Agency Coda

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product manager at an educational company. I handle the firm’s technology platforms. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Agency Coda?

We approached Agency Coda to create a smartbook platform that could transform InDesign files into interactive smartbooks. For context, our educational books were all made in InDesign, and they were published all in the same format. This process took a long time since we had more than 5,000 SKUs. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Agency Coda’s task was to create an interactive smartbook reader. By interactive, I meant the platform should have animations, audios, and other interactive exercises — everything that was in the book should be interactive. They used PHP and C# on the backend and Angular for the frontend. We also used Flutter for the iOS and Android development of the platform. 

What is the team composition?

I directly coordinated with Juan (Co-Founder & COO). We also worked with project managers. In fact, we interacted with three project managers over the course of 6–8 months. After switching between two project managers, Juan himself became our project manager. 

Moreover, Matias (CTO & Co-Founder) handled the technical aspects of the project. The financials were handled by Delfina (Manager of Strategic Partnerships & Solutions Architect). I also interacted with their Flutter and Angular developers. 

How did you come to work with Agency Coda?

We found Agency Coda on Upwork. Our team also shortlisted a couple of other teams, but we chose Agency Coda because of their confidence in building the technology we wanted. They told us that they’d created something similar to our app in the past, and they were confident that they could deliver our needs. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $45,000–$46,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May 2021–March 2022. 

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

We broke down the project into 14 milestones, and it was supposed to wrap up by the end of December 2021. However, Agency Coda reached out to us saying that they couldn’t complete the project on the agreed-upon deadline; they said they needed one more month to do it. 

At that point, we essentially had nothing. We didn’t have any admin panel or any working frontend. All they gave us was the UI design, which was also not completely functional. No services were connected to the app. Even so, we agreed to their request. After a month, they reached out to us again, saying that the project was still not done; they said they needed 1–2 more months to do it. As a result, the project was extended until February 2022. 

By the end of that new deadline, Agency Coda talked to us and said they couldn’t do it, describing the project as technologically impossible. What they submitted to us wasn’t even 10% of the platform. Because of this, our team was disappointed in them; this wasn’t how they should’ve behaved. They didn’t coordinate well with us. They never informed us that they couldn’t do this type of project. 

We asked them about their plan the whole time. In fact, we asked them how they planned to get everything done and give us some ideas, but they always said they were already moving ahead with the project. We spent $46,000 on this, and that was a huge amount of money for us — and we basically had nothing in our hands. 

On top of that, the team was truly unprofessional. They didn’t even give us access to their GitLab; they were only sharing code on Google Drive. A good technological company wouldn’t do that. If they were good, they would show us all the libraries they used on GitLab.

How did Agency Coda address the challenges that arose?

Even when we told Agency Coda that we were not satisfied with their work because they didn’t give us anything, they still kept asking us for more money. They stopped working on the project the moment I told them we couldn’t give them money unless they delivered results.

In fact, they stopped the project twice. They said that the timeline was over, and that supposedly meant we should give them the payment. Again, they didn’t deliver anything, so there was no reason for me to release any more payments even though we’d crossed the timeline — and we’d only crossed that timeline because they didn’t deliver on time. 

Recently, I sent them an email asking them to justify the reason for their request for more payments. They said they’d get back to me shortly — they didn’t. The team only ended the project, and they didn’t even inform me. They hadn’t even responded to my email. 

How was project management handled?

We used Slack to communicate and tracked milestones on Google Drive. Our team also had weekly standup calls with them, which we increased to biweekly. Even during that time, they never wanted to be on the call with us for more than 30 minutes.  

I would’ve preferred the project to be managed on Jira. Agency Coda also should’ve been more clear about the deliverables. We had fixed deliverables, and if they delivered something to me, I would’ve tested it — and then I’d release their payment. That was a fair way to manage the project. 

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No, there weren’t any.

In what specific areas can they improve?

Agency Coda should improve on everything. Their project management should be more transparent, and their communication should improve. The team should spend more time with their client to understand their requirements. They didn’t do this properly even though we had an initial discussion. 

We were building this product for over eight months, and they should’ve ensured that they understood all of our requirements before going on with the project. They came to me when the deadline was up, claiming they couldn’t develop the features I wanted. I then wondered what they’d been doing over the past eight months. 

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Don’t work with Agency Coda. I’ve spent a huge amount of money on them and this project, and I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get my money back. If you actually want to work with them, don’t release payments unless they’ve already given you working deliverables. Do not trust them on anything. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of the company. It is a market place exclusively for sustainable products. My role today is to execute the vision and build a strategy.

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda, and what were your goals?

Agency Coda was in charge of all the development of the web. Design, back end, front end, integration with payment and logistics platforms. Our goal has always been to have a quality market place, robust and with its own identity, we also had to launch before FY2022. All of our objectives have been met with excellence

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I have chosen Agency coda for its human qualities. From the beginning I felt listened to, accompanied and above all understood in what this project implies and its importance for me. I also liked the organization they have, the way they work. I also like the systems they use, both communication and BI.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project was divided into milestones. Simply explained, first the low-level requirements were defined, then we worked on design, UX / UI and finally we defined all the integrations of both payment methods and logistics operators, in addition to all this, always working in parallel with the back end. Technologies used: Figma (UXUI Design), HTML/CSS (layout), Angular (Frontend), PHP (Backend), MySQL (database), Google Cloud Platform (Hosting), API integration, and more.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with 7 people. A program manager who supervised the project manager. One person from human resources and another from finance.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

All deliverables were completed in a timely manner. My stakeholders are more than happy with the platform, it is fast, agile, friendly. I still don't have a representative sample to give measurable results.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

I had meetings with the project manager every week, once a month the program manager came in to supervise that everything was running smoothly and he also gave his inputs to improve the project. Communication was more than fluid, we used google meet for meetings and also we used Slack as another channel of communication and where everything was documented. I also worked a lot with the designer, same experience, fluent communication and we used figma to see the progress in the design of the project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their human-quality approach and service have always been differential. At the same time, I want to emphasize that the established deadlines were always met.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Just to be exquisite I could say that Agency Coda can improve in Design, but it is not really a weak point in its structure, but as all the other points are more than solid, from programming, communication, project development I can only highlight this area that I think is fundamental in web development.

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the founder of a digital marketing agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Agency Coda?

We needed to build a CRM.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were supposed to build a CRM from scratch. We wanted to have a calendar that business owners could use for scheduling customer appointments. We also wanted them to have the ability to send invoices and emails to their customers.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people, including Francisco (Co-Founder & CEO).

How did you come to work with Agency Coda?

They responded to our ad on Upwork. They had a good rating and looked like they would be reliable.

How much have you invested with them?
 
We spent $12,000. The contract was initially for $9,000, but they added to it.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–December 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We wasted a year working with them on this project. They said the CRM was finished, but when we tested it, it didn’t work. We pointed it out to them, and they insisted, politely, that it was done. We sent them a video to show that it was not working and followed their suggestion to erase all our history and try again. However, it never worked.

For several months, we continued to ask them to finish the work or refund our money, and they adamantly insisted that the work was done and refused to give any of our money back. Eventually, they just stopped responding to us.

How did Agency Coda perform from a project management standpoint?

They seemed to be organized, with each team member assigned to certain tasks such as graphics, database, functionality, and more. However, I didn’t think they communicated with each other to bring the pieces together to work properly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were polite throughout the entire process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should've delivered what they promised.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't pay them if they haven't completed their work yet.

Please describe your company and your position there.

VP of Sales & Marketing for a U.S.-based manufacturer

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda, and what were your goals?

We needed to develop an online order site with fully-functional e-commerce capability in a very tight deadline. This is a new customer for us and it has been particularly important to satisfy their objectives as we establish and nurture our partnership with them.

How did you select Agency Coda and what were the deciding factors?

We don't possess the resources in-house to achieve the objectives that were laid out before us, so we posted the job on Upwork. Agency Coda was quick to respond in full, and upon reviewing their company and some of their past work, we felt comfortable enlisting them as our contractor.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Utilizing an e-commerce shell, we needed to populate an online catalog of items in a number of categories. the nature of our products requires individual personalization of each item ordered.

We provided Agency Coda with the assets and rough outline of the site architecture, navigation, and required functionalities and they went to work on a completion schedule comprised of four milestones. (This was condensed to three milestones mid-job because they were able to work so quickly.)

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were a total of eight Agency Coda staff functioning within the Slack channel throughout the contract. These included agency principals, sales executives, project managers, and web developers.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Every aspect of working with Agency Coda was excellent! The communication, quality of work, attention to detail, and timeliness were truly five-star experiences for me. The milestones were even condensed mid-project because they were accomplishing the tasks so quickly.

Everyone on the team was highly professional and courteous, which I do not take for granted. Really a nice group of people who have been a pleasure to work with. Coda Agency will without a doubt be the first option for any projects I have, and I look forward to working with their team in the future. Cannot recommend them strongly enough!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

After an introductory video conference call, we communicated solely via Slack. Agency Coda brought Slack to the table and it proved to be an excellent tool for ongoing and team-based activities. This was essential as our companies are based on different continents. Each member of the team with whom we communicated was professional and courteous throughout and everything operated very smoothly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Having been a part of this company for over 30 years, I have encountered many companies and people from a wide range of industries, disciplines and cultures. I can say without pause that everyone at Agency Coda was as friendly and as easy to work with as anyone I have ever known. I don't take that for granted and I appreciate the sincere sense of partnership starting from Day One.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Agency Coda exceeded any and all expectations by a wide margin, so I cannot honestly say there is anything I can offer as even constructive criticism. They graded at 100+%!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Tu Famoso Ayuda is a platform that auctions experiences of celebrities in order to raise funds for charitable purposes. Im the Founder of the proyect.

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda, and what were your goals?

Agency coda is the company that accompanied us in the creation, design and implementation of the platform and the new website. The objective was to redesign the page, improve the development technology and functionalities. Additionally, they had the challenge of developing corporate social responsibility.

How did you select Agency Coda and what were the deciding factors?

We move forward with them because we trust the projects they have done previously and because we know the people behind this very professional company.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project was led by Agency Coda from start to finish. We understand that the best technologies were used. This allowed dynamic changes to be made, according to our requirements and demands.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

All sectors of the company were involved. What we value most is that the heads of the company were always present and accompanying each step of the project.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We appreciate the social commitment that the company made with us. It is invaluable that they have done it in order to help the most vulnerable people. I recommend this agency above all for the treatment, the human reach and the commitment.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The tools used like Slack and others were new to us but they made communication easier. Every step was always monitored and noted down and expectations were met. If there were any issues with a delivery date, it was always cleared up and resolved quickly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The treatment, the human reach and the commitment. Mainly the predisposition of the partners.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I believe that there is always room for improvement. Perhaps for the convenience of the client, a summary of what was done in the week could be generated, as an additional report to the SLACK. Especially in WhatsApp, which is the communication tool we use the most.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director at Max Golf Limited, a golfing services company that provides multiple golf courses for people to play.

Traditionally, people are members of one golf course and if they go to other golf courses, they have to pay. Our model is based on negotiations with multiple golf courses. We pay them upfront for their tee times and get them to join us.

What challenge were you trying to address with Agency Coda?

We needed a mobile app to make it easier for our members to book their tee times and go and play their golf.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Agency Coda developed our mobile app for iOS and Android. They developed the code from scratch.

One of the key features is user registration. They can register their interest in our service. It will go to the backend, which allows us to review the application to see if they’re in good standing before we ask them to join.

There’s a process where we can approve the member. The member can then make payments. We issue them, outside the system, a membership card. Once they’re approved, they have a password and user name that they can use to login to the app after downloading it. Then, they’re able to have visibility of our portfolio of golf courses.

They can now select a golf course and book a tee time. They can leave a game if they’re no longer able to play. People can join other games because they have visibility of all our members who are involved in a golf game at some time in the future. They also can update their personal details such as phone numbers and addresses.

What is the team composition?

I work mainly with three people who are customer relations people. They all communicated with me but weren’t directly involved with the development of the app.

How did you come to work with Agency Coda?

We found them through Upwork. We shortlisted four prospects but chose Agency Coda because of their pricing.

We also looked at some of their previous work and reviews. I had a face-to-face media conference with all the prospective developers. Their communication, understanding of requirements, and interpersonal relations seemed to be higher than other companies from what we witnessed on the video calls.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $6,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Agency Coda started in May 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve launched the app and have introduced it to our members. We asked our members to play around with it. We have a support period with Agency Coda, and we want to utilize this downtime for people to familiarize themselves with the app, so we can uncover every bug.

We’re very satisfied with the work they delivered.

How did Agency Coda perform from a project management standpoint?

The sector we’re in isn’t well-known. Golf has a lot of unique rules that inexperienced players may find hard to understand.

At the start, it was a little bit shaky with the experience in terms we had to go over a few of the requirements. That doesn’t take anything away from them. Eventually, they got through it.

Their team is very knowledgeable in their technology. They just had to spend some extra time understanding our industry. We communicate through Slack, Upwork, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team was willing to listen to us and learn about the game as part of the development process. I was impressed that they were able to do that. There was a slight review of their personnel.

They brought someone in who more experienced in both customer-facing and app development who would understand our requirements. That was a good move on their part because the structure we started with, we couldn’t continue with that. It would’ve caused us problems. Another good quality the team displayed was flexibility.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We told them this was our first app development. They could’ve started the engagement with a bit more patience in helping us come to terms with the app’s lifecycle, which is different from that of a site.

They prevented a wireframe at the start. We looked at it and said it looked fine. However, when we moved on, we didn’t realize the wireframe was the basis of everything they were going to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go with them. They’re very knowledgeable. Some of our requirements were quite complex in terms of logic.

It was a bespoke application, not something they picked up off the shelf. They’re very experienced and know what they’d doing, but make sure for every stage that you’re 110% sure that they understand what you want.

Go through every single requirement before you move on.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Campo Abierto is a company dedicated to the management of human resources for the Argentine agricultural production sector. I occupy the role of CEO in the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda?

Coda Agency was the company we chose to develop our main product. The mobile application allows us to be in direct contact with users, our entire operation depends on its working well and being easy to use. They were in charge of developing the product from the beginning to the end, always contributing their knowledge to achieve the best final product.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main objective was to develop a mobile app that was easy to use, light and fast. It was designed for smartphones from the lowest range to the highest quality. This was the main concern when developing the app.

How did you select Agency Coda?

We chose them because they knew how to understand our technical limitations in the face of development and translate our needs and desires into the best possible product. This makes us choose them today without doubting that they work in the most professional and optimal way to deliver the objectives on time. In Argentina there are many agencies that develop these things but few are so concerned about their clients. From the first meeting we knew that they were the right ones for the task.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was based on developing a mobile app that could adapt to all telephones, the poor general connectivity that exists in the country and the best design so that users could easily use it.

What was the team composition?

At the head of the project were Francisco Michellich and Juan Bidondo, among them they were in charge, in multiple meetings, of understanding our need and what we expected for Campo Abierto App.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project started only with an idea, there was nothing at the beginning. The colors of the screens, the logo, the elements and screens of the app. All these elements designed and thought from the first moment by the Coda team. Today we have an app that is resilient to its users and meets the initial goal of connecting people.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Every two weeks we had a meeting where we talked about the development of the project and they guided us to decide how to continue. The communication beyond the meetings was and is constant between our teams, always aware of us and our requests, explaining if they are possible and how they plan to face them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing was the good coordination we had and his predisposition to be with us to work. The meetings are always very good and well organized. As of today, this characteristic of the team draws our attention, it is something that is not found every day.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Coda and his team are so attentive to details that I can hardly say they have items to improve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm one of the co-founders of a company that makes location based applications

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda?

We wanted to build a prototype that would allow users to get back to work on a mobile application.

Specifically, we wanted to upload our CoWorking floor plan and show where users are on the map, and measure any social distancing violations. The app had to be geolocated and connect with bluetooth low energy devices.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build a working prototype for use in our office space.

How did you select Agency Coda?

We posted the job on upwork and spoke with Francesco about the idea. He and their team took to what we were doing and were interested in helping from the get go.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a four step delivery plan that Agency Coda executed on flawlessly. Our plan was to build the app in stages, and we ran into some hardware issues as we couldn't reach people due to the covid situation.

Agency Coda worked with us to resolve our hardware connectivity and delivered an app that works seamlessly in North Carolina, from another continent.

What was the team composition?

Francesco and a handful of engineers and project managers.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our beta prototype works and is being submitted to the apple store for review.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. We received daily updates from the team on slack as well as upwork.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Agency Coda runs a very efficient program. I was worried about potential communication issues but we had none. All of their deliveries were in great detail, explained well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Biggest concern was that they're not located nearby, but they handled the virtual experience very well.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO and Founder. ZWET is a platform that offers all the services that an athlete needs or will require to perform better on competition. This services include coaching (personalized and semipersonalized), nutritionists, physiotherapists, bike transportation and online store.

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda, and what were your goals?

We hire Agencia Coda for literally develop our project. From scratch, the goal was to develop what we had envisioned as our MVP. We were seeking a team of processionals that could understand the business model, the market and therefore, could propose new alternatives or ideas since we were starting from scratch with respect to the development of our platform.

How did you select Agency Coda and what were the deciding factors?

After the first call with Francisco M., I had no doubts about hiring them. Key factors to consider were that there was no language barrier as we were both Spanish native speakers, our bet was to have fluid communication. The proposal sent by Coda was within our budget, both in economic terms as well as in the time frame for our launch. Last but not least, the proposed workflow strategy was, for me, innovative. Francisco gave me full confidence that his team was capable of delivering what I had in mind. They did not let me down!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The goal was to develop a platform in which users could hire coaching services for triathlon, cycling, running and swimming; hire nutritionists, physiotherapists, book bike transportation service, a store and, the key factor, develop an algorithm for semi personalized training plans. The steps where clear: first have the look and feel of the user experience and then started coding the platform functionalities.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1. Matias C. - coding
2. Juan B. - project manager (and business advisor)
3. Axel C. - designer
4. Francisco M. - coding
5. Wenceslao A. -  project manager

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Agencia Coda met all expectations. The project is what I envisioned. As simple as that. Since day one they understosd the business model and the target market. Therefore, the deliverable product met all expectations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

THe communication with the team was smooth and clean. Constant communication using Slack and Trello made everything easier. We had a biweekly status call by Zoom.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their quick response and the ability to understand the company's necessities were out of this world.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing. I'm completely satisfied with my experience working with Agencia Coda.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We plan Luxury Destination Weddings in Argentina since 2003. 90% of our clients are from the US, UK and Australia. I’m the founder and CEO.

For what projects/services did your company hire Agency Coda?

Our digital presence was obsolete. We hired AC to custom design our website and assure it was functionally efficient and responsive to all-device viewing. I personally appreciated they helped us understand our web analytics allowing us to make informed decisions, consequently optimizing our site’s performance.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a visually appealing website, with the latest technology, to attract potential clients and enhance their online experience.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by a colleague. Agency Coda took a full comprehensive approach to our needs on our first meeting.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

As previously described, we received web custom design & development, indicator analysis for 3 months (then we were taught to do so ourselves) and received reliable and secure webhosting. Our site’s been online and functioning 24/7/365.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager, a designer and a developer/programmer.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

After several weeks, our website ranked on the top searches on most search engines. Our business is very specific. It was helpful to understand that an optimized website, with relevant and resourceful content was key to achieve this.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked on this during our low season, being available to provide texts and visual material upon request. It was a smooth process for us. AC did the rest. We met occasionally. Deadlines were met as expected.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their patience to explain to us all the back-end functionality of our project. We really wanted a solid performance.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It has been 4 years and we’re soon contacting AC again to add a Blog to our site + update its technology.