Background
Usually, my first call is about explaining the subscription model and answering questions about how the collaboration works.
With Costantino, CEO of Delera, things were different: the website had already covered all of that. He had just one question: “When can we start?”
We spent the call discussing his projects and choosing a start date. Delera needed new tools to help companies understand and develop their teams, turning assessments and research into applications their clients could use.
They needed a developer to take ownership of development: building the products, launching them, and continuing to improve them, without the need for a hire or a lengthy onboarding process.
The project
During the first 8 months of our collaboration, I built two full-stack apps from scratch, while also working on existing tools.
Speed test: a paid questionnaire
Speed test lets Delera’s clients complete a paid questionnaire and receive a report highlighting areas for improvement.
It wasn’t enough to simply put a series of questions online. Delera’s team needed to be able to manage the product over time, without technical skills.
I built the app and an admin dashboard, making the questionnaire editable by non-technical users. We went from the initial foundations to launch, then continued releasing new features.
UmanValue: from scientific research to a working app
UmanValue combines assessments and research based on the Big Five model to help companies develop their teams.
I built the entire application in Next.js and helped make it ready for business clients. The challenge was to turn the underlying model into a practical product while keeping usability and users’ needs at the center.
Bringing an internal tool back to life
The collaboration wasn’t limited to new apps. I also fixed issues in an inherited project, so Delera’s team could use its internal tool again without problems.
The challenges
The challenge was to deliver quickly without losing sight of quality or the solutions’ usefulness in day-to-day work.
In particular:
- Empowering non-technical users: making the Speed test questionnaire editable without needing a developer for every update.
- Turning research into a product: translating the assessments and research behind UmanValue into a working application for business clients.
- Evolving user roles: a major change to UmanValue’s user roles affected nearly every database table and required a careful migration.
- Inherited code: fixing an existing project so the team could use it again.
Throughout the work, the focus remained on speed, quality, and usability.
The results
The first 8 months delivered concrete results:
- Two full-stack apps built from scratch to help Delera improve the performance of business teams.
- Speed test launched in 30 days, with a paid questionnaire and a report focused on areas for improvement.
- An admin dashboard to manage the questionnaire, followed by a steady release of new features.
- UmanValue made ready for business clients, built around assessments and research based on the Big Five.
- A database migration completed successfully in one week to introduce the changes to UmanValue’s user roles.
- An internal tool back in working order after fixing issues in the inherited project.
This wasn’t a one-off delivery, but an ongoing collaboration that was still active at the 8-month milestone described in this case study.
The impact of the subscription model
For Delera, the subscription model meant having a developer directly involved in its products, taking ownership of development and following each product as it evolved.
The terms of this collaboration were straightforward:
- A fixed price of €3,000 per month.
- No hiring or lengthy onboarding.
- The option to stop whenever needed.
- Continuous development, from launch through new features.
This made it possible to work on both new products and significant changes to existing apps, with one consistent technical point of contact.
What could we build over the next 8 months?
If you have new products to launch or applications to improve, and you’re looking for a developer who will take ownership of development, let’s talk.
Book an introductory call and tell me what you’d like to build next.