Onboarding: how we get started together

Onboarding differs slightly depending on how we work together: Continuous Monthly Development and Fixed Price Projects involve working directly in your systems, while Project Scoping is a planning engagement that usually starts before any system access is needed.

When you sign up for Continuous Monthly Development or a Fixed Price Project online, your Project Manager will contact you the following working day to arrange access and schedule your onboarding meeting.

Our project onboarding process for Project Scoping is a little different. We're planning a project rather than working in an existing system, so we usually don't need access to your source code. The exception is when the scoping concerns an upgrade of an existing solution.

Here's what happens:

You're contacted by your Project Manager. Depending on the kind of work, there may be two: for example, one specializing in mobile apps and another in backend systems, if your project spans both. For bigger projects, a software architect often joins at the start of the planning process to make sure everything is designed correctly.

We hold a kickoff meeting. At this meeting, we present the plan for the scoping engagement: what needs to be done, what you're responsible for, what we're responsible for, the timeline, and access to our project management system.

You're introduced to how we work together. We walk you through our project management system and how communication works, and we review practical matters such as the time difference and when it's best to schedule meetings.

Then the scoping work begins. Your Project Manager will tell you approximately how long it will take, though the timeline always depends partly on how quickly decisions and input come from your side.

One practical benefit: everything established during scoping, the communication setup, the meeting rhythm, and the project management access, normally carries straight over into the Fixed Price Project that usually follows.

Switching from another developer, freelancer, or agency always takes some effort, but it's something we do regularly.

Software review. Your Project Manager evaluates the existing source code quality and architecture, plugins and dependencies used, existing third-party integrations, and any modifications to the core CMS or platform. This identifies potential issues before we take over, giving you the chance to have your previous developer address critical problems first.

Access and account verification. We request admin login credentials and source code access, access to analytics and monitoring tools, and verification that key accounts (hosting, domain, analytics) are registered under your name rather than tied to your previous supplier. If helpful, we can coordinate directly with your previous supplier to obtain the necessary files and credentials.

For stalled projects, we ask for a list of incomplete tasks to assess fit. For ongoing maintenance takeovers, we typically start with a small batch of tasks, a mix of bug fixes and new features, to confirm we're a good match before committing to ongoing support.

If you sign up for Continuous Monthly Development online (Care or Care Plus), here's exactly what happens:

1. You complete the sign-up and the first monthly payment of your plan.
2. A Project Manager contacts you the following working day.
3. Together you arrange system access and schedule your onboarding meeting.
4. Your onboarding meeting covers access, priorities and how we work together.
5. You start sending tasks, and your software and systems start moving forward.