Four Kitchens

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop Drupal websites for the college and their grant-related activities. I’m the director of technology and client services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Four Kitchens?

We needed a company for ongoing Drupal development. We’ve worked with other Drupal companies before, but we wanted to have someone who was a leader in the market, and could give us best practices and the most modern execution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a mobile theme and then built the entire suite. We had an original site on Drupal, but we got rid of it and started over completely. We went from Drupal 6 to 8, and they built the frontend for that. They also created modules and created a developmental workflow for that website, and helped us build another custom website as well. They developed our faculty import tool, and helped us make a publication import tool which allows us to automate and import publications for each faculty member. Additionally, they created a component-based theme on our website.

What is the team dynamic?

There were 6 people on the team. They started with their project manager and lead developer to put together the scope and then started bringing in a frontend developer, a backend developer, a site builder, who were all on an as-needed basis. We also partner with Four Kitchens, and we had both of our teams working on features. We were able to work together to come up with a final product that met our needs, and we operated as a blended team throughout.

My developers would approve all coding and code requests, and then after we wrote all of the code, one of the team members would approve it before merging it to production. Now that we know the team, we can request certain people on an as-needed basis. They try to accommodate our needs.

How did you come to work with Four Kitchens?

We’d considered other companies we found through online research and at DrupalCon, which is where we met Four Kitchens. They gave a truly impressive presentation, and they were the best in their field. We hired them because they are experts in frontend development.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 4–5 years ago, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The websites were completed by deadline and according to budget. We met every requirement that was planned, and our website works really well. The website has changed often, but it was made in such a way that we can make adjustments and move forward with development without having to spend a lot of money. We’re able to achieve more with less money now that we’re using Four Kitchens.

How did Four Kitchens perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. I haven’t had to work with a different vendor for Drupal development because they meet all of our needs. We always offer bids to other vendors, but Four Kitchens usually has the lowest price. The communication is fantastic, and we have Scrum meetings every day. The expectations are usually very clear. We use Jira, Zoom, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an awesome team that’s great to work with.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ll definitely work with them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the audience development director for a B2B publisher, and I oversee the digital infrastructures for our websites and magazines. This includes site development, advertising strategy, and alignment between the user experience and advertising opportunities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Four Kitchens?

We required an external development team that could serve as a one-stop shop, from planning and design to development and QA. Additionally, we were looking for a partner that could provide ongoing maintenance and support. Four Kitchens was challenged to move two websites from two different, outdated CMS’s to Drupal, using a common distribution and headless Drupal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Four Kitchens was the lead for project planning, design, development, testing, and ongoing support.

We needed to mitigate discrepancies on the ad side, solve viewability issues, and simultaneously increase traffic. On the user side, we needed a complete reorganization of content; to think beyond the historical channel and subchannel classification of content and about more flexibility instead.

Today, we are working on a web VR project with Four Kitchens as well. They’re doing some very cool things with ReactJS that allow us to quickly spin up proofs of concept and get pilot programs ready to show our clients.

What is the team dynamic?

For ongoing support, Four Kitchens supplies one dedicated project manager and one product owner. There are 3-5 additional team members than are allocated to projects as needed, whether it’s for the frontend, backend, or UX. We were a slightly different model than Four Kitchens was accustomed to, but they’ve been very willing to work with us for the best outcome. Four Kitchens is a fully distributed team, but that has had no negative impact on their strong team dynamic.

In addition to monthly maintenance, Four Kitchens will estimate and complete unique projects in which our PM and PO are actively involved. This ensures the common distro remains effective. Four Kitchens’ willingness to work with us to figure out this model is one of the primary reasons we continue to stay with them.

How did you come to work with Four Kitchens?

Two years ago, we started our search knowing we wanted to transition to Drupal and that we needed a full-service shop. A lot of shops were very well known for Drupal development, and others were more known for strategy and content classification. A bulk of our corporation’s flagship sites had or are in the process of moving to Drupal, so we wanted to realize some of the synergies there. We realized the Open Source concept would benefit us more than the proprietary CMS in terms of flexibility, which is why we decided to transition.

We looked at three different vendors, all of which we found through Drupal.org and were highly recommended. We selected Four Kitchens because they were willing to engage in conversations about more than just website development. They asked us tough questions about our long-term goals, and brought everything to the table while challenging us in ways the other groups didn’t. They helped us expand our thinking in ways we hadn’t done before.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2015, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our page speed has improved by 16 seconds, and the site-wide viewability averages 90%, which means discrepancies and wasted impressions, i.e. lost revenue, have decreased almost 60%. From a monetary standpoint, that was critical for us. We’ve continued to see increased engagement, number of unique visitors, and session times. We no longer look at page views as a strong performance indicator, but we’ve seen positive movement in all of the other baseline metrics. Digital revenue has continued to improve due to the flexibility and responsiveness of the Four Kitchens team, and their willingness to understand our business model.

How did Four Kitchens perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very flexible and willing to help us understand in layman’s terms. We have a vision, and we know where we want to go, but often times lack a clear path to get there. Our PO and PM are patient and walk us through every step involved. If we have an idea, they’ll sit down and talk about it with us as well. Their estimation process has evolved and improved, leading to minimal surprises as development commences.

We use Slack and JIRA as our primary communication tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Most impressive is their project flexibility. They’ve become our sole digital resource, and if we have a problem on the ad side or with an engagement piece, we can have in-depth, holistic conversations with them to fix the issue and better our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We are always asking them to improve and they always ask the same of us. Their acknowledgment of that, along with their flexibility, is why we continue to work with them. For example, they help us figure out maintenance models and whether or not we should be doing Sprints if we need a PO [Product Owner], and how we should separate tasks with actual project work. We’re in a very good place now, and as new ideas and concepts come through, we will continue to evolve.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for one of the top-tier research universities in the world. I represent the vice provost and dean of research. As such, we represent the research enterprise at the university, which brings in more than $1 billion in annual funding through sponsorships. The research funds go to the faculty in support of their research endeavors; research on cancer, research on the environment, sustainability, etc.

What is your position?

I'm the director of training. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you began the relationship with Four Kitchens?

We had multiple websites with the same types of information, just written differently and updated at different times. It was very confusing to a learner or to anybody wanting to come to our website, such as what information is accurate, is any of it accurate, and where to go. In addition, through the years as people who manage websites know, there was a huge mass of information available to the user. Again, the quality and accuracy of the information varied quite heavily.

We needed our website to be more simplistic and user friendly. We had to make it easy to edit for anybody, not only those who had computer expertise or programming expertise. It would have to come through a review process, multiple stage review process before it went to the publisher for publishing. We wanted to streamline the whole publishing process on the backend.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of this project?

We had a content strategist and an art director. They were responsible for the complete website redesign. They worked closely with the content strategist and the art director to architect the backend and the frontend. They had to add documents to it in our repository, to tokenize content into small, granular chunks, smaller than the notes for a page so that we can repurpose the content in other areas.

In addition, they developed a content system that was exclusively for contacts. We have about 350 contacts in our website. Those contacts are pulled from what we call LDAP [lightweight directory access protocol], which is our online registry for all of our employees. They were able to automate our on- and off-boarding procedures, which was fantastic.

Could you describe the rationale behind your selection of Drupal as your preferred content management system?

As you can tell, I’m not a technical person. Our university administration was really leaning towards Drupal. Our technical staff felt confident that Drupal would be the best platform for our ongoing needs.

How did you select Four Kitchens as your solution partner for this endeavor?

We wrote an expository sketch outlining the elements that we needed in our website or wanted in our website. We then sent it to four different vendors for competitive bidding. We received and evaluated their proposals. We had a panel of senior staff that prioritized the proposals and made the final decision.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

It was between $500,000 and $1 million.

When was this project completed?

February of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or anecdotal feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

For me, the publisher, it’s been phenomenal because it makes it easy for me to get information into the website. As soon as I completed this website with my team, I got drawn into another very large project. As the sole publisher for the website, I had very little time to care and feed content to the new site. We all know that it’s incredibly important to maintain your website once it’s up and running. I’ve been very involved in this other project, which went live last week. But, I was able to maintain the website and keep it going at a strong clip during this time when I was very much distracted by these other events. I think that’s a real claim to success.

The neatest thing about Four Kitchens is that we’ve been iterating since we went live, and they’re very much a part of my team. They really are. Whatever I need, they’re there for me. That’s something that is so important because you can develop something, and then you’ve got to maintain it.

We’ve had some major IT breaches here at the university. As a result, our IT department has been forced to make on the fly modifications to our backend system, which has resulted in glitches and random malfunctions or defects. The Four Kitchens team is extremely responsive and attentive to those issues as they emerge. Their support has been invaluable to us.

When working with Four Kitchens, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors you’ve worked with in the past?

I don’t have a lot of experience with other IT vendors, but I believe they’ve been an integral part of my team. They have a can-do attitude and a fantastic work ethic. They’re willing to tackle problems and then talk about the cost of doing that later. At the end of the day, they’re really about client satisfaction.

That’s all I can really say because I don’t understand fully the technical side of what they’ve done. We have technicians on campus that interface with them on a case-by-case basis.

In retrospect, are there areas you think they could improve upon, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before initiating this type of project?

No. I have complete trust in them now. I don’t think there’s anything I would have done differently. I’m very pleased with the outcome of our project.

Do you remain confident that the Drupal CMS will continue to meet your business needs in the foreseeable future?

Yes, I do, because I know that Drupal’s morphing as well and changing and evolving. It’s been able to do everything that I’ve wanted and needed it to, without exception. Drupal is a robust platform with some serious customizability.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

We are a nonprofit organization. We operate Full Plate Living. We provide sustainable weight-loss education and programming. 

What is your position?

My role is Internet marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Four Kitchens?

We were establishing an online presence with a completely new direction. We were pivoting as business and as an organization. They helped us launch a completely new Web presence. We gave them our goals and specifications and they build and deployed that vision. 

On what platform did they create your new Web presence?

Drupal.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project? For example, did it involve custom design, backend development, training, or support?

It involved significant discovery as well as everything from establishing hosting, building a theme, preparing all of our data and documentation, integrating our backend systems, and the site building itself. They also provide training and support. 

How did you select Four Kitchens as your solution partner?

I’ve been in the Drupal space for a while and had some contact with them via workshops in DrupalCon. We contacted a few large Drupal hosting providers and described our problem. Four Kitchens was always on the list of people that were well suited for us, and were recommended for us. We narrowed it down through a process that also involved their location.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

I cannot disclose that information.

When did your site go live?

December 10 of last year [2013], I believe.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they've delivered?

We don't have any data or figures to compare. Our previous site wasn't set up to monitor metrics or provide any form of analytics. I can tell you, however, that our staff spends less time on administrative tasks than they did before. That has been extremely useful from a productivity perspective. 

When working with Four Kitchens, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors with which you’ve worked?

Compared to other vendors, as a whole team and as individual units, go the extra mile to get our business, to understand it. When we’re fully engaged with them, they feel like an integral part of our team.

Do you remain confident that the Drupal content management system will continue to satisfy your business needs into the foreseeable future?

Yes. I believe so.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve upon, or are there things you'd do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?

There have been challenges with maintenance, but those are very well underway of being resolved. So, I’m not sure that’s an issue worth bringing up.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

It’s a nonprofit corporation that coordinates the Internet’s unique identifiers and protocols.

What is your position?

I am the manager of Web development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Four Kitchens?

We needed to redesign and relaunch our primary website. Our previous site was obsolete and didn’t offer the functional capabilities we desired moving forward.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project? For example, did it involve custom design, backend development, training, and ongoing support?

It was taking a static site of approximately 36,000 files, and a roughly nine- to 10-month project to migrate the contents or otherwise archive it, database it, do design work, set up hosting, engagement testing, load balance testing, etc.

How did you select Four Kitchens as your solution partner?

We distributed an RFP [request for proposal] to them and they responded with a reasonable statement. They had also been recommended by word of mouth from another developer within the Drupal community. We were impressed with their Drupal capabilities and their development methodology.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

It cost $300,000. The number of hours was in the hundreds, if not thousands.

When was the project completed?

February of 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

The universal feedback was that the information architecture was highly improved, and that things were findable. In terms of performance, we’re a nonprofit, but the site was responsive for mobile devices, which we haven’t had before. The site also supported by growth in the hundreds of thousands, if not a million, page views. Altogether, the results have been extremely promising.

When working with Four Kitchens, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other service providers with which you’ve worked?

They function extremely efficiently, which is fantastic. It kept the project very disciplined. They were always able to provide feedback on the alignment and timeline of project tasks. They were able to delegate multiple resources to different issues, or if needed, multiple resources to the same issue in the backlog. We were very impressed by their work ethic and their ability to balance competing priorities without sacrificing quality or timeframe.

In retrospect, are there any areas that you think Four Kitchens could improve upon, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?

I have no major objections or concerns. My only observation was from a project perspective is there are just certain things that can always be more unified in the database, such as cutting down on siloing. That’s not a criticism of Four Kitchens; it’s just something that exposed itself in the development process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of Share Good

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Share Good is a software platform that makes it easy for neighbors, nonprofits and businesses to come together and strengthen their local community through good. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Four Kitchens to accomplish?

• Product Engineering & Development
• Technical Consultation & Discovery
• Technical Audit & Best Practices

SOLUTION

How did you find Four Kitchens?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Four Kitchens over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Four Kitchens were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Customer Care Plan: includes monthly development time, security updates, engineering project consultations, and an annual technical audit to identify areas for improvement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Delivers new product features for our clients and end users, consults on solutions for development projects, and identifies areas of improvement for our tech stack and configurations. 

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

Project management is thorough and efficient, ensuring the timely delivery and testing of new features and bug fixes. Responds timely to all inquiries and needs. 

What was your primary form of communication with Four Kitchens?

Virtual Meeting

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

Four Kitchens has a team with varied experiences and technical backgrounds that has enhanced our skills-based project alignment. Their culture of kind collaboration aligns with the way our nonprofit organization is people and user-centered.

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

No recommendations for improvements.