meet projected business growth in the first year. With the target external users and internal users in mind, the platform requires a mix of mobile application, web application and cloud based infrastructure along with a range of 3rd party services to enable fast and reliable transactions that are critical for great user experience but not core value proposition of the product.

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

Over the duration of the project, we worked with approximately 20 people. The team starts small with a few senior leads such as project manager, product owner, but quickly expand as the project moves from discovery phase to design (2 designers joined) and eventually delivery phase. In delivery phase, at any given time we’d be working with 6-8 engineers from various skill sets such as front-end engineers, mobile app engineers, backend engineers, test engineers and system architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Prior to a planned Beta launch, we had a series of pre-launch test or pilots planned. There’s a total of 4 test planned with the intention to improve our launch confidence and test/validate ideas pre-launch. All 4 test requires the product to be in various state of readiness so that internal users can run simulated scenarios and real-life scenarios using the platform. The project team managed to deliver on-time and always on stand-by during our test period which at times lasted for 2 weeks. Feedback from our testing groups were generally positive and list of improvement ideas are well received. They always work in a collaborative manner to adjust and refine the backlog based on the learnings from these tests.

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

Common answers include communication tools (e.g., email, Slack, Jira). The team followed a standard Agile project management style, where we would have a 2-week sprint to deliver high priority tasks, after determining what goes into the sprint in our sprint planning calls. Within the sprint, we would have catch up calls to discuss progress as well as any blockers the team might face. We had a couple of communication tools we used for various purposes: 

1. Basecamp: for announcements, release updates and meeting minutes
2. Skype: for calls and messages
3. Outlook: usually used when needed to communicate with extended groups and external parties
4. Jira: for issues and bug tracking

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

Collaborative approach on every stage of the development process. And during critical milestones, the team is very supportive and reliable when time critical issues are identified.

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

Approach in experience design and design system could be improved. When working with more than one designers and multiple platform, consistency is sometimes lacking. UI and interaction sometimes lacks consistency in the design. However when feedback is given, they were always addressed and refined.