Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the COO of the front office technology team of an investment management firm.
What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?
The demand for Python developers in cities like London, Boston, and New York is fairly intense. We’re very much a Python shop and we invest a lot of time in our recruiting process and hiring standards. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to find good talent in those geographic hubs and so we wanted to expand our talent pool. We were looking for a firm with a track record of expertise.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We’ve undertaken two main approaches with them. We started with a standalone project where we wished to enhance data discovery via a rich and interactive frontend. It was a relatively packaged up type process. Alongside STX Next, we gathered requirements from end-users, and STX Next provisioned a team that worked alongside our in-house data engineering team to build that out.
What is the team composition?
They brought a team of engineers with a mix of front- and backend. They had a product owner on their side, which was really key to the success. They came to London and we did design sessions in-person. The product owner really built up a very good understanding of our business, as did all of the engineers. They handled the project management for the standalone project.
How did you come to work with STX Next?
We knew them from a few years back when we used them to build out a performance attribution tool which is still in use to this day. We were aware that they positioned themselves as Python specialists, and it felt there would be natural synergy in partnering up with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in June 2019, and the work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’re happy with the results on the standalone project approach as well as the team augmentation. From the very start of the data catalog piece they built for us, they were thinking about how to track adoption metrics for this tool when it gets released into the world. We have a set of metrics for that particular tool that we can see the uptake in our user base. I can only characterize it as a success.
How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?
They do product management in addition to project management. They have a well-honed, agile delivery process. The other element that really complements that is they are incredibly strong in design.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I spent a lot of time speaking with other firms in the analysis phase of this initiative. STX Next had built a really nice culture, one that we felt would be compatible with ours. They’re very inquisitive engineers, plugged in designers, and want to know your business in a genuine way.
Are there any areas they could improve?
When we first started working with them, I don’t think the finance industry was their biggest vertical. There has been a learning curve of domain knowledge. The nature of their firm is they will provide their services pretty much across industries.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Do a proof of concept. Pick a project and make it something not too scary and not too close to your core intellectual property. Embrace the STX Next way of doing things as a starting point. The process can be adapted to suit your team’s working style but get a sense of how they would approach it so that you can map the differences and similarities. They will come to your office to carry out rich design and requirement gathering sessions with your end-users. It is critical that you spend that initial few weeks answering all the questions that they ask and prompting them to ask you 10 more questions. The more time you spend with them upfront, really getting them to understand your business domain knowledge, the better the work they will deliver.
