dobee.it has had several positive experiences using external partners and consultants over the years. Access to expertise and increased capacity have been important to them since their inception in 2020, in addition to their own local tech team.
In this article, Kenny Hognestad and Viggo Navarsete from dobee.it will share their best advice for succeeding with a hybrid team – and explain why they now would have chosen Cefalo even earlier.
– More power in executing strategies
dobee.it develops Let’s dobee.it!®—an effective and engaging tool for executing strategies. The tool is perfect for OKR, Must Wins, SMART, BHAG, and BigBets. But dobee.it is more than buzzwords and innovative technology—the company has a clear vision to solve the practical challenges for organizations that want to work together towards a common goal.
KEEP THE STRATEGY IN YOUR POCKET: With dobee.it you have your goals and tasks easily available in your pocket. The app focuses on user-friendliness and engagement.
For dobee.it, technology is about more than functionality. They wanted software that stood out, both in design and user experience. Using modern technologies, they have developed a progressive web app designed to be easy, playful, and engaging to use. The platform is continuously developed with one clear focus: creating value for the customer.
When the need arose to increase development efficiency, dobee.it sought a partner who could help them grow — without losing agility or quality. The solution was an external development team from Cefalo, set up on dobee.it's terms.
Invested in junior developers
To further develop the platform quickly and efficiently, they wanted to strengthen their development team with external resources — but in a way that ensured close collaboration, quality, and ownership of the product.
After careful consideration, dobee.it decided on a junior agreement — a model that provides access to recent graduates, combined with an experienced mentor who works part-time with coaching and follow-up. It was a solution that offered good financial flexibility but also required dobee.it to take a more active responsibility for building the team.
– We spent a long time evaluating partners, and it took almost a year from the first conversation until we entered into an agreement. But once we took the step, we quickly experienced that the Cefalo team worked well. They became an integrated part of our development work from day one, says Viggo Navarsete, CTO at dobee.it.
20 days to provide insight
An important part of the success has been giving the developers enough context to make good decisions. Before starting, Navarsete had a clear plan for onboarding, where the first 20 days were used to provide the team with insight into dobee.it's customers, business model, and technology choices.
CHOSE A JUNIOR TEAM: At Cefalo in Dhaka, the junior team of Md Yusuf Zubaer og Parvez Mia are closely followed by their mentor Palash Debnath.
He wanted the developers to work independently as quickly as possible but knew it required a thorough introduction to how the company worked and the challenges they solved for their customers.
– We have been conscious of giving them a deep understanding of both our product and our customers. This has enabled them to take ownership and come up with their own suggestions for improvements, Navarsete explains.
– We have a development team that doesn’t give us any worries. We avoid unnecessary setbacks. We have people we can trust, which allow us to maintain high speed without compromising on quality, says CEO of dobee.it, Kenny Hognestad.
A place for learning
dobee.it emphasizes the importance of close follow-up and clear communication to succeed with an external development team. They hold daily stand-up meetings and use collaboration tools to ensure everyone is on the same page.
– We are carefully aware of the fact that this is a place for learning. Mistakes will happen. They are both normal and fine – as long as we learn from them. We have an open and inclusive culture where all input is valued. This has created a good dynamic in the team and contributed to continuous improvement, says the CTO.
THEIR DEVELOPERS THINK LIKE CONSULTANTS: Kenny Hognestad and Viggo Navarsete of dobee.it get high value for money and have a team that takes responsibility and has ownership of their tasks.
– Our developers have gone through solid consultant training
Even though the team mainly consists of junior developers, dobee.it has experienced that they learn quickly and deliver beyond expectations. A key factor for success has been Cefalo’s way of business, including having a senior developer in Dhaka who supports the team internally.
– The biggest difference between Cefalo and other providers I have worked with is the work they do before the developers join us. Cefalo has trained them to be consultants, not just developers. They are skilled at documentation, taking responsibility, and having ownership of their work, Navarsete explains.
THE CEFALO-TEAM IN DHAKA: The team in Dhaka has daily standups with both the CEO and the CTO of dobee.it.
– Maintaining high speed with quality
Through their collaboration, dobee.it has been able to develop their product at a high pace without worrying about stability or quality. They experience that the developers in Dhaka are just as much a part of the team as their employees in Norway.
– We have a development team that doesn’t cause us any worries. We avoid unnecessary setbacks. We have people we can trust, which allow us to maintain high speed without compromising on quality, Kenny Hognestad.
Would have involved Cefalo earlier
For dobee.it, the collaboration has also opened up new opportunities. Although they were initially cautious about involving external developers outside of Norway, they now see that the Cefalo team can contribute in more areas than originally planned. They have also discovered that the time difference between Dhaka and Norway brings advantages: with the developers working four hours ahead, a significant amount of work is completed before the morning standup meetings in Norway.
– Looking back, we would probably have made this decision earlier. Now, we see the Cefalo team as a core part of our structure, and we use them more flexibly than we initially expected, says Viggo Navarsete.
dobee.its Advice for Succeeding With External Development
dobee.it has extensive experience working with external consultants, now also with Cefalo abroad. They have learned valuable lessons about making an external development team work optimally across different countries, languages, and cultures. The key takeaways are:
- Give the team enough insight – Developers who understand business goals and customer challenges can make better decisions on their own.
- Keep customers at the centre – A short distance between developers and end-users leads to better solutions.
- Follow structured processes – Daily standups and close follow-ups ensure progress and ownership.
- Involve more than just the tech team – When C-suites participates in the development process, it becomes easier to align technology with business goals.
- Build a strong team culture – Treat external developers as part of the company, not just as a service provider.
SIMPLE, YET EFFICIENT: Using dobee.it should be playful and easy – the developers spend a lot of time on user experience.
– A Valuable Development Partner with a Strong Culture
Cefalo has proven to be a stable and valuable development partner for dobee.it. They have gained a team that works well, challenges ideas, and takes ownership of both the code and the product. With Cefalo on board, dobee.it can continue developing its platform—quickly, cost-effectively, and with high quality.
– We have been told that we have a trust-based and modern culture, and we are proud of that. But we also see that Cefalo has built a strong internal culture. That is probably one of the reasons for their success—their developers have great jobs, enjoy their work, and stay with them, and as a customer, we can feel that, Kenny Hognestad concludes.
Curious about external development? We would be happy to have a chat with you!
Post written by Jens Wahlberg
Chief Commercial Officer
