RealKey
B2B application for MLOs to coordinate efficiently with borrowers.
The Backstory
Minimizing Technical Debt
With a tight deadline, we knew that we would incur some tech debt. The goal was to work quickly but not have to throw out the demo project and start from scratch for the MVP.
Team Setup
RealKey's stakeholders included the subject matter expert CEO, a CTO, and a product consultant who previously worked at a Fortune 100 company. We worked at their direction and provided full transparency into our processes and code.
The Dress Rehearsal
We worked with the client-side stakeholders to quickly put together a demo product in just a couple of weeks. The interface used a very minimal style guide and basic frontend components from third party libraries so that we could focus our energy on making sure the backend functioned properly
The Real Show
After gathering valuable feedback from the demos at the conference, we worked in agile sprints to design and develop the product for MVP launch. In addition to creating a polished interface, we built custom document tools that allowed easy organization and export.
This project was a great short term relationship with the goal of getting the product off the ground. As an early-stage startup, RealKey needed to move quickly and use time and money very efficiently. We made sure to give real-time assessments to the stakeholders so that they could set their own priorities. Once the MVP was complete, we handed off the code and helped them vet the right people to take over from there.
We had several in-person day-long crunch sessions at our offices in Los Angeles where we included RealKey's San Fransisco-based CEO and San Diego-based product lead, and our own team of designer, engineering lead, and project manager.
When they were ready to take everything in-house, we made sure they had all of the documentation and a handoff of the code so that there was no knowledge loss.
Learning from Experience
One important lesson we learned was that the third-party UI Kit we leveraged to launch the demo version was seriously lacking. We had to throw away more code than we wanted, and were boxed in to certain design decisions that we didn't want to have to live with later on. RealKey's challenges were a major force in our decision to create the Starter Kit, so that future projects could be set up quickly using components and our own design system for less tech debt.
Let’s build something great.
Together, we can assemble and execute a plan to hit your key objectives with a software product that looks, feels, and is a top-of-the-line technology experience.