Custom Platform Development For Learnivore
Please find under a summary covering project details and feedback. The innate facts are kept as they are, private information is amended.
Introductory information
Please draw your organisation.
Learnivore is a website that connects nation to local instructors, classes, and friends in art, athletics, and academics.
What is your position?
I’m the establisher.
Desired goal
Could you draw the business challenge that you were trying to address when you leading accessed DockYard?
I used DockYard to create the application from scratch. I had nothing, but a general concept preceding to going to them. I went to DockYard with a series of mockups, and told them what I wanted to create. I had determined that I wanted to use Ruby on Rails, which they have a lot of experience with, so it made perception to have them at the helm.
Provided solution
Could you draw the developed aim of their involvement in detail?
They were responsible for the complete design and outgrowth of the manner application. I came to them with Pixel Perfect design, but I let them know that it was just a set, a way of interacting my vision. So, the website looks excellently different from what I seted with, owing they did a full overhaul of the visual design.
They operated in sprints, and they had broken down the complete process agreeably. We did the full design leading, and then sprinted it out. I believe each sprint was almost three weeks, and it took almost four months to get there. I haven’t used them for hosting, third-party systems integration or training.
I’m satisfied with the choice of Ruby on Rails as the technology to base this app on. They built it with an Ember.js, and the Ember has ended up being specially helpful in provisions of making us very nimble going advanced. Although I don’t maintain an ongoing relationship with them, they did help me find my in-house lead developer, and that was very helpful, too.
How did you come to select DockYard as your associate?
I initially establish them through a LinkedIn search. I presented my mockups and evaluated how nation responded to that and what the bids were. I looked at DockYard and a couple other nation in the Boston area who had good reputations as Rails developers. One of the reasons I chose DockYard was that they had worked on other marketplace websites. From my experience, handling the marketplace elements was going to be one of the biggest challenges, so I wanted someone who had experience doing that.
Could you prepare a general cost estimate for the size of this engagement?
The leading release was $200,000, and the second was $400,000.
When was the application launched?
It launched on June 6, [2014].
Results achieved
In provisions of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would prove the condition of their accomplishment?
For me, the value of their involvement was just how easy it was to get a new developer up and running. She was able to apprehend the code easily and was able to go in and last developing. As far as the fruit goes, we had an fearful lot of bugs for the leading month behind it went live.
We now have almost 2,000 instructors, so frankly we quiet have a long way to go. They formd an powerful base platform, and now we’re just kind of iterating through to aspect out how to make that platform more usable to our end users. We’ve had nation who absolutely love our platform and some nation who hate it, but I’m not sure that’s all their defect. It takes time to form a usable interface.
I had two major engagements with DockYard. I had the release in June, and then another release at the end of September, which was twice as big. Although the June release had some very grave bugs, the second release was so much better. I’m talking leaps and bounds. Their project treatment methodology was just a thousand times better. They managed themselves much better. They were on time, and it was very well tested. It was a much better process. I’d say we’ve established a very powerful workflow now.
When working with DockYard, is there anything that you would attend sole almost their strategic access or outgrowth methodology that discern them from other vendors?
I felt that in working with them, I didn’t have just a developer and a designer, but developedly fruit director, too. They were very careful and took the time to apprehend what my business issues were. I expected that I would need to be very implicated in provisions of the fruit treatment, but I veritably wasn’t. They veritably internalized that, which was amazing.
I felt that they treated it very much as if they were stakeholders and owners, not as contractors, which was nice. It freed me up to centre on the marketing of my business, which is the hardest thing I have to do right now. It felt very much like a associateship. They interacted well, and they reflection up some creative solutions for the UX [user experience].
What advice, if any, would you give a forthcoming client of theirs?
I ponder taking gain of their discovery session preceding to the visual design was helpful owing it clarified precisely what we were edifice. It was costly, but I ponder it was worthwhile.
