Getting Started Quick
For new clients, we offer a free two-hour estimation based on the specifications you provide. If you'd like to have chat over the phone, simply contact us and we'll get it set up. Once you're ready, we come to an agreement
of course, we will sign an NDA if you like
Sign Contract
After the estimation, we will hand you a contract that lets you reserve developers for your project. You set the hours and you stop whenever you'd like. Unlike flat-rate estimates that put the price-tag in the firm's hand, we bill according to hours spent.
Along with your contracted developer, we also assign a friendly and capable Project Manager to help you guide development. We provide 50 minutes a week (10 minutes for each working day) of Project Management time for free. Time past that amount is billable at the same rate as the developer.
Convert Specs into Project Plan
With the help of your Project Manager, you will make a master plan base off what needs to be done. The next step is to break it down to weekly priorities to have the developer(s) execute. The Project Manager will set up tickets for the developer to accomplish and monitor their progress to ensure everything is on track and progressing to your specifications. Read more about creating a Great Plan.
A commit process helps the reliability of your software. It's critical to live websites, but also helpful in every other software situation. It's a small checklist you give to developers for them to execute before they commit code to the repository.
- Comment code
- Run entire test suite, and get all tests to pass
- Commit code to test website (if applicable) and verify code works there also
- Merge to trunk
Rather than having to pull it from developers, meetings push the information to you. Bixly follows the Scrum tradition by having a 15 minute daily Stand-Up Meeting.
- What have I done since last meeting?
- What will I do until the next one?
- What is keeping me from being productive?
This process defines what happens when a task is done. In fact, it defines "done" also. This avoids confusion. One developer might think "done" is something different than another. By setting a simple task flow, you can quickly verify that everyone is on the same page.
- Work on tasks that are assigned to you
- Highest priority tasks/tickets first
- When completed, assign the task to the product manager
- As product manager, close task is work is acceptable
A release process can be very involved for a large system, it involves many checks and packaging directions, along with links to proper documentation. It's best to have this process highly automated. If that's not possible in your budget, ensure that a document is made that fully explains the release process. Also, it should direct the admin to test major functionality upon release.
- Run all unit tests
- Update version numbers
- Update change-log
- Update feature lists/known bugs for customers
- Build and package installer
- Test major functionality
Take the next step now
You know how we work, so if you'd like to find out how we can help you, simply fill out the form on the left and we'll continue your due diligence process and see if we're a fit.
Billing
The base price per hour is $35. Billing is simple: Invoices are sent out twice a month, on the 5th and 20th. Our auto-billing system authorizes payments for you, so there is no hassle.
Invoices are charged to your credit card automatically 48 hours after sending.
We are an Authorize.net Approved Vendor.
