Artful Agenda
Digital planner company gains certainty in budgeting and planning
Project tech
Android | iOS | Flutter | Laravel | PHP
The Challenge
The client’s previous developer missed deadlines and repeatedly increased costs. The app they created failed to meet the client’s expectations.
The Solution
Twin Sun minimized costs by using the existing code and increased reliability through refactoring. We mitigated financial risk to the client with performance-based milestones.
The Results
We delivered a smooth product launch on time and on budget. This experience built trust and confidence in Twin Sun’s abilities, leading to a years-long partnership.
Reimagining the Digital Planner
Artful Agenda started as a passion project by founder Katy Allen. She enjoyed the design, simplicity, and utility of paper planners, but wanted the convenience of an always-present digital planning app. That’s how she came up with the idea for Artful Agenda: a digital planner that works like paper. Stickers, annotations, and drawing capabilities in Artful Agenda bring the best parts of paper to a stylish Internet-connected digital planner that works on any device.
Unmet Expectations From the Original Developers
The previous development team delivered an interface that was not functional and did not reflect Artful Agenda’s envisioned design. The web app had several broken links, incomplete screens, and other bugs. The development team began missing deadlines. Costs increased as developers regularly exceeded their own estimates. Katy described the application as “disastrous.”
The relationship between Artful and the previous developer deteriorated as Artful lost trust in confidence capabilities. Katy wanted to release a private beta and move closer to a public launch. However, she was uncertain of when—or even if—her development partner was going to be able to get back on track and launch a quality product. She soon decided to take the existing app’s source code and look for a new development agency to take the product across the finish line.
When Katy contacted Twin Sun, we sought to understand her goals for public launch, the state of the existing app, and what needed to be done to close the gap. Beginning with a code review, we analyzed the state of the existing application. With our eyes on maintainability and reliability, we determined whether we could continue with what the previous developers had built or would need to rewrite the app. Thankfully, the foundation was sound enough for us to feel confident enough to continue with the existing code base.
“Their team was comfortable working with the code we had and showed genuine excitement about the project. Additionally, they offered a fixed rate for the project, which we appreciated.”
— Katy Allen, Owner, Artful Agenda
