The Four Steps To Solving BIG Problems

1

Idea Phase

Every project starts with an idea. A spark of creativity, and a hint that it might be well received. We enjoy working with projects beginning from this phase of development. We’re happy to meet with you to advise on your technical options, and see if we have any insight to offer on the market. Most of the time, the project winds up not being the right fit for Thirdi, but we’re always happy to help people doing awesome things on the web. We don’t take any money for the idea phase, as the value of our work is too hard to put a price on at this stage.

  • High level discussions of technology options, competitors and comparable projects, integrations, and strategy
  • When projects seem like the right fit, but aren’t quite ready for a Discovery, we offer a free mini-discovery to work out more details
  • Goals of this phase are to get a deeper understanding of the client's business, the desired end-user experience, and the high-level technology options before we get lost in the details of the project. We do this through meeting with users and stakeholders, and asking an obnoxious number of questions
  • We only handle a few projects at this phase per month, so the project has to feel like a pretty great fit before we jump into a mini-discovery

2

Discovery

Discovery is a necessary part of tackling a large project. It is also the time when we turn a broad set of objectives into a specific set of features. We are pretty ruthless when it comes to unnecessary features, and discovery gives us the perfect opportunity to yank them out before they become a distraction. It also gives us an opportunity to ask the important questions, like: “What kind of people will be using this app”, and “What are the most important actions?”, and “Are we really going to have to support IE 6 for this project?”.

  • 2 days to 4 weeks, depending on scope and uncertainty of the project
  • Goal is to understand client’s objectives and creative direction, and use that understanding to build a set of features
  • Investigate technology choices, third party integrations, and the client’s existing systems
  • Prioritize features, deciding what gets built and what gets put in a backlog
  • Build a project roadmap, breaking the work into phases
  • Find a design partner, if we don’t already have one
  • Formulate a test plan to measure success
  • Set budget and expectations on scope

3

Implementation

In the implementation phase, we will execute on the plan created in Discovery. We use two - four week sprints so that the plan isn’t set in stone, and can improve as we get deeper into the project.

  • Sprint-based scheduling breaks the project into manageable chunks
  • Weekly or biweekly calls/screencasts to demonstrate progress
  • All time tracked in Harvest, for full accountability
  • We love using open source
  • Development team versed in a wide range of programming languages and application types
  • QA specialist helps spot bugs early

4

Post-Launch

Our job doesn’t end when our projects launch. Our clients demand a product that will work reliably over time, and continuously evolve. That's why we offer a wide range of post-launch services.

  • Affordable monthly retainers for maintenance, incremental improvements, and small feature development
  • 90 day warranty against bugs on new software
  • Managed hosting
  • Clients deal with the same project manager they did during development