User Interview: August

Success Stories

User Interviews: William Bridges & CogWise Software

CogWise Software specializes in building Ruby on Rails web applications. Based in Nashville, TN, USA, the company was founded in January 2007 and started hiring oDesk providers in November that year. The company relies on oDesk to simplify administration and to provide the bulk of its manpower--with only two in-house employees, it has 12 to 15 oDesk providers working on projects at any time.

The company had been known as BluePaw Software, but was rebranded as CogWise just this week. CEO William Bridges says the new company is a fresh partnership with an oDesk provider, and the time was right for a new start. "CogWise is also about building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with clients and building our own internal software projects that my partner and I have thought of."

Q:  So you met your partner through oDesk?
A:  We knew each other in passing before we started to work with each other on oDesk, but I convinced him that using the resources that oDesk provided us, and learning the lessons we did early on, we could build a strategy that works. CogWise is a partnership taking what both of us know and combining it to get the best result. Each of us has over 10 years experience in the web-development industry.

Q:  What led you to oDesk? Had you used other online marketplace sites, or directly hired remote workers before?
A:  We've hired remote workers plenty of times, 'til it left a bad taste in our mouths. We tried oDesk because we thought it could solve some of the issues we've had hiring remote working in the past. Issues with wire transfers, accountability and communication were our biggest problems.

Q:  Do you have a small group of providers you work with regularly, or do you tend to seek new providers to suit each individual project?
A:  A little of both. As we've grown, we've needed more developers. We actually look in the oDesk marketplace and outside, but we always have new developers sign up for an oDesk account, because it makes things a lot easier to manage. Our strategy is to have two or three small teams and some specialists for technology outside our core interest.

Q:  What are your tip-offs in the hiring process that a provider will work well, or that tell you definitely not to hire this person?
A:  We've found a combination of good feedback and looking at their work history is a strong indicator of a good candidate, but we really don't know for sure until they talk to us or even until they work for us for a day or two. Good feedback and a strong work history will get our attention though. Test scores are great, too, but we've found the test scores don't always reflect the quality of a person's abilities. Showing resourcefulness and independent thinking is the biggest asset we look for in any candidate.

Q:  So, do you most value someone who can execute your vision, or who can surprise you with creative solutions?
A:  Definitely someone who surprises me with creative solutions. We need people who can think quickly and independently, and execute solutions. We've had a person in the past who never followed directions and was always coming up with other solutions, and that was a problem, so there is a middle ground, but we'd prefer creative solutions.

Q:  How do you manage your providers? What have you learned about setting timelines, specifying deliverables or managing communication that's unique to the remote worker relationship?
A:  We use a project management software package called RedMine to foster communication. We usually have one lead developer who sets up tickets, milestones, and the deliverable schedule, and then the other programmers help execute that vision. Remote situations can be difficult and rewarding in many ways. We usually pick a lead that can somewhat overlap the programmers' schedules if they are in a remote time zone, as proper communication is key. Language and cultural differences must be understood by the lead or by myself. I usually take time to understand those differences for each country we hire from.

Q:  Some buyers describe a learning curve before they began using oDesk effectively. Did you just hit the ground running, or was there a point where you really "got" it?
A:  We had a few rough experiences early on in understanding how to do this as well. Really, the way we solved it is as follows: Since most of our customers are English speaking we pick an American, European or someone who understands Western culture extremely well to lead projects and use them as a bridge. It's more costly to do things that way, but that person also spends less than full-time working on the project. They are able to explain the technical intricacies going on in the project in a way that can be understood easily to us and that we can quickly plan for.

Q:  I understand you're considering becoming an oDesk provider as well as a buyer. What have you learned as a buyer that'll help you compete and succeed as a provider?
A:  I really think a lot of people take advantage of oDesk for the low prices of foreign developers. But we feel the strategy should go beyond that--oDesk increases accountability, eases payment woes of managing a multinational business and helps you find talent both foreign and domestic markets that can help you best achieve your solution. We feel there is a need for qualified Ruby on Rails developers on oDesk because we have had difficulty finding enough qualified oDesk providers that work in Ruby on Rails ourselves, so we feel offering our services as a provider will help to provide for the marketplace. We ask a lot of the questions potential buyers would ask us when they are looking at us for a provider, so I believe our experience as a buyer will help immensely in that regard.

Q:  Have you been finding the poor U.S. economy making business harder in your sector, or improving it as businesses try to stay lean and contract out development rather than take it on in-house?
A:  I haven't seen much of a downturn in the web-development industry, likely because it is a global industry. But people are hesitant to take on the risk of an employee, as you said, and that does help us. We are very hesitant to hire employees and would rather much have full-time contractors that we use through oDesk. We tend to fight the battle of employee vs. contractor with many other companies when we are looking for work. Contractors are generally more efficient and accountable in my opinion, and there should be no reason to hire a full-time employee for a web-development project when you can flex the resources you need from a long-term relationship with a contracting firm like ours.

Vote Result

Score: 0.0, Votes: 0