...Web site delivered 20% faster, within budget and with extra functionality...
   
Thursday 27 March 2008, New Bamboo, the specialist in bespoke software development using Ruby on Rails, has created an online children’s Book Club for Scholastic UK Ltd. The new site will be used alongside the familiar printed club leaflet that the company regularly offers to their young customers. Using Ruby on Rails and Agile processes, the site was developed 20% faster, on-budget and delivered with more functionality than originally scoped. The Scholastic Book Club Online was launched in the UK on 19th February 2008 and has already received 5000 visitors in less than a month.

“In web development, time is always critical, and this is particularly true at Scholastic where deadlines are dictated by publishing schedules,” said Peter Mahnke, Web Project Director, Scholastic UK. “As New Bamboo use the Ruby on Rails web application framework, the Scholastic Book Club Online was developed within time and budget, and without any of the stress normally associated with a rapidly approaching deadline.”

Scholastic UK is part of Scholastic Inc, the largest publisher and distributor of children's books in the world and a leader in educational technology.  It is home to the world’s favourite children’s writers including Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Its Book Club provides children with a colourful environment in which to explore books through a variety of activities including games, quizzes and writing reviews. Children can search for information about books and authors, read extracts, create wish lists and a member’s page, and even receive book recommendations.

New Bamboo recommended that the Scholastic Book Club Online be developed using Agile processes, a dynamic, iterative approach that involved regular meetings with key stakeholders throughout project. “The use of Agile processes gave us two distinct advantages. Firstly, as every interested party was involved in the process from start to finish, we built a site that was exactly what the business wanted. There was no guesswork, and expectations were met,” said Peter Mahnke. “Secondly, we were able to brainstorm ideas for the site along the way; ideas that we would never have come up otherwise but which made the site even better. As a result, we actually built the site with more functionality than was in the original scope.”

Max Williams, Co-Founder of New Bamboo said, “Many forward thinking companies are looking for a simpler, more effective way to develop robust web products. Scholastic has shown what can be achieved by taking a fresh approach – and delivered a project that’s on time, on budget and with extra functionality. New Bamboo is really pleased to have been instrumental in that process.”

Peter Mahnke concluded, “We have a lot to thank New Bamboo for. They taught us all about Agile processes and were completely focussed on our success throughout the project. We felt that we were true partners. The Scholastic Book Club Online is the best web site project that I have ever been involved in, a view that is shared by my team. Ruby on Rails and Agile processes work together really well and we will be using this approach – and New Bamboo – to develop all our web sites in future.”