Case study/Personal Care
Embedding engineers in the team for a personal-care products platform (Goldn)
unicrew worked as an integral part of Goldn's internal development teams, from refining stories to deploying epics into production.
Goldn builds a platform for streamlining how formulation-based products get created, cosmetics and personal care products among them. To extend their existing frontend and backend development teams, unicrew engineers joined as an integral part of those teams: refining stories, defining solution architecture, implementing, testing, and sharing knowledge. Goldn measured the work by the stories and epics that reached production. The engagement ran under our former Artelogic brand.
- Client
- Goldn
- Focus
- Personal Care
- Market
Germany- Engagement
- Embedded team extension
Outcome at a glance
What this project delivered.
- 01Stories and epics implemented and deployed into production, the measure Goldn set for the work
- 02One point of contact, clear communication, and solutions worked out as a team
- 03Requirements moved, and the team moved with them
The challenge
Goldn’s goal, in their own words, was to extend the existing frontend development team and extend the existing backend development team. The load-bearing word is extend. Engineers who sit beside a team and wait to be handed a ticket are a different proposition from engineers working inside it, refining the stories, deciding how a piece should be built, and testing what they wrote. The scope Goldn set asked for the second one: work as an integral part of their internal development teams.
Our approach
unicrew joined as an embedded engineering team working inside Goldn’s development teams rather than as a unit beside them. The same engineers refined stories, defined solution architecture, implemented and tested, and documented and shared knowledge as they went, so the people making the design calls were the people who had to live with them.
A single point of contact kept communication clear, solutions were worked out as a team, and the team stayed flexible when requirements changed. That is what a managed team extension is supposed to buy: not seats, but people who can be trusted with a decision.
Results
The measure of progress Goldn chose was the number of stories and epics implemented and deployed into production, and that is what the engagement produced. On project management, Frank Rössler recorded a single point of contact, clear communication, solutions found as a team, and flexibility when requirements changed.
meinUnterricht’s search team ran on the same model, one engineer inside the team rather than beside it: search and AI engineering for an edtech platform. What other clients say about working with us is on our client reviews page.
“They deliver in a highly professional way while being in a volatile and insecure situation.”
Frank Rössler, CTO, Goldn
What the client says
Single point of contact. Very clear in communications and finding solutions as a team. Flexible when requirements changed. They deliver in a highly professional way while being in a volatile and insecure situation.
04/Quick answers
The questions behind the project
What did unicrew do for Goldn's personal-care platform?
unicrew engineers worked as an integral part of Goldn's internal development teams. Day to day that meant refining stories, defining solution architecture, implementing and testing, and documenting and sharing knowledge as they went. Goldn measured the work by the number of stories and epics implemented and deployed into production. The engagement ran under our former Artelogic brand.
How do your engineers plug into our existing team?
Inside your teams, not alongside them. With Goldn that meant joining as an embedded engineering team whose engineers refined the stories, defined the solution architecture, and then implemented and tested the result, so the people making the design calls were the people who had to live with them. A single point of contact kept communication clear, solutions were worked out as a team, and the team stayed flexible when requirements changed, which is what a managed team extension is for.
What happens to what your engineers learn?
It gets documented and shared. Goldn wrote knowledge sharing into the scope of this engagement, next to refining stories, solution architecture, implementation and testing, so it was part of the job rather than a scramble at the end of it. That is the difference between an embedded team and a rented seat: the context does not walk out when a person does.