Molly Knappen, Project Manager for UDesign, Inc. in California, is a woman who knows what she wants, especially when it comes to hiring developers to work on her team. So when it came time to make a decision about outsourcing for her recent web application project, she decidedly said no to overseas developers.
Knappen had many concerns about working with developers overseas. But primarily she was apprehensive about not having access to her contractors and missing out on that face to face meetings where you get to shake someone’s hand.
Replacement Developer Required after Project Start
Knappen’s concerns about outsourcing were put to rest however, when a quarter of the way through her project, she needed a replacement developer. “This was a decision born of desperation. We lost our lead developer and the initial phase of the project needed to be finished. After interviewing locally, I decided what mattered was timely production of a quality product. Vteams fit the bill. They reviewed our initial work, provided a detailed deliverables schedule and I decided to get over my overseas bias and get the project done.”
Knappen discovered Vteams while performing an online search of possible outsourcers. And her very first request was she wanted a female team lead to serve as a reference. “That was really important to me,” said Knappen. And yet while Vteams was unable to meet this hope, they ultimately found the perfect developer to meet Knappen’s requirements.
“Somebody at Vteams took the time to find a good fit both for my project requirements and myself. My developer and I get along really well and now the project is almost done. He’s young, but really knows his job, and we have a great rapport. He has cross cultural experience, is funny, and his English is great. I truly feel like someone went out of their way on this one,” she said.
The Normal Project Hiccups
“Every project has hiccups,” said Knappen. “And of course we had our little moments, but I think the Vteams staff was more concerned than I was. In a project such as ours, you always expect something to pop up. There will be something no one has thought about that will jam things a bit. It just happens. We had one moment where we had to go back because there weren’t enough roles built into our project and this altered the scope of the work. But Vteams did all the right things.”
Knappen also wants people to know, her Vteam went out of their way to work on sections of the project in reverse order, because her client wanted to see progress. “Without hesitation, they were able to make this happen for me, and for that I am so appreciative,” she said.
“What would I say to someone else about my experience with Vteams? When you are dealing with someone on the other side of the world, surely there are bound to be problems. But honestly, it happens when you use someone nearby too. It happened to us and that’s how we ended up with Vteams. Because they go out of their way to mitigate these issues, I feel a real partnership, despite the distance. ” said Knappen.
Outsourcing Worked for this Team
Knappen said her developer knew more than enough to get the job done and never hesitated to ask questions. What’s more, he and Knappen talk almost daily especially as they are coming up to a crunch demo. “If he doesn’t know how to do something, he finds out. We will most certainly use Vteams again moving further.”
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