Situation
Our client was a YC-backed enterprise SaaS company that secured a paid pilot with a large enterprise customer. The pilot required integrating a new “metrics collection” library called Vector into the customer’s Kubernetes clusters. Additionally, we needed to build a new component to transform the data collected by Vector into a format that could be ingested by the client’s software. Our client approached us for assistance with this integration, as timely completion was essential to the pilot’s success.
Task
We were tasked with delivering the necessary changes in the customer’s tech stack to support the paid pilot within an 8-week timeline. This involved managing both technical implementation and client communication, ensuring the pilot’s scope remained clear, and preventing scope creep.
Action
To achieve this, we broke the project down into four sprints, each lasting two weeks. We assigned a Senior Kubernetes DevOps Engineer from our team to handle the technical implementation, while the engagement manager managed communication and project oversight.
- We held bi-weekly standups with the client to review progress and address blockers.
- We conducted milestone demos after each sprint to ensure alignment with the client’s goals.
- Scope creep was managed by evaluating each feature request against the pilot’s objective, deprioritizing non-essential asks, such as setting up monitoring and alerting, to ensure timely delivery.
- The final week was spent on knowledge transfer and documentation to ensure a smooth handover.
Result
We successfully completed the integration in 7 weeks—one week ahead of schedule. During the final demo, the customer praised our work, describing it as “rock solid” and expressing satisfaction with the stability and quality of the changes made to their Kubernetes clusters.