DevOps as a Service

Project Manager at IT Outposts

Pavlo Morozov

For every project, we assign a dedicated project manager who coordinates between our team and yours. Our PM, Pavlo, explains their key role:

Starting a project correctly is just as critical as building a strong foundation for a house. Should an issue arise with the highest floors, they are fixable. However, if there’s an issue with the foundation, this can lead to some serious problems. That’s why we make sure to understand the client’s needs and objectives from the very beginning. We then create a detailed plan, mapping out the goals, approach, and timeline. Our project managers closely monitor progress against this plan throughout the project.

Communication management is one of the project management areas. Our managers also develop a detailed communication plan tailored to your working style — a framework that outlines the cadence of meetings, participants, agendas, and communication channels. Below, you can see an example of our communication plan.

We use Slack for daily team collaboration and Google Meet for video calls. However, we can adapt to whatever communication platforms your company prefers. If any urgent matters arise, we’re always available for ad-hoc video calls to discuss and resolve issues promptly.

Our team constantly monitors industry trends so we can quickly implement new tools that enhance our problem-resolution workflows. However, preventing such problems is our primary objective. From the start, we create a project plan that includes a risk register. Our team assesses what risks exist and what risk strategies can be implemented in each case. If any bottlenecks do occur, we have pre-prepared disaster recovery plans for each project. If the issue is on our end, we’ll tackle it. If it requires collaboration with your development team, we’ll work together to identify the root cause and address it.

Aside from a disaster recovery plan, our team also creates a notification flow. It outlines the monitoring and analytics tools used, alert responses, who is informed, initial actions taken, how issues are resolved, and communication upon resolution. Take a look at the example of our notification flow below.

For example, we had a case when we received alerts about latency issues. Our DevOps engineers found the root cause was heavy queries within the apps, not infrastructure issues. We couldn’t just add resources, so we worked closely with developers. First, we disabled problematic queries to quickly resolve the latency for users. Then, we configured monitoring tools to gather data and pinpoint the core issue within the app code. Using this data, developers optimized the queries, permanently resolving the latency problems.

A core principle for IT Outposts is taking responsibility off your plate. Think of us as an extension of your own team. When our team engages in a project, we own the infrastructure, cloud operations, monitoring, and other processes. This frees up your team to focus solely on your core business priorities.

We assign a dedicated team fully immersed in your project. They gather technical requirements and communicate with you to understand your expectations and measures of success.

Based on this information, your dedicated PMs create a project management plan according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. Our PMs use inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs that are described in PMBOK below.

The project management plan includes the following components:

We review this plan with you and make any changes to ensure it matches your expectations. Once we agree on the timeline, our team starts working on the project to deliver the solution within the outlined schedule.

Our team primarily uses the Kanban approach for project management, as it aligns well with our DevOps practices. However, we’re flexible and can use other methodologies, like Scrum for projects with unclear scopes or Waterfall for fixed-price projects with defined requirements and timelines. Our PMs select the most suitable approach based on the project characteristics during the initial planning phase.

We offer two pricing packages and engagement models. ​​Each option is designed to fit your specific project needs, timeline, and budget.

The first option is a fixed-price approach, where we provide a dedicated team to work solely on your project from start to finish. The team typically includes a project manager, account manager, DevOps engineers, team lead, and head of DevOps. They will devote all their time to understanding your project’s challenges and delivering the solution you need. Our project managers will plan and manage staffing needs as the project evolves and gather metrics on your satisfaction levels.

Scenario for using service packages for a dedicated team

The second option is hourly-based outstaffing. You can select specialists with varying experience levels and certifications at different hourly rates. This model gives you the flexibility to scale up or down resources while you maintain direct control over project management.

Flexibility is ingrained in our working style. We understand that DevOps isn’t just about technical processes and metrics — it’s about supporting your main business goals.

So, when adjustments arise, we’ll collaborate closely with your team to replan and realign our work. IT Outposts will continue to provide the maximum value for your business despite any changes.

CEO at OneDayBundle

Egor Prihodko

IT Outposts did more than just the technical work to meet Amazon’s requirements. They also actively participated in filling out the questionnaire and joined meetings with auditors, even though those tasks weren’t normally part of their services. Their extra involvement made sure everything went smoothly during our certification.

Absolutely. We can provide ongoing support and maintenance after the core solution is delivered. Since we’ve already optimized your systems, our continued support will be more cost-effective for you. In addition, we won’t need any extra time to get familiar with your setup — we can just keep operating smoothly.

IT Outposts offers 24/7 monitoring and rapid response to any alerts. For critical incidents outside business hours, our on-call DevOps engineers receive phone notifications to quickly resolve problems at any time of day or night.

We’re happy to discuss different support options that fit your needs and budget. Whether you want a full support package or just ad-hoc consultations as new needs arise, we can tailor an approach that works best for you.