Background
Customers come to StyleTech seeking our bespoke solutions for any problems they may be encountering or projects they may wish to carry out.
Occasionally, we find companies using our services after they have worked with other software development businesses, often offshoring their projects. As a result, customers may encounter issues such as difficulty in working within different time zones, as well as language barriers. StyleTech is based in the UK and therefore, we are the ideal software developers for those customers wanting a UK based company, eliminating any of the aforementioned problems.
Integrating Into The Customer’S Development Team
It is vital for our software developers to thoroughly understand the systems they are working with; therefore, all projects start with our team reviewing our customer’s codebase. This helps to allow the team to identify any areas which could be causing the customer potential issues and can therefore work on providing an effective solution to resolve these problems.
How The StyleTech Team And That Of Our Customers Gel Together
Within any industry, effective and efficient communication is essential for the successful completion of a project. StyleTech recognises this and includes the customer throughout the development process, ensuring they play a key and vital role. StyleTech are happy to involve the customer and work alongside their development / IT teams as required. For some customers, this is by adopting an agile development approach.
Once the project is assigned and after thoroughly reviewing the codebase, our developers start the agile process by Sprint Planning which allows clear goals and deadlines to be created. By breaking tasks down into sprints, both the StyleTech team and the customers IT team are able to prioritise tasks, enabling all deadlines to be met.
During the agile process, StyleTech has daily meetings with the customer to talk about their day-to-day tasks, what they have been working on and any questions the customer may have. This close communication aids to build trusted relationships with our customers as they feel confident knowing they will receive the desired outcome from the project.
A remote meeting with the customer can occur every few weeks so both teams can relay the developments of the Sprint Planning. A review of the sprints will usually take place on a two-week basis and will address any lessons learnt and how any new information can be used to move forward.
Furthermore, quarterly in-person meetings would usually take place with the customer, however, following the government COVID guidelines on remote working, these meetings have been occurring remotely. The purpose of these meetings is to demonstrate what both the customer and the development teams can look for and plan for in the future. It draws upon broader priorities and any upcoming pieces of work.
For long term planning, a product road map will be created, for example, every six months, where big-ticket items are planned, discussed and decided in which quarter they must be completed. In every meeting, StyleTech listens to the customer, ensuring all developments or feedback are incorporated into the project.
Benefits of Using Agile Methodology
Agile Methodology allows the StyleTech team to remain flexible and work with the customers, ensuring they are totally satisfied with the end product. StyleTech is extremely proud of the flexibility our teams can offer, as we believe it is essential to listen to the customers and cater to their requirements. For things to run smoothly, effective communication with our developers, customers and their IT team is critical, as we have the ability to alter product roadmaps by expanding our responsibilities to meet any additional customer requirements.
This serves as an advantage for our customers as StyleTech can fit around other departments within the customer's company if additional information is needed from them. By using Agile Methodologies, any delays outside the control of StyleTech do not alter the development process, we simply focus on another task until the required information is available.
StyleTech are happy to use the customers preferred task management, sprint boards and work schedule. Our developers have experience in many solutions including DevOps, Mantis and the Atlassian suite including Jira.
Great working relationship with our customers
Working with our customers’ software teams allows our developers to constantly build on our expertise and use a wealth of ever-increasing knowledge to reach innovative solutions.
There is always cover when working on projects as we plan and ensure all team members don’t overlap on annual leave, giving our customer confidence knowing they can always contact a developer. By having our developers working on designated projects, we ensure our code is consistent throughout, whilst also working to our coding, security and best practice standards.
Customer relations are highly valued, and we take great pride knowing that many companies have been with us since StyleTech was first established more than 20 years ago. It would be great to start our adventure with you, feel free to get in contact with us to see how we can help!
