How We Successfully Developed a Project for a Forbes Leader: The CoinsPaid Case Study

What Was Important for the Client

Feedback and the expertise of specialists were crucial for the client. It was important for them to be heard, understood in terms of the tasks set, and to have solutions proposed for their implementation or better alternatives suggested. Therefore, each stage of the work was discussed with the client: what exactly they wanted, how it should look, and how we could implement it.

Working Strategy

The main working strategy was based on Agile and Scrumfall methodologies. Initially, we planned the implementation of specific tasks and stages without dividing them into sprints. However, considering the constant changes that needed to be managed flexibly, we revisited the work plans regularly, their implementation, and made changes to the project based on the belief that the new solution would be much better than the previous one.

A similar experience occurred with the design team during the development of internal pages when they saw that the initially created Home page significantly lagged behind the subsequent ones and decided to redesign it. If during the review of previous steps it turned out that the new solutions were much better than the ones already implemented, we would go back to those stages and refine them.

Advantages of the Selected Strategy:

• For the client: A clear understanding of what they will receive and within what timeframe.

For the performer: Easy implementation of any changes at any stage of production.

Stages of Work

We divided our work into three main stages:

It shouldn’t be said that these stages followed one another; rather, they progressed simultaneously. For example, at some point, we realized that we couldn't postpone the implementation of animation because it was already necessary to begin back-end development.

During the layout process, we simultaneously launched back-end development, architecture development, and the constructor within the project. Additionally, throughout the entire process, much attention was paid to issues related to data storage implementation and content management in the website's admin panel.

As the number of pages grew and our understanding of how the architecture of data storage within the admin panel should change, we promptly discussed with the client and the team which new entities needed to be defined and which ones needed to be supplemented. One of the challenges was the inability to initially plan the project's architecture. Therefore, we constantly engaged in refactoring the architectural solution.

An Everyday Example

Imagine a situation where builders come to you and say, "Here is one room for you. We assume it will be a 3-story house, so prepare the appropriate foundation, and we will give you the project room by room."

At some point, you've already furnished the room, and then it turns out that there should be a staircase to the second floor or a descent to the basement. Therefore, at each stage, when new "rooms" appeared, new "floors," we revised the approach to the website architecture and made specific changes. Preparation at the start allowed us to choose a technical solution that was flexible and easily scalable. Initially, we organized an internal builder that, regardless of whether we had an exit to the second floor or another in this room, helped us quickly make changes. Instead of a classic staircase, we created a trapdoor on wheels that can be easily moved from one room to another if necessary.

Project Challenges

Change of Project Manager

Issue: New person - new rules.

When we learned that the person we were initially communicating with was leaving the project and a new PM was coming in, we realized there might be difficulties. With a new person on the team, we needed to renegotiate, explain what decisions had already been made, and what plans had been developed.

Solution: The new project manager turned out to be an excellent team player. Fortunately, by the time that the project manager changed, we had just started developing the specifications and managed to take into account all the aspects.

Technical Adaptation of Design

Issue: Attractive interface designs are challenging to implement in reality.

When we realized that implementing design ideas technically was challenging, we sought a way to accommodate designers' ideas that the client loved, while also finding the best technical solution for implementation. The solution should be easy to execute, user-friendly, and should not affect the site's performance and speed.

Solution: We implemented several versions of how all the ideas could look. We showed them to the client, discussed them, and ultimately decided to abandon many things. Throughout this process, there was constant communication with the design team. It was necessary to understand how much our solution disrupted their vision of what the project should ultimately look like. We were able to quickly and easily come to a mutual final decision, which was ultimately implemented on the website.

Change of SEO Team

Issue: Maintaining the achieved SEO website results.

Changing the SEO team was challenging. SEO and developers rarely get along in the workflow. The main reason for discord is that SEO requirements often seem fancy and redundant to developers. An experienced PM should eliminate such problems at the start of the project. In our case, a huge SOW was prepared together with the SEO team for the client, and we relied on it. But towards the end of the project, it turned out that the client was changing the contractor.

Solution: We revisited and reworked the implementation we were already prepared for. Our experience allowed us to exclude some solutions from the new requirements by agreement. Some aspects were resolved easily and quickly because we anticipated the requests of the new team. However, we had to put in some effort with certain things. In the end, both the client's team and the SEO team were satisfied.

The Result

A Case to Be Proud Of

The project was initially quite complex. We understood this, and importantly, the client understood it as well. We needed to meet tight deadlines, work in parallel with the design team (which is not typical in development), and wait for content from the client to be able to progress.

Despite all the difficulties that arose at the initial stage of the project and those that appeared throughout its implementation, we delivered a website that fully corresponds to the client's vision and meets the expectations of all the teams working on it.

The result is a website with modern functionality, well-thought-out architecture, and smart solutions for data storage and content management. All design features have been implemented, and high SEO results have been achieved.

Conclusion

In our experience, this was not the most technically challenging case, but the most challenging in implementation. At the start, we found ourselves in a position where we knew nothing about how the project should ultimately look. Initially, it was necessary to anticipate many risks and lay a lot in the foundation of the house we were building.

The main advantage of this case was the awesome team that came together during the work. There were three parties involved in the project, and there were concerns that this would significantly complicate our work, as we needed to negotiate not only with the client but also with other contractors. We succeeded in this. Everyone showed themselves to be skilled professionals, excellent experts, and simply people who respect others.

The main conclusion is that it is very important to choose a working method for the project. It's great to have a specification, but if you understand the direction and don't have a clear idea of what the end result will look like, then you need flexible methodologies. You need to be prepared for changes and react to them adequately. It is necessary to understand that some decisions that were planned earlier may shift deadlines and affect the project's implementation period.

Such projects are very difficult to estimate at the start. Therefore, Time and Materials is the most optimal and correct approach to project implementation for a Win-Win strategy, where both the customer is satisfied, and the team works productively.

Point of Mention 

To achieve the desired outcome, it was essential to adhere to the rule that the client must trust their contractor and delegate questions and expertise to the executing party. 

Our client understood this and fully entrusted us with our opinion and decisions. Thanks to this, we were able to complete the project within the planned time frame.