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Agency Originals: A London-based Design Agency Finds Their Right Development Partner

When one of our clients introduced us to his friend’s London-based design agency, the one which cannot be named (Voldemort and NDA have things in common), it was a classic case of once bitten twice shy.

The first meeting with James, the CEO, made it clear that he was reluctant to hire a remote team. On one hand, he urgently needed an experienced team of developers. On the other hand, the last vendor left him pretty bruised and he wanted to avoid another ordeal. There were some projects left unfinished & stranded by their previous agency.

James was having a struggle managing clients and the deadlines. In addition to that, Kate, the Creative Director, needed someone “in or around London” this time.

Needless to say, we were not the ideal fit demographically.

After the first round of conversations, it was clear that even though they were convinced with our proposal and portfolio, they were still not keen for a distributed team. But we really wanted to work with James and Kate. We loved their working style, the communication was coherent, and our value systems matched perfectly.

Amidst all the skepticism around, we went on and proposed a pilot project to James & Kate.

It was just the right thing to do.

Season 1 Episode 1: The Pilot

It was an incomplete WordPress Web Development gig and Kate was dealing with an anxious client. The designs were ready, wireframes were approved, and the initial layouts were finalized.

But as the last vendor ghosted, Kate needed a team of designers & WordPress developers to get going. She couldn’t find a reliable resource for simple tasks like plugin development et al. She contacted several WordPress freelancers and dev shops but they were either too expensive or hard to communicate with. Some offshore vendors went so far that they were willing to do the work for free just to get the business. That almost made her feel suspicious on their abilities. The search was turning into a struggle.

When we got in touch, we made her feel like her inhouse team. The communication was crisp and process was as transparent as it could possibly be. We set the expectations from beginning and assigned a team that included a project manager along with a dedicated team of developers and designers. The tasks, small or big, were done pretty quickly.

Kate’s expression was almost this.

‘One exclusive team for every project’ is our mantra.

Our developers provided with responsive and clean HTML codes. The designs were perfectly rendered and the teams got the website running up and tight after a few rounds of iterations.

Kate approved the project!

The Chemistry of the Crew

Kate could effectively communicate with the Project Manager and as they were in constant touch during all the development phases. There were zero communication hassles. Even though the teams were in different timezones, Kate was able to track & manage each and everything happening in the project. The feedbacks were quick and the sprints were managed effectively. She never felt that the team working is 1000s of miles away.

Spielberg even called to praise the casting.

All of this was possible due to our proprietary project management software. More on it later in our exclusive next special. Hit the follow button and watch this space for more.

The Season Contract

The pilot took off well and we all were ready for a great season ahead. We signed further contracts for small to medium sized projects over the next few months. The projects varied from simple landing pages to built-from-scratch custom WordPress sites.

James and Kate had some quick client projects that were awaiting finalisation and an extended development team just made everyone’s life easier.

Here’s the cherry on the cake, amid the hustle that client projects were, James realized that having us alongside gave him a window for bigger and better projects. He had been postponing expansion owing to absence of a consistent development partner. As the design and development partnership seemed working out this season, he opted for a spin-off.

We scheduled a quick meeting and finalized the agreement. This was the smoothest negotiation in the history of negotiations and we closed the deal.

Also, the partnership gave Kate more time to focus on design. Lesser woes, more creative freedom, and a collective sigh of relief.

Coming Up Next

Post the partnership, our first gig is quite up close and personal. James and Kate are redesigning the agency’s website and we are handling the development duties. We are not only working on their new website but will also team up for client projects simultaneously. HTML conversions, mock-ups, design elements, and web development & maintenance services remain the central plot.

The Cliffhanger

If you wanna know what eventually happened with James and Kate, stay with us here to get the inside story right away.