Binary Noggin
An Agile Touch to Software Development

Though the concept of “agile” has been rumbling as a buzzword since 2001, it has now gained more traction as the need for a quantitative leap and rapid deployment is building up in the software development landscape. Today, it serves as a go-to model for organizations’ software development endeavors, considering its capabilities to streamline and optimize the development lifecycle. Agile boasts a collaborative framework, resulting in greater transparency and communication between teams and reduces the likelihood of products failing to meet the standards. Pre-designed with shorter feedback loops, developers can better react to unprecedented changes during the process and focus more on value-based prioritization, helping organizations build high-quality products and achieve a quick trajectory to market.

Established to help organizations embrace agile methodologies into their software development lifecycle is Binary Noggin. This Missouri-based software development and consulting firm specializes in assisting organizations to forge tailored and flexible solutions by leveraging its expertise in agile and mastery of Elixir, Ruby, and other open source technologies.

While conversing with the CIO Applications’ editorial team, Amos King, the Founder, and CEO of Binary Noggin, shares his insights on how the company leverages its expertise in agile to help clients build technically superior products.

Could you give us a brief overview of Binary Noggin?

Binary Noggin was the result of my passion for making a world of difference in the software development landscape by leveraging agile methodologies. Founded in 2007, when I was working as a software language expert at Asynchrony Solutions, an agile software technology firm, Binary Noggin started by handling projects that were too small for them to take over. In 2013, I stepped out from Asynchrony Solutions with an expert set of hands to grow Binary Noggin as an independently recognized software technology firm. I leveraged my expertise in agile methodologies and Extreme Programming practices to take the company to the next level and establish a strong presence in the industry. In no time, we collaborated with our first client, Liaison that provides software solutions for managing medical school admissions. At that time, we brought in five developers as subcontractors and worked in sync with our client’s development teams to come up with a robust solution for them.

Today, Binary Noggin is a team of passionate software engineers and architects who are solely focused on developing technically superior products for our clients. We develop sustainable solutions by leveraging our expertise in Elixir, Ruby, Phoenix, Nerves, and other open source technologies while using agile methodologies to make the software development process more effective for clients’ long-term success.

What are some of the major challenges that clients face when it comes to software development?

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent work-from-home edicts have completely disrupted the software development industry’s operations. With a highly distributed workforce, establishing seamless and effective communication between teams is snowballing into a headache for most organizations.

Although business communication platforms can take over the task, they tend to encourage in-person communications, which impede efficient collaboration. As a result, organizations struggle to build camaraderie among their workforce and draw their fullest potential for providing clients with the best solutions on time.

Dedicated to mitigating these challenges, we use video conference calls and leverage business communication tools like Slack that help establish effective collaboration between teams. In fact, we have longstanding experience in working remotely and using such tools within our ecosystem.

Could you elaborate on the services that Binary Noggin offers?

Binary Noggin is a team of agile practitioners who serve as a resourceful navigator that helps elevate the skills of clients’ teams to drive their project forward. We incorporate agile methodologies into clients’ software development process to help build powerful, tailored, and flexible solutions that make real differences in their business. As leading agile practitioners, we identify that every team is unique, and we customize our services to suit the best strategy and architecture for their specific needs. We work with them to identify and implement the ideal methodology that goes well with their team to help them push the envelope.

Furthermore, we’re not a ‘set and forget’ company. Adhering to our commitment to helping clients succeed through collaboration, we realize that two heads are always better than one and serve as a trusted extension of their team. At Binary Noggin, we adopt a pair programming approach that helps establish an uninterrupted communication channel within the team and keep the bus factor as low as possible. This way, clients can reduce their overall expenses and human resources spent on their projects.

Furthermore, in some instances, we go the extra mile to serve as our clients’ exclusive product team, especially for small organizations, helping them develop sustainable solutions. At the same time, we also enable them to find the right talent and train them to take over their future projects. Our team of experienced agile practitioners mentor clients’ teams from teaching programming languages to establishing fluid processes, helping them excel in software architecture and development practices. We handhold our clients through the entire process and empower them with knowledge and innovative ideas to help push their projects forward.

Could you provide us a case study that exemplifies Binary Noggin’s value proposition?

We cater to a wide range of clients, from small start-ups to huge enterprises. Our recent collaboration with a medical company that was looking forward to upgrading their existing patient portal well exemplifies our value proposition. The client had their own team that encompassed around 30 developers working on the project for more than eight months. And unfortunately, they couldn’t come up with a solution that met their needs. This is precisely where we came in and worked with them to understand their product requirements and their current developments.

Upon gaining a complete picture of what they were looking for, we started by allowing them to pull off a lot of developers from their core team. We then created a team of three members, including our practitioners, to work hand in hand and complete the project in just three months. The client then asked us to take over another project to create a portal for finding local doctors, which a two-member team was able to deliver in less than 90 days.

What plans does Binary Noggin have in its roadmap?

With several such success stories, Binary Noggin positions itself as a go-to partner dedicated to adding value to clients’ software development life cycle. In addition to custom software development, we also have in-depth know-how in developing embedded and distributed systems. We are an agile company that always has innovation in our corporate DNA. Today, Binary Noggin is capable of developing the software for a system even before we have the hardware in place, allowing companies to postpone their hardware purchase and even negotiate on its price.

Furthermore, our powerful hands-on approach while collaborating with clients helped us achieve a progressive growth trajectory. Over the last two years, we’ve hired six more experts to our team. Today, Binary Noggin is planning to add four more software engineers aiming to further enhance our operations and extend our footprints in the industry. We’re also partnering with a company that manufactures a secure operating system for embedded devices, where we serve as the sole developer of the software that runs their product. Moving ahead, our goal is to have a national footprint and partner with some prominent players to come up with products that benefit human existence.