Waverley Software

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager at Credolab, a B2B fintech company. We mainly work for countries in East Asia due to the lack of good credit history for citizens. We’ve built a solution for banks and any financial institutions that provide citizens with credit, and our services are helpful to them. Our data scientist team makes their scorecards, and we have a web portal and Android and iOS apps. Also, we have software development kits (SDK) that are very popular among our clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

Our company had existed for six years, and we had a simple app that almost no one used. We also had an iOS SDK, but we primarily focused on Android. We realized we needed to build a solid iOS application and a good SDK model for our clients. Therefore, we hired a third-party company to collaborate with an iOS developer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Waverley Software built an iOS app for demonstration purposes for our sales managers. We hired them to create an iOS SDK for us. The purpose of the SDK was data collection from a mobile device. It was anonymized data, and we worked according to DTPR and other policies, so everything was legal. With the help of this application, our sales managers can show our clients, who can customize the app according to their expectations. 

They also built a behavioral model SDK. This SDK collected user behavior on the phone and the number of clicks and swipes from iOS devices. Before, we only had an SDK for Android. Now, if our client has their own app, they can embed our SDK into their application, which will allow us to collect the data from the clients’ devices. Also, clients can request to receive the data from their server.

Since we developed the Android version, our Android developer communicated with them. They collaborated — we shared all the information on how our Android architecture looked, which gave them a vision of how everything should work. 

What is the team composition?

We had one iOS developer.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

We were searching for a developer. Somebody from our top management said she had received an email from Waverley Software. I emailed them, and we conducted a call. They seemed very professional, and the price was pretty fair for a US developer.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,800 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2021–February 2022.

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

The developer from Waverley Software showed himself as a professional. We didn’t collect any metrics; we only gave them some deadlines. They provided reasonable estimates and delivered everything on time.

Moreover, the quality of work was good. We didn't find many bugs, so our Android developer was satisfied. Additionally, the feedback was good.

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Our business didn’t give us any deadlines for the project; they told us to take our time. However, Waverley Software delivered within the estimation they gave. We only communicated at the beginning. After that, the whole process was managed by our Android developer.

We created the tasks for them in our task management system. They tracked the time there and put their estimations. Based on those estimations, we built some content diagrams to see when we’d complete each task.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication skills of the management team were pretty high. Also, they were very responsible for what they did. In general, Waverley Software cared about whether we were satisfied with the progress and development work. Overall, we were more than satisfied. If we ever need more development work, we’ll return to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there wasn’t anything to improve. It was a smooth collaboration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you pay your bills on time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior QA manager at Invicro, a biotech software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

Our main focus was to add more development resources to test our software across three major product areas.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Waverley Software provides us with software development and customer support. They have resources for two of our products; iPACS and VivoQuant, as well as for professional services involving customizations for our customers.

For each of those areas, their team is responsible for coordinating with developers, understanding the requirements of the software, testing the software, and creating further test plans — they also run regression testing for releases.

They typically use a screenshot software for testing purposes and JIRA with the S3 plugin as their primary management tool.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Alexey (Senior QA Engineer).

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

I came on board the same day that the Waverley Software team members were joining, so I wasn’t actually involved in the decision-making process.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of our engagement, I believe we’ve spent around $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in September 2020.

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

When they started working with us, there was an extremely large backlog of tasks for the testing team that the development team was also participating in.

Within the first couple of weeks, the development team has shifted entirely from testing, as Waverley Software substantially reduced the number of testing tasks in our backlog.

As a result, we’ve been able to release around 15 versions of our product lines from having a dedicated testing team in place.

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Each team member from Waverley Software is largely self-sufficient. There aren’t really any surprises when we have our daily stand-ups and weekly check-ins, because everyone performs their tasks accordingly once they have everything they need.

Furthermore, they have the initiative to talk to the team themselves in order to come up with their own solutions, so managing their large team is relatively easy.

We typically communicate through Slack and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One trait I would like to highlight is their communication skills. They do a good job of being consistently responsive, especially in this remote environment where keeping in touch is essential.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything to improve on because when we do experience any kind of issue or concern, they make sure to resolve and optimize it as quickly as possible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise communicating your needs and expectations in great detail before moving forward with the project, and make sure you’re well-equipped to address any of their questions.

It’s important for the partnership that they’re able to feel that they can voice their opinion, so make sure you provide them with everything that they need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive of an electronic software company. We focus on providing electronic management solutions to financial services companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We wanted to develop a web-based application version of our current document management tool.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Waverley Software replicates the on-premise version of our office tech system into a web-based platform as a service app. They’re using web technology to build a product that will allow us to move our clients into a civilized environment. 

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with 5–6 people from their team; a consultant supervisor in our weekly meetings, a QA controller, and three developers.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

We found them on the internet; we interviewed them and told them the approach we wanted to give to this project. We decided to give them a one-month trial, they did a good proof of concept for us, and we decided to go with them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000 AUD (approximately $150,000 USD) with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and the project is ongoing. We’re launching at the end of July, and we’ll go into a change and update phase after the release of the product.

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

They’ve met all the milestones that we’ve set so far, and the app is launching on time. 

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great; it’s a great team to work with. In terms of communication, we use Jura and have weekly meetings. Those meetings have been increasing as we get closer to the release date, so we’ve been able to communicate well — their team has been responsive, proactive, and professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their commitment to the project is good. We started a difficult task with Waverley Software, and they understood the complexity of what we wanted to do. Also, they put the extra effort to meet deadlines, ensuring a positive and amiable experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can improve on allocating the resources; I had to ask them to change things back to where they were because their alterations were causing a significant impact on the project that I didn’t expect.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront with them on your project expectations so you can convey them. They’re open to understanding your comments and frustrations and are agile to change those things.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Freeman is an integrated, full-service event solution that leverages a 100-year legacy in event management as well as new technologies to deliver moments that matter.

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

Blueprint by Freeman is a cloud-based floor planning tool for exhibition organizers.

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

This is an ongoing project that forms part of a product in Freeman's digital portfolio

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

The team size changed as priorities changed but most recently we have had the following as part of the project:

• Engineers
• Manual and Automated QA
• Designer
• DevOps BA

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

I have had the pleasure of working with Waverley for 2 years, however the team has been supporting our project for the past 5 years. They always supply top-class talent that suit the requirements of the project. During the most recent turbulent times of Covid, there were a lot of uncertainty within our industry that included management changes, reduction budgets, departments closing. Our project team from Waverley stays consistent, dedicated, professional, and always positive. Most recently we have worked on a challenging project with tight deadlines and a lot of risk factors that included some team members leaving the project and introducing new members’ mid-project.

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

The team attend daily-stand ups, weekly architecture meetings and most of the communication happens on Slack The projects are managed on Jira with 2-weeks Sprints

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

I would like to say a huge thank you to the following people that worked tirelessly to ensure the success of our projects:

• Jaroslav – This man is a genius! His dedication and commitment to our project ensured that we could push forward and go-live with confidence. With his out-the-box thinking and can-do-attitude any project will be a success. He is meticulous, patient, and hard-working.
• Maksym – Do not under-estimate Maksym, a true dark horse! He might be quiet, but with his powerful mind he is always processing information and try to find the most efficient solution. Nothing is ever too much trouble and has a wide skill-set range which is so valuable when you have limited resources.
• Illia - inquisitive young mind! He has showed a real interest in what we do as a company and not only focussing on the task at hand, but always looking at the bigger picture. He is not scared to ask questions or challenge something when he feels there’s a different way of approaching something.
• Dmitry - a true creative super-star. Our projects have a unique user-base with specific requirements. He took the time to research and understand their requirements and created compelling journeys and experiences. With his strong creativity, technical and problem-solving skills he is a must have on any project.
• Marina – Always ensuring perfection! Marina is a master in defining priorities and even when we are facing challenging times, she will overcome these with the biggest smile on her face. She understands the end-user experience and flexible as priorities change.
• Alexander – Not all heroes fight on the front-line! Alexander works behind the scenes reviewing, analysing specifications and executing test scripts and reviewing results. He plays a pivotal role in the team to identify, review, resolve and implement solutions.
• Alla – I think Alla owns a magic wand! Alla is the glue that holds it all together with her incredible attention to detail, high-level of accuracy, organizational skills, impeccable problems solving skills and confidence to push back.
• Mike and Roman – most recent super stars to join our team. It’s never easy joining a new project, especially when it’s in full swing and not much time to get to grips with the product and requirements. They jumped in head first and got their hands dirty!

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

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Emotional Intelligence, a school at Yale University. Our work centers on research, educational and content programming, and special emotional learning.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We needed their team to help us design tools that will allow us to assess school environments and the students’ emotional experiences.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Waverley Software was part of the design and development of the tools that my team devised for our institution — a web-based application and a native app that was downloadable on mobile devices.

Each of the tools that we conceptualized was meant to help us deliver surveys, and Waverly Software helped us make them more interactive since our target respondents were students. Their team improved our UX so that the students could easily swipe through the questionnaire and move from one panel to the next. 

On one of our apps, they integrated a feature that allowed our users to click on keywords that are specially generated until the user is satisfied with the search results. Additionally, they created a dashboard that made the school data downloadable via the web source, allowing users to record data on their own instead of having to check the platform every time they needed to.

Waverley Software continues to support us by implementing site and app changes now and then. We’re also in the process of completing our second project with their team.

What is the team composition?

We work with about seven people from Waverley Software, including one project manager and their tech resources.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

Waverley Software was recommended to us by our director, who hired them to develop another website for our center.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $180,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement started in April 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

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

Waverley Software works effectively to deliver perfect results for us — we’ve had about 20 schools sign up for our survey, which equates to thousands of students. We’ve successfully fulfilled our goal of reaching out to middle- and high school students and our platforms have gotten positive user reviews as well.

I’ve heard from our users that the apps are very user-friendly and interactive, and it matters to us that our target users feel that way. Teachers have also pointed out how helpful they’ve found the download and record features of the apps. Waverley Software’s team has implemented changes and solutions that transformed our platforms for the better.

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly used Google Teams to collaborate with their team. Waverley Software has been utterly professional — they set up our meetings with clear agendas, and they always show up on time. They keep all their communication channels open despite our huge timezone differences.

Apart from being responsive, they’re also a very straightforward team — it’s refreshing to work with a company that simply gives us the solutions we need, without the hassle or drama.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We don’t think our end product would’ve turned out that greatly had it not been for Waverley Software’s design efforts. They’ve delivered more than what we expected of them, and we’ve seen how knowledgeable and professional they are as a team. We always trust that they’ll give us high-quality deliverables at a justifiable price.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any concerns in terms of the quality of their work. Waverley Software is always keen on laying out timelines clearly for us, so while I wish the process could go faster, I understand that projects like this really take time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as upfront as possible from the get-go — it’s easier for their team to deliver when they are aware of what you specifically want them to build. Sometimes, even small details that are overlooked could lead to delays and inconveniences.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a computer software company. We have a strong specialization in transport mobility, with several clients in public transport.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We were looking for a partner to support us with development work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing SaaS platform that allowed us to handle the complexity of our product, price, and fleet management, which included an omnichannel sales solution. We did the initial product development, but it has grown and evolved through the years, so we needed to upgrade it. Waverley Software is involved in every project phase except architecture, which is handled by our in-house team.

Waverley Software's team has created a multi-channel sales module for us — it's a webshop with an entire CRM on the backend for product management. The CRM was already partially there, but they created APIs to connect it to different channels, such as point of sales and digital billboards. As a Microsoft Partner, we use Microsoft technologies. Additionally, their team's developers discuss which specific technologies to use with our in-house architect.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with five resources from Waverley Software's team, including four offshore developers and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

We found their team online. Upon having several conversations with Waverley Software, we realized that our companies share the same mindset and work approach.  We initially hired one developer from their team — we were so pleased with the quick adaption and high-quality work that we decided to onboard their team for the whole project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2021, and it’s ongoing.

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

Their team has taken on a huge deal of poorly done work by our previous developers — they've assessed all these issues and fixed them within the challenging timeline that we've had to comply with. Waverley Software's high-volume and high-quality work for us certainly guarantee a long-term engagement.  They build feasible solutions and deliver great results.

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Microsoft Teams. Waverley Software does well in assessing our needs and priorities, providing realistic timeline estimates, and committing to meeting them. Their team determined the ideal way of working, discussed it with us, and dove in — they don't hesitate to work long hours to accomplish all their tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Waverley Software highly cares about our business needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is a language barrier with some of their team members, and it sometimes hinders the flow of our meetings.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be well prepared with your goals and projections — this will help both parties to come up with productive solutions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of SensorMedia Inc., a retail display management software system. We develop software solutions that run on tablets, phones, and Android boxes that run digital signage to display pricing and marketing materials. We assemble this media in playlists and campaigns and disseminate it through our mobile apps, as well as our web frontend as a management backend. This way, our customers, which are dominantly telcos and in some cases retailers, can successfully merchandise their products in the brick-and-mortar retail space.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We needed Waverley Software to help us with the 2.0 version of our existing product called Smart Circle. It needed to be modernized and streamlined and required performance improvements, not just in the behaviors but also the workflow, which we needed to redesign for the contemporary customer. We also needed to update the market shift, since it was created on a much older framework. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out with Waverley Software to develop and design what we called the frontend prototype for the MVP. It was a mock-up with a variety of user flows and user stories with UI. This allowed the solution to look and feel like a real website, but it wasn’t running anything yet. The mock-up or prototype was made to help us define the product, but it also sought validation from the customers for a variety of reasons. They were the designers and the co-developers, and I was the product lead with them, facilitating their design back and forth with the QA and the project management.

They used different technologies for the design and development of the mock-up and for the final product. For the mock-up, they recommended Miro as an intermediate way to communicate design concepts and basic ideas, which we already had, so I was glad. Ultimately, they suggested that the prototype be developed on Figma, which allowed us to transition into a live or close to live design style once we eventually developed it as a frontend UI. 

They gave us some recommendations related to infrastructure, data management, and certain tools and modules were outside the scope because it was too early, and we were looking at workflows and views. However, they did make a recommendation for Material-UI versus a few others, and we agreed to Material-UI, React.js, and JavaScript in general. We signed off on these recommendations because we needed to make that decision to know how the frontend would be. 

What is the team composition?

This varied depending on the capabilities we needed at different times. On average, I saw 9–10 people at any given point. I met the business analysts, the frontend designers, the project lead, the backend support person, and an auditor. 

Overall, I met with a lot of their teammates. In some cases, we had three frontend designers; some are in leadership positions, and others are just learning, working with the project, and watching. They built a mentorship program into our contract, but they didn’t charge us for it. This was very good for redundancy if we lost somebody, but also because it's good that they mentor their people and get them to grow.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

We started looking for vendors, and we went through Clutch and a variety of other sources, solicited a feeler, and described the project to a number of companies, most of which responded.

We found Waverley Software’s Clutch profile in November 2020. We were able to discern they had the best understanding of our requirements and meet in their response to us as well based on the quote size and our judgment. We also based our criteria on the site, their contract size, geography, and the reviews they had — which were beyond excellent and spoke volumes about them. Moreover, their quote was very much on the lower side.

Once you select the vendor, you want to stay with the vendor and keep the same team for both design and development, otherwise you lose the benefits of that momentum on the design process. That’s why we wanted to make sure that whoever we selected for the design, even though it was a relatively small project, we’d make sure they’d be there for the long haul. We were targeting the full project turnkey to be developed, but the first phase was to develop the frontend as one of our assessment criteria. We’d use this project as a test to know if we’d be able to trust them in the long term. 

Waverley Software had the right recipe, meaning they weren't crazy on budget, and they knew what they were talking about. That allowed us to start with them on a basic project, which is what we called the frontend prototype for the MVP.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2021–March 2021, and we did some final tweaks and modifications after.

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

They always responded to my questions within a few hours. They assembled documentation and created journals for us to sign off on and ask questions in a very regimented and organized way. That allowed us to have traceability. Our project handoff and history were very clear and easy to understand. 

I think the best way I can measure their performance is by their high level of professionalism. The team was deferential and clearly indicated how they spent their time and resources, and they stayed within the budget. They were also clear on how each task was assigned and how long they’d spend on it. They never went ahead without either soft or formal approval. This allowed us to have a lot of control and make sure that we weren't developing in the wrong direction. 

Furthermore, Waverley Software’s team conducted themselves respectfully, scheduling their time effectively and working with ours despite the time difference. The team recommended resources when and if appropriate, and didn't gouge. They didn't use the project to hold us at ransom, which I've seen happen before midway through other projects.

Their performance was good. It was a big project with a lot of scope creep, but they handled it in stride, and they didn’t complain. They worked really well with the kind of dynamic scope we had. I really want to tip my hat to that, because that's not easy to do. I think people overlook how hard it is to manage scope. 

Due to this performance, we've also engaged them for other projects unrelated to this. We've had them work with us on DevOps as well as an iOS mobile app.

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We had video calls, regular weekly calls on design, and Slack for typical stuff. We also had Figma, Miro, and their comment system to communicate on various little topics. They’d ask about the look and feel of one thing in the comment area, and we’d respond there, so it stayed in the medium of the tool. All of these tools were used and leveraged to allow ourselves to get the design across the finish line.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t really have a comparison point. I never liked third parties because I had terrible experiences before. I was hesitant to use third parties again, but Waverley Software changed my mind. With this project, I was pleasantly surprised. I wish I had met Waverly before, which I think says enough about the competition versus them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Waverley Software did excellently, but if we have to look at the negatives and improvements, I’d like to see more confidence from them and less dependency on my vision of the product. I’d love to see more of them sharing with me their way or making me consider the best way to work based on their experience as a company that had done a hundred projects a week for a decade. 

I would’ve liked them to bring their knowledge in instead of asking me what I thought because the truth is that when you hire a team or an employee, you’re hiring them because they’re smarter than you, and you want them to explain how it should be and challenge your way of thinking. I’d love to have more, and I told them this before, too. 

Any advice for potential customers?

It’s the standard advice — know your project and the boundaries of your project and set a ceiling on the deliverables. Waverly Software, just like anybody else, understands goals; they understand your vision, and it’s their job to get you there, so know your project and what you want to get it done. 

Specific to working with Waverly Software, the best thing to do is to challenge them on how much they copy and paste from prior project proposals. Sometimes, it’s common. It takes a lot of time to spec out a customer and assess whether they're going to go to them, so it's easy to copy and paste and use the last project's template. It’s fine to do that, but they must be careful. You have to notice if it’s a standard boilerplate template. You need to actually embed the hard specific questions to your product and your goals. You might have to go through 1–3 iterations with the proposal before you get to a place where you feel perfectly understood.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of software engineering for a company that provides renewable energy solutions for residential users. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We hired them to build a mobile and cloud-based platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We put together an AWS server stack to support a web interface for product users, technicians, and maintenance personnel that will be interacting with the equipment. They also built Android and iOS apps, employing native technologies on each platform as well as tools like Cradle.

What is the team composition?

They have a team of 5–7 developers. We scaled their team size depending on our needs at any given point in the project.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

I conducted web company searches and shortlisted about five firms. They sent the most impressive proposal and both their expertise and proposed budget seemed like the best fit.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $300,000–$350,000 at this point. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2019.

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

They’ve always delivered pretty high quality, testing the app thoroughly on their end. Because they’re only staffed against building the interfaces, not the entire system, there have been a few small instances of miseducation. However, that is to be expected on a project of this scale. All issues we’ve run into have been simple fixes.  

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They assigned a project manager to us, and we spoke almost daily through Slack, weekly calls, and other tools. Communication has been impressive. That keeps a stream of feedback and ideas moving back and forth between our teams. They’ve come up with ideas that we had not considered prior to engaging. While some deadlines slipped, they always let us know well ahead of time and were cognitive of our budget and timeline requirements as well.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their staff is knowledgeable, open to feedback, and intelligent. They were a great addition to the project and team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s been a few small language barrier issues, but that hasn’t been a significant problem. We also operate in a niche industry, so their initial project estimations didn’t encompass everything.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared to engage with a highly educated and well-rounded staff.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for a power tool manufacturer. We work across stacks.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

We used Waverley to help support some of our development needs through staff augmentation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to quickly spin up some additional resources within the team, which is what we originally used Waverley for. Over time, the engagement has expanded to backend development, as well as some frontend development.

They’ve dedicated resources to working exclusively on dev-ops related tasks, as well as managing our AWS infrastructure. The team works with us to scale and appropriately develop our general infrastructure, making sure it’s kept secure and running. There are also backend engineers working on some of our internal development tools, writing node-based codes and interacting with our various databases and other systems. We also have frontend developers who are working on our marketing and project sharing platforms. Those developers work directly with our designers and act as part of our own team, going through various backlogs of tickets and other experiences.

What is the team composition?

There are currently three full-time employees and one part-time employee working on various projects throughout the company. 

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

They were recommended to us by another company who was also using Waverley to manage their infrastructure. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in March 2019 and is ongoing.

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

Since partnering with Waverley, we’ve launched a product globally within the US and Europe, working against some reasonably tight deadlines. The team was quite flexible, working additional hours to ensure we got our product out. Most of the deliverables have been customer-facing changes and features we’ve been able to deliver with their support. 

We’ve also migrated from legacy systems with AWS to Kubernetes. 

How did Waverley Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform as a remote extension of our own team, so we track projects within our own Jira system and communicate in our Slack channels. We have weekly meetings, and they’re quite flexible. They’ve been great at sourcing and interviewing additional resources when necessary as well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The flexibility they provide to spin up and spin down developers has been great. They always work extremely hard to help us meet our needs and fill in gaps. We’ve really appreciated that they’ve been able to roll with some short-term changes and always fulfill goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There haven’t been any problems with them. The engagement has been great; we’ve had no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly articulate the day-to-day work you expect from the developers, and work to make them feel as if they’re part of our team. Have check-ins and keep communication consistent. Be sure to give Waverley as much detail as you can as early as you can. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering at a beauty services marketplace, where people can find professionals to do hair and nails. We also have a B2B product that those professionals use to manage their whole business, end-to-end.

What challenge were you trying to address with Waverley Software?

Largely, it was growth. We were trying to grow the engineering team, and we also had some very specific needs where we needed people to quickly go heads-down.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They all worked remotely from Ukraine, doing DevOps and a Python upgrade (2 to 3). We needed someone who could create and execute on a plan without a whole lot of oversight or the need to be fully embedded with a team. They had to be able to work pretty autonomously. They also participated in development planning, which can be seen as design, but they didn’t do any visual design.

What is the team composition?

We contracted two engineers through them, and within Waverley we worked with two people to help find and manage that relationship.

How did you come to work with Waverley Software?

Our VP of engineering had worked with them before or knew someone who had recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2019, but we’re wrapping up currently. We’re also exploring if we can continue working with them.

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

A lot of the results are internal-based, but I will say that they’ve been able to deliver. For the Python upgrade, the engineer jumped in, created a plan immediately and started delivering upgrades on that plan. I don’t recall the exact turnaround time, but it was at a pace that some of the changes required from our internal engineers were coming too fast to keep up with. We had to scramble to get resources to test things they delivered and put things into production. Their pace and momentum were very good.

They were very good at driving themselves and getting the work done. The fully Python upgrade isn’t complete yet, but that’s part of the plan. They’ve executed on all the work we’ve given them.

How did PSYKHE perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done pretty well. Largely, they managed their own time. They worked with teams. There were times they got a little caught up, usually when they were in areas of the code they weren’t as familiar with, because a lot of the codebase requires a certain level of domain knowledge. They also provided updates along the way.

Our primary tools are Jira and Confluence, and then we meet with them daily on video calls in the mornings

What did you find most impressive about them?

Largely, it’s their willingness to jump in and get things done. Especially with a codebase that’s unfamiliar to them. It’s been one of the biggest things for us because it’s always the hardest thing when working with remote contract engineers. It’s always a question of how productive people like than can be in a system they don’t understand initially.

I’ve always appreciated how much they want to be a part of the team. They enjoy communicating with us and our team members even though a lot of their role is autonomous and self-directed. They’ve made an effort to connect with us and be part of the overall process.

On the Waverley side, I liked how responsive they were when we ran into problems. They were quick in the interview process and were pretty lightweight once we hired the resources. They wanted a message every Monday about how the engineers were doing on a red, yellow, green scale. Even though we didn’t run into any issues, they made it clear they wanted to help if we did experience any.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. I’ve worked with other offshoring engineering consulting, and they can be hit or miss with the talent they get you. I wasn’t super hopeful going into this because of that experience, but, overall, they’ve really come through. I can’t say there’s anything I would change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be direct and honest. Don’t settle. That’s the issue I’ve run into with other consulting firms. Don’t say to yes to ‘good enough’ engineers. We were pretty strict this time, and unless the engineers really met our considerations we said no.