Autism App

Services

Elastic Workforce
EW: DevOps
EW: Product Owner
EW: QA Engineers
EW: Scrum Master
EW: Software Engineers

Technologies

.NET
Android
Angular
Google Glasses
Kotlin
Autism App - Cover image

01.

The client

Brain Power, LLC, is a mission-based neuroscience technology company based in Cambridge, MA, with strong ties to MIT, Harvard, and Stanford.

Its flagship product suite, called Empowered Brain, includes apps that help children (or adults) on the autism spectrum learn what other people feel; offer a training similar to that of a video game with a look directed to the face; reading and conversation skills tutor; help users reduce repetitive motor behaviors and underlying stress; give teachers and parents numerical progress reports; and much more.

02.

The challenge

Brain Power, the market leader in augmented reality educational tools, needed to quickly scale up its software development team to meet market demand, but the job market in the Cambridge, MA area was tight, with runaway salary inflation, limited availability of talent and long recruitment lead times. It was taking 4 months and over $45,000 in recruitment fees and staff time to source, screen, interview, onboard and train every new engineer, yet after that huge investment in time and resources, many of these engineers didn’t work out.

Brain Power also wanted to ensure that they were building a true team as they rapidly expanded their workforce, including not just developers but also QA, DevOps and agile project managers who could all work well together.

Founder and CEO Dr. Ned Sahin, PhD then decided on a bold move. To offshore the whole development team, but keep product management and senior engineering in-house.

“It was certainly a big and sudden change, and there were many risks, but as a founder I’m comfortable with risks so long as they are properly managed. We started slowly and expanded only after building trust and a track record.” said Dr. Sahin.

Brain Power started by tapping INNOVANT for a team of full-stack web developers and Android developers to be managed directly by senior developers working at their headquarters. Brain Power management developed processes and implemented tools to effectively manage a team that is globally distributed. INNOVANT’s engineers participated in daily Scrum stand-up meetings over video, managed their workflow in JIRA and conducted code reviews over GitHub. The INNOVANT team quickly came up to speed with the help of video pair-programming sessions.

03.

The solution

Founder and CEO Dr. Ned Sahin, PhD then decided on a bold move. To offshore the whole development team, but keep product management and senior engineering in-house.

 

“It was certainly a big and sudden change, and there were many risks, but as a founder I’m comfortable with risks so long as they are properly managed. We started slowly and expanded only after building trust and a track record.” said Dr. Sahin.

Brain Power started by tapping Innovant for a team of full-stack web developers and Android developers to be managed directly by senior developers working at their headquarters. Brain Power management developed processes and implemented tools to effectively manage a team that is globally distributed. Innovant’s engineers participated in daily Scrum stand-up meetings over video, managed their workflow in JIRA and conducted code reviews over GitHub. The Innovant team quickly came up to speed with the help of video pair-programming sessions.

The results have been phenomenal. Brain Power’s engineering team has nearly doubled in size, while the total cost of the engineering team actually decreased by 40%. Productivity per engineer has improved and team velocity increased at a faster rate than the team size.

“I’ve never had a more efficient team to work with”, said Jim Ryan, Chief Operating Officer, who manages the entire distributed team for Brain Power. “Other offshoring firms I’ve worked with just recruit and hire freelancers to meet demand, but because INNOVANT’s team are all long-term employees of the company, they already know each other well and work together seamlessly as a team across all functions.”

The increase in productivity and cost savings has freed Brain Power to address more market opportunities, and get to market more quickly. “What began as a need to solve a specific problem sourcing talent has become a strategic advantage for our entire business.” said Dr. Sahin.

Since first tapping INNOVANT for programming resources, Brain Power has expanded its relationship with INNOVANT , whose staff now handle Scrum Master duties, software architecture design, code reviews, QA and CICD, and DevOps.

“They are fully part of the team, and even participate in our team social activities” said Dr. Sahin. “We pride ourselves on being able to integrate the best talent in the world into a unified team.”

Autism App Dashboard

Ned Sahin
CEO

The effectiveness of the work is so high and also, because it’s particularly difficult to find good outsourced engineering firms, there’s way too many, how are you gonna know who’s good. Well, I’m certain that the experience that fellow entrepreneurs would have is great and its solutions oriented, it’s client oriented that has that amazing ELASTIC WORKFORCE capability.

So I think it will serve very well for anyone else who has this need.”

KEEP READING

More success stories

Eduardo Cunarro - Director and co-funder Innovant

Eduardo Cuñarro

CEO and partner of the INNOVANT holding, Best Top Developers in Uruguay (Clutch 2022) and recognized professor of Software Architecture and Design at the ORT University of Uruguay.

For more than 12 years Eduardo Cuñarro has been helping companies improve their businesses through software and technology consulting.

His purpose is to make INNOVANT the happiest place to develop and contribute with INNOVANT Believe to build a better Uruguay.

He started at the company in 2015 as CTO and minority partner and professionalized the software factory, implemented Clean Code and trained the team to execute software development in the most efficient way possible.

In 2020 he was appointed CEO, formed a specialized management team and managed to double the company both in terms of team and turnover.

His commitment, charisma, strategic thinking, determination and rigor make him a unique leader. Always complementing with humility, with gratitude, and with humor.

Working with Eduardo implies wanting to bring out the best version of yourself.

Ignacio Rohr - CEO and Co-funder Innovant

Ignacio Rohr

COO and founder of the INNOVANT holding company, Best top developers in Uruguay (Clutch 2022) and software engineer and senior consultant with more than 12 years of experience working with engineering teams.

His purpose is to make INNOVANT the happiest place to develop and contribute with INNOVANT Believe to build a better Uruguay.

He founded the company in 2011 with Encantex as his first project.

In 2020 he was appointed COO and doubling the billing and the team that same year managed to improve the company’s profitability by 21%, boosted the company’s performance and implemented an agile communication methodology between departments and customers.

His generosity, understanding and kindness make Ignacio a fundamental piece of INNOVANT’s leadership. He is that person who, above all, leads by example, responsible and hardworking, intuitive to the needs of others, always establishing excellent relationships with the team.

When you work with Ignacio you feel understood, cared for, and in a safe environment to develop in the best way.

Marta Soler - CMO and business developer

Marta Soler

CMO & Business Developer at INNOVANT, Best top developers in Uruguay (Clutch 2022) and with training in engineering, architecture and business. She was introduced to marketing when she started working at Red Bull Spain at the age of 19, she fell in love with it and today it is his great passion.

Its purpose is to make INNOVANT a powerful software development brand generating a large Spanish-speaking community. In addition, she also wants to help other professionals and companies to get clients, sales and relevance with Digital Marketing.

She started at INNOVANT in 2020 and soon became a key part of the company’s management.

She led the change of image, naming, branding and creation of the entire marketing department as well as the growth strategy through content marketing, social networks and paid media.

Marta is the joy of the team; she is creative, authentic, sensitive, expressive and intuitive, and that makes her a culture engine within the company. She infects the whole team with sympathy and energy.

Working with Marta implies looking for meaningful and free interpersonal relationships; she implies exploring creativity to the fullest; and implies that curiosity, sympathy, spontaneity and fun working with her are always guaranteed.