“Of all current software development companies, I came across dozens that couldn’t or didn’t want to explain what they had behind the scenes. I was lucky to meet DICEUS and get all the answers. I was being taken into a world I knew little about.” — Ashley Ragan, one of our clients, says.
A few months ago, we met Ashley. He felt nervous about the risks involved in outsourcing his project, but the deadlines were pressing him hard. He explained everything in a call with us.
“Frankly, I like your company, but I’m not sure about the outcomes,” — Ashley said.
And we replied, “We guarantee the on-time delivery of quality outcomes. Our approach to software development is transparent, efficient, and consistent. Certified project managers control the execution, whereas developers adhere to international software engineering standards. We’ll be happy to share all the secrets of a successful project and answer your questions.”
“It won’t hurt to listen, since I’d really like to get some answers on how to make my project succeed.”
If you and Ashley share the same concerns, read this conversation.
How will you manage to understand what my business needs are?
It’s impossible to figure out what a customer needs without seeing how he does what he does. We start by asking customers about what they require, and then we proceed to business analysis. Our project managers and analysts actively collaborate with clients to understand their needs and goals. Next, a dedicated project manager communicates these needs to the team. Ultimately, every developer understands what the project is about and how the end product will be used by real people. Moreover, when a new member joins the team, the PM must guide this person, sharing all the knowledge about business and technical details during onboarding. That is smart management at its best—professional, knowledgeable, and solid.
You mentioned the project manager, but I’m here in Austin, Texas, and you guys are a thousand miles over the ocean with a 10-hour gap. How will I get feedback from this project manager when I need it?
We understand how important timely feedback and communication are. Each customer is given a dedicated PM and a key account manager who are always available to sort things out and communicate your concerns to the team. Also, if you find a particular person difficult to work with, you can replace him/her with another manager, swiftly and smoothly.
What if I want to change something? How quickly will you respond to my requests?
As quickly as possible—and you mentioned a time gap earlier. Most of our clients are located in different time zones than ours. The time difference with the US varies between 7-13 hours. However, our teams work in shifts, which allows them to keep up with your schedule. One of our clients is based in Jordan, where the official working days are Sunday-Thursday, so almost every business is closed on Friday and Saturday. The dedicated team synchronized with the customer and now work Sunday-Thursday to ensure they are always available.
What if I had some in-house developers or another vendor? From what I’ve heard, most vendors refuse to collaborate with others.
It’s easy for us to work and communicate in a multi-vendor environment. We believe that every partnership gives experience and fresh eyes on whatever. Our people are easy-going, always open, and available for such cooperation.
How will I know if the team is performing great or below average?
By far, the biggest problem with performance is control. However, our certified project managers are successful in solving it. Each dedicated team has a daily stand-up where they discuss what was done, what blockers were met, and what is planned. We also use and share with you a burndown chart that shows how much work is left to do versus time. All these things help us to meet our client’s expectations of efficiency.
How can I know how many hours are really spent on my project?
Developers track their time via Jira’s Tempo plugin. We send these reports to our clients weekly. You will also have access to Jira to monitor your project’s individual work items, estimated in story points or hours. We measure the velocity of our team and build sprints.
What services do you provide?
We provide cloud-based solutions, custom, web, mobile app development, testing, and IT consulting.
Do you provide support after the implementation?
Absolutely! You’ll get end-to-end technical support and training once your system is implemented and launched. We provide three options for support—24/7, on-call, and during your business hours.
I have a software system built by my former in-house team. Do you, by chance, provide maintenance for such systems?
Of all the services we provide, maintenance is easily the most requested. We work both with legacy systems and those developed by other vendors. We are all familiar with the common situation of waiting for a repairman when something breaks or no longer functions the way you like. Our analysts, architects, and developers can act as repairmen. They perform a full audit of your system and come up with helpful recommendations on what should be fixed or improved. We develop new features and functionalities that meet your current needs and are aligned with market demand.
How can you be sure that the solution you develop will actually solve my problems?
The more we know about your business needs, the better your system will work. We collect initial requirements and then conduct a gap analysis. These processes help our clients see what needs to be done to reach the project goal or the desired state of the business.
How can you guarantee the quality of code written by your team?
All developers at DICEUS have master’s degrees in computer science. Their code is cross-reviewed or reviewed by team/tech leads. We use SonarQube to check the code’s quality and security, as well. Reports on duplicate code, code compliance with standards, and defects density are shared with our clients when requested.
How quickly can you find solutions to issues that might and most likely will arise?
In terms of defining the goal and means to achieve it, we use a Critical Path Analysis. So, our customers see, step-by-step, how the project will be built. When it comes to smaller problems that emerge during development, for example, we practice extreme programming. This methodology helps to ensure high-quality code and provides flexibility to adapt to any customer change requests.
I see, but it is difficult to always keep a steady pace. How consistent are you in your processes?
In an agile environment, we regularly measure the velocity based on previous iterations, and we try to keep up the pace. In addition, regular reports on metrics defined in service-level agreements show our clients how efficient and consistent our performance is. Moreover, we provide a traceability matrix to demonstrate how your business requirements are aligned with the system ones.
In other words, you are telling me that you will manage to meet my project’s deliverables deadlines?
Definitely! For this, firstly, we consider not only functional requirements but also non-functional requirements. Secondly, the overall project is displayed in a work breakdown structure, which serves as a basis for estimation. Thirdly, execution is accurately controlled by project managers.
In non-technical terms, we are all empathic and enthusiastic about being part of your project success, and we do care about your time-to-market.
How fluent is your staff’s English?
We pay special attention to any possible language barriers to avoid any misunderstandings in communication. Everyone has a good command of spoken and written English, and we have regular classes every week to improve further. Our employees practice language skills with both a professional teacher and a native speaker. All the documentation is written and shared with clients in English.
Why are you better than others?
As a rule, recently, small and mid-size companies were limited in quality resources to develop software products according to ISO/IEC 25010 standards. Today, this was made possible and affordable through partnering with DICEUS. Our clients are receiving high-quality products developed on time, on spec, and on budget. And that’s truly what differentiates us from competitors
It sounds like you guys are focused on quality, so how do you guarantee it?
We follow all quality assurance processes, including different types of testing like unit, integration, functional, and end-to-end. However, there’s so much more behind the words “guaranteed quality.” The quality and success of the outcome are visible and measurable, along with the entire development cycle. We deliver on time, on spec, and on budget using best practices and experience from ten years on the market. And that’s what we call our secret weapon.
This story sums up a situation that any person looking for software outsourcing will recognize. Coming to the vendor and waiting for answers to their questions, fears, and doubts. Our story had a happy ending. Ashley decided to start working with us. A team of 7 people has been working for Ashley for a few months. He knows exactly when his project will be completed and is sure that it will be successful. We are happy to have met Ashley and are always available to talk to you.
Сообщение FAQs that arise from clients within software development answered появились сначала на DICEUS.