MycoLab

BACKGROUND

Tell me about your business and your role within the organization?

Jason Earle, CEO/Founder - MycoLab USA

Philippe Menos, CTO

OPPORTUNITY

What challenges were you trying to address with FullStack Labs? 

We hired developers previously on this project - one group, one individual. The group did a decent job but was lacking in certain areas and was definitely not as meticulous or as talented as FullStack Labs. We tried a freelancer, which didn’t work out well at all.

The main challenge was fixing what had been done and getting it done the right way. We had an application that was 75% complete and the remaining 25% was critical to getting the business launched.  

Our product is a professional-quality, do-It-yourself, mold test kit.  The application we are working on with Johan and David —SampleTrack— is an enterprise app which tracks the life-cycle of the product from the point of assembly, purchase, and fulfillment, through the sample submission process and lab analysis, data interpretation, report generation, and ultimately the delivery to the customer.  There is a responsive web application and a mobile app.

All of those components were in process but not completed in the way that we needed to launch the product, or scale thereafter.

SOLUTION

What is the scope of our involvement?

Development. 

What is the team composition?

Johan Pena and David Watts. Johan doing development work, David doing Project Management and DevOps as well as a little development. We’re very pleased that these two have such a broad range of talents.

They’re both excellent communicators and great listeners. There’s a certain efficiency that they bring that is the hallmark of professionalism. They’re very organized and they don’t waste any time, which is very refreshing. When you have a meeting with them, they’re prepared with questions, they know what they want to accomplish. They are both very pleasant to work with. 

Another positive aspect of their work is that they tend to go above and beyond. They will fix things that were unexpected. It’s as if the FedEx driver dropped off a package and then trimmed the hedges on the way back to the truck! They’re good listeners. They’re good at challenging our plans and offering creative ideas to identify the best possible solutions, yet they’re also very responsive to our ultimate decisions on how to proceed. 

How did you come to work with us? 

We found FullStack Labs through a Google search. 

How much time has been invested?

450 hours.

What is the status of the engagement?

‍The to-do list is gradually getting shorter. They’ve accomplished quite a bit and we’ll probably be in a position to proceed with a soft launch in two weeks. The project has been going for about 8 weeks - at 10 weeks they will deliver everything we asked for and more.

How much longer do you see the engagement going?

‍We expect that there will be more to do after the launch, as we identify additional needs. There will be ongoing integrations with some of our partners that can be improved upon as their technology improves. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product has not launched yet, but the evidence is in how efficiently the team has moved it toward the upcoming soft launch in a very short period of time.

How did we perform from a project management standpoint?

‍Excellent, everything that we’ve asked for has been responded to fully, nothing falls through the cracks. The daily reporting, which accounts for every minute, is very thorough and very appreciated. We love the transparency of daily, weekly, and to-date reporting. There’s comfort in being able to see the amount of time being spent, because we’ve had the exact opposite before. We cannot overemphasize what a great feature that is. 

And the hours are spent reasonably and efficiently. We don’t get bills for 10 hours for tasks that should have been accomplished in two. It never feels that the wheels have just been spinning, tasks are quickly summarized, and then attacked and accomplished. 

Can you discuss your experience with each of the team members?

Johan Pena - Given that he had just started with FullStack Labs, he fits right in. We didn’t miss a beat with him coming on board. He got right into the culture and was oriented very quickly. He’s a consummate professional. He got up to speed quickly on what we were trying to accomplish with the application and he has a contagious enthusiasm for the development work itself.  When he explains things, like a feature he’s developed, he gets excited in a very refreshing way. His enthusiasm for our product is a wonderful thing. You don’t often get that when working with an agency. He loves his work, and that is infectious and energizing.

David Watts - He’s so easygoing and accommodating, nothing is ever a problem for him. He’s very thorough and prompt in his responses to our communications. Nothing but compliments for David.

David Jackson has been great to work with as well, he’s very easy-going, professional, very fair. He sells very well. By the end of the conversation you want to work with him.

Mike Piccolo’s code review was a great first step, that’s what really brought us in. It was very thorough, identifying areas that prior devs had not been up front about, so that was very welcome. It was done in a very thorough and professional manner and it was refreshing not to have to pay a retainer to get the work done on the code review. It was a very measured and balanced review and it provided us with tangible steps to move forward. 

What did you find most impressive about us?

Best developers I’ve ever worked with in 30 plus years!

Are there any areas of improvement?

No, really nothing we can say. It gives us great comfort that we have FullStack Labs as a partner in seeing our vision through and making it real.