Develeap’s kitchen: How we optimize our most important resource

No, I’m not talking about memory or CPU. Our most important resource is our people.

At Develeap, we consult for hundreds of customers, handling everything from long-term projects that last years to short ones that wrap up in just a few weeks. Short projects, by their nature, often leave us with a small “transition team” – consultants who have just wrapped up one assignment and are waiting to start their next.

I want to share a story of how we turn these in-between moments into opportunities for maximum impact, both for our people and for our customers.

It all started with a simple request

“I enjoy working with Develeap,” one of our customers said during a weekly meeting with our consultant. “I have a small project I’d like to implement, but I’m far from the DevOps world and don’t know how to start. Could you help me out?”

“Describe what you need,” replied the consultant. “We’ll happily review it and see if and how we can help.”

The request was quickly passed to our architecture team for an initial evaluation.“Who can review this? Do we have someone available?” I asked during the Group Leaders’ sync meeting.

Luckily, we had Avihai, our star engineer, who had just wrapped up a project at Mobileye and had a few days free before his next assignment.

Avihai dove into the request, analyzing the scope, and estimated the project would take a few working days, up to two weeks. He drafted a Scope of Work (SOW) outlining both a minimal installation and an expanded version with additional options. He also included a list of requirements and open questions for the customer.

The customer was thrilled and greenlit the project. I stepped in as project manager, and Avihai got to work right away.

Customer feedback that made our day

As the project progressed, Avihai held several online meetings with the customer to iron out the remaining details. The customer was thrilled and asked us to go ahead with the expanded SOW. We also identified additional items to cover. 

However, we encountered a few challenges. First, the project requirements weren’t fully clear. To resolve this, we asked the customer to provide us with the contact details of their external consultant so we could clarify the requirements directly. This ensured we could move forward with confidence.

Second, we didn’t receive the necessary cloud credentials on time. To avoid being blocked, we used our own cloud accounts for testing, keeping the project on track while waiting for access.

Along the way, we also made some smart choices to avoid unnecessary work. For example, Avihai and I discussed whether we should implement an autoscaler for the application. After evaluating the expected usage, we agreed that for now, manual scaling would be sufficient. Instead of adding unnecessary complexity, we provided the customer with clear documentation on how to scale manually, and we assured them that if autoscaling is ever needed in the future, we’ll be there to help.

Three or four days later, the core project was nearly complete, but a few tasks remained.

“What should I do?” Avihai asked. “I still have things to wrap up, but I start my new customer tomorrow.”

“Bring it to MVP – get the core functionality live and let the customer see progress,” I said. “Launch the app! At the end of the day, send me a list of what’s still needed, and we’ll take it from there.”

Later that evening, my Boss got the following text message from the customer:

“Listen, I’ve never seen such professionalism. Such mastery of the material, such independence, task management, and depth of understanding. I’ve worked with other companies on similar projects – this is just two levels above. Avihai is amazing!”

You can imagine the energy boost it gave us 🙂

Navigating the handoff

We provided the customer with a detailed project status and faced our next challenge: handing off the project. Transitions are always tricky – jumping into someone else’s work, tying up loose ends, and making sure nothing gets missed.

So, how do we ensure these transitions go smoothly?

First, we use shared best practices and tools – like cloud well-architected frameworks that ensure resilient, secure, and cost-effective designs, while IaC guarantees consistent and reproducible infrastructure across environments. These keep everyone aligned and ensure smooth handoffs, even during transitions.

Second, we trust Agile. As one of its core principles puts it: ‘Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.’

During a group leader sync, I asked again, “Who’s available right now? I need someone for a few days.”

We decided to attach Dominik, our brilliant engineer from Poland, who had just finished with another client. We quickly set up a sync meeting with the customer, Avihai, and Dominik to transfer the project.

It took Dominik some time to understand the work already done and the tasks still outstanding. However, he quickly got up to speed thanks to our internal communication.

Dominik also raised a valid concern: implementing a full ELK stack for logging might be time-consuming and overkill for the project’s scope. After reviewing the requirements, we agreed that a managed logging solution offering a generous free tier would be more than enough to cover the project’s needs. It offered excellent coverage with minimal effort, allowing us to focus on delivering results without unnecessary complications.

I worried it would need a lot of coordination. But when I reached out to Dominik on Monday to check in, I discovered he had already synced with everyone and clarified everything.

After a few internal meetings, we finalized the best approach and completed the project by the end of the week.

The customer’s feedback?

“I just finished a call with Dominik… what a rockstar. Listen, your people – one by one – absolutely bravo!”

Hearing feedback like this, I’m reminded that not every customer says it out loud – but each one of our consultants truly deserves it.

Finally, here’s the point:

This is what it’s all about – the best use of people’s time is not just a way to optimize resources; it’s also how we keep them challenged and fulfilled, delivering great results along the way. 

If you have challenges that will make our people happy, let’s talk!