Custom Software Development and Agile Scrum Implementation for Quoka GmbH

Description: up-to-date modernizationfor one of Germany's largest online marketplaces

with more than 9.5M visitors

Project’s Highlights

1Agile Scrum Implementation © Brightgrove Ltd. 2019

Type

Architecture

Developmentapproach

Platform

AmazonWeb Services

Programminglanguages

Database

Frameworksand tools

Customer

Team

Dedicated Team

Microservices, Hexagonal architecture and REST API

Agile Scrum

Web and Mobile (iOS and Android) retail marketplace with millions of users

SQS, SNS, EC2 and EKS, DynamoDB, S3 Bucket, RDS,CloudFront, AWS Lambda

Java, NodeJS, PHP, Javascript, TypeScript

MongoDB, MySQL

Kubernetes + Helm, Codeception, Composer, Terraform, VueJS; CQRS + Event Sourcing; Spring Framework + Spring Boot; Git

Quoka GmbH, Germany

Current team’s development capacity is 10 specialists: client and backend developers, QA engineers, UI/UX designer

2

Challenge

Challenges

Due to the lack of availability of qualified Agile software engineers in the German market, Quoka hired Brightgrove as a nearshore outsourcing software solution partner to overcome all challenges related to the following strategic tasks:

1. Development Capacity

To enhance Quoka’s software development capacity with an external Agile team;

2. Cloud

To move the results of 30+ years in business into a Cloud solution;

3. Productive Capacity

To enhance productive capacity of Quoka’s in-house team related to the development processes and testing;

4. Modernization

To handle a complex modernization of web portal and mobile apps, which required a wide range of upgrades.

Customer’s Case

Quoka GmbH, Mannheim, Germany, is a trio of free and easy-to-use online marketplace and free interactive mobile apps for sellers and buyers, in any field from job offerings and services to pets, real estate and handmade products.

The company started as local advertising newspapers in 1983. They’ve grown into the top web portal for classified advertising regionally and became a part of the international media holding Russmedia. In 2017, the owners made a progressive decision to integrate an Agile methodology into their software development process.

Consequently, Quoka needed to extend their development capacity with an external Dedicated Team. Main goals for this team were to provide custom Agile software development services for Quoka’s web portal and continue the development of Quoka’s iOS and Android mobile apps to keep their top position in the German market.

Agile Scrum Implementation © Brightgrove Ltd. 2019

3

How We Helped

After analyzing Quoka’s requirements, we’ve suggested a development approach based on the Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery practice, and the creation of a Dedicated Development Team.

1. Capacity – Extended DevelopmentDepartment

We’ve set up a top-notch offshore Dedicated Team based on customer’s requirement to find experienced candidates with the perfect balance between technical skill set and exceptional soft skills. All professionals required for the project were successfully hired, and we seamlessly mixed the remote Agile team with Quoka’s in-house developers. The Dedicated Team is fully managed by the customer, who controls the development process and decides which candidate to hire or replace based on the performance review.

Initial Team In 6 monthswe’ve added

3 months laterthe customerrequestedFullStack

PHP TechLead

Lead QAEngineer

SeniorFullStackPHPDeveloper

MiddleAndroidDeveloper

MiddleFullStackPHPDeveloper

SeniorUI UXDesigner

JuniorQAAutomationEngineer

SeniorJavaDeveloper

MiddleFullStackPHPDeveloper

MiddleiOSDeveloper

Why Quoka Chose Us as a Vendor:

– The Brightgrove’s Dedicated Team outsource business model, which allowed our them to get a team of professionals that works as an extension of their in-house team;

– Our quality of services and extensive experience in Agile Development;

– Reasonable and cost-effective price formation;

– Honesty and transparency in the relationship between Brightgrove and the customer.

Agile Scrum Implementation © Brightgrove Ltd. 2019

4

How We Helped

2. Cloud – New Home for a Marketplace

The work was done from scratch, starting from planning and assessment to implementation of numerous modern technologies, actual migration, and cloud environment setup. We started with the Amazon EC2 Cloud solution and followed with Amazon EKS. This challenge was a considerably time-consuming and difficult task.

3. Enhancement of Productive Capacity in Terms of Testing and Development

With the help of a Codeception BDD-styled PHP testing framework, the Dedicated Team automatized testing procedures. By integrating the Kubernetes open-source system, we’ve automatized deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications. We also implemented the Symfony-based Coding Standards and Code Review process, and helped customer’s team to migrate from Subversion (SVN) to Git version control system and Git Flow.

4. Modernization of Web Portal and Mobile Apps

Quoka’s in-house team and Brightgrove’s Dedicated Team developed and implemented an entirely new look-and-feel concept, UX/UI design and functionality for the website. The same goes for both iOS and Android mobile apps, which required multiple upgrades, testing and hotfixes based on Semantic Versioning scheme with releases every 2 weeks.

Key Metrics ofthe RecruitmentProcess:

– It took 1 month to gather the initial Dedicated Team of 4 and start the development;

– 10 team members working for customer on a full-time basis;

– 600 candidates were contacted and hand-picked during the recruitment pro-cess;

– 30 candidates passed Brightgrove technical interview.

Agile Scrum Implementation © Brightgrove Ltd. 2019

5

Results and Achievements

1. Development Capacity

Brightgrove established and organized a dedicated software development unit that operates as an extension of Quoka’s in-house team. We started with 4 members, but in 9 months grew into a team of 10 specialists, among whom are the certified Scrum Master and Product Owner. Each engineer passed a thorough vetting procedure. They often visit Customer’s team on-site to provide continuous on-site training and consultations.

2. Migrating into the Cloud

We moved all of Quoka’s software into Amazon Cloud Service. During the migration process we’ve also overcame difficulties associated with the Sybase database, which required specific equipment and precision of development actions.

3. Productive Capacity

Our Dedicated Team automatized customer’s previously manual testing and development cycles by using Kubernetes and Helm for the release process and the Codeception framework for QA and testing. Also, we’ve integrated the automation of ticket statuses, branch merging and the Docker-based solution for the local development process.

4. Modernization

We’ve upgraded customer's web portal and mobile apps into modern and user-friendly products, while the speed of the development process has more than doubled due to the quick adoption of Agile Scrum methodology. Both development teams communicate on a daily meetings basis and work in sync.

Agile Scrum Implementation © Brightgrove Ltd. 2019

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CONTACTS

+1 929 230 1186+49 3031 199691+38 057 751 8951info@brightgrove.comwww.brightgrove.com

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