We (Ketaki Kadekar, my cofounder and I) are in the process of revamping the product for Procialize (www.procialize.net), our event (conference and exhibition) mobile website company. Our so called 'tech-partners' and us didn't see eye to eye and as a resultwe have been looking out for product development companies, who 'understand' start-ups like ours, and are 'flexible', 'approachable', and 'cheap'. Should be easy - India is 'Computer Engineer' land, and all the IITians are frustrated and start their own product development companies. Am I wrong? Yes, a 100%
All the words quoted above are mythical, when it comes to these companies.
For one, these companies claim they are the 'Top 10 product dev companies in India' (there are a 100 of these doing so), claiming developed 600 odd apps, and equivalent mobile websites. When I end up going to any of their sites, nothing loads. What's worse, when we ask them, 'Where the fuck is this app that I wanna see'. They response - a. The client removed it from the store. b. Can't share this, privacy issues. c. We have taken it down for maintenance - and all the cock and bull.
Secondly, and you can quote me on this - Indian Product companies have no sense of UI and UX. They claim they have a 'design lab', where design is an 'integral part of their working algorithm' - but frankly, their stuff is third rate. The problem is that everyone take on a project, and then expects the coder to do everything.
Third, quotation. There is no bloody sense behind their quotes. 'We will need 1305 hours for development, and we charge $ 18- $20 per hour. Hence ....' I understand the math Einstein, but I don't understand the weird method in which you figured you need 1305 hours. 'Requirement gathering will take 4 weeks'. Why? Because that's the way to add your stupid quote to 1305 hours?
Way out. After getting frustrated with this back and forth, we decided to spec and wireframe out our product ourselves. We have decided that UI/UX should not be part of the devs, and we decided to go for the guy whom we are most comfortable talking to, and not 'the best app developer'. My assumption that 'their work should do the talking' is wrong. Because there is no way for me to know whether the guys who have developed an app that I liked, are still in the organization or not.
For all the non coders who want to build a product - you will still need to outsource the stuff, but start thinking of getting a CTO/Project manager immediately. And do the complete specing and wireframing yourself.
All the words quoted above are mythical, when it comes to these companies.
For one, these companies claim they are the 'Top 10 product dev companies in India' (there are a 100 of these doing so), claiming developed 600 odd apps, and equivalent mobile websites. When I end up going to any of their sites, nothing loads. What's worse, when we ask them, 'Where the fuck is this app that I wanna see'. They response - a. The client removed it from the store. b. Can't share this, privacy issues. c. We have taken it down for maintenance - and all the cock and bull.
Secondly, and you can quote me on this - Indian Product companies have no sense of UI and UX. They claim they have a 'design lab', where design is an 'integral part of their working algorithm' - but frankly, their stuff is third rate. The problem is that everyone take on a project, and then expects the coder to do everything.
Third, quotation. There is no bloody sense behind their quotes. 'We will need 1305 hours for development, and we charge $ 18- $20 per hour. Hence ....' I understand the math Einstein, but I don't understand the weird method in which you figured you need 1305 hours. 'Requirement gathering will take 4 weeks'. Why? Because that's the way to add your stupid quote to 1305 hours?
Way out. After getting frustrated with this back and forth, we decided to spec and wireframe out our product ourselves. We have decided that UI/UX should not be part of the devs, and we decided to go for the guy whom we are most comfortable talking to, and not 'the best app developer'. My assumption that 'their work should do the talking' is wrong. Because there is no way for me to know whether the guys who have developed an app that I liked, are still in the organization or not.
For all the non coders who want to build a product - you will still need to outsource the stuff, but start thinking of getting a CTO/Project manager immediately. And do the complete specing and wireframing yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment