The Beginning of an Ambitious Project
Though we started working on the product in February 2023, we released the first beta to the wild in September 2023. We are incredibly proud of our accomplishments within less than a year. We were happy that only 3 of us could plan and execute a product.
Early Feedback and Excitement
Around 102 people tested the first beta and gave us positive feedback. Yes, we lacked many features and integrations, but we were pumped to see this. Many people are interested in trying our product and have given their valuable time to test it and communicate with us.
Commitment to Excellence
I tend to be very critical about whatever product I work with. I always try to test the products rigorously to ensure that there are no visible bugs. The designer was crucial to the user experience, and the developer used the latest technology. After we were happy with the MVP, we launched the lifetime plan and got an expected amount of response. We even got 5 investors interested!
Challenges and Changes
Crew HRM was an experimental work to see if all 3 of us could work together, given our bitter-sweet experience as colleagues. We found the idea for Crew HRM from our struggles as the team leads when we needed new people. In the beginning, it was planned as just a recruitment solution. However, we decided to make it a complete human resource management solution, given that WordPress doesn’t have a proper one.
We had no paperwork to onboard an investor on the team and legally manage the payment. We have a sole proprietorship, and registering an LLC in Bangladesh is time-consuming. We negotiated the terms and process with 3 investors, but in the end, we could not agree.
Transition and New Beginnings
After many moons had passed, our founding developer broke up with us and moved to his ventures. The designer and I stayed together and worked to find a new developer. We are delighted that we could find someone like Sabbir Hasan. He has been helping us maintain Crew HRM for the last couple of months, and we are about to introduce Microsoft Teams integration to schedule interviews with the applicants.
Milestones and Major Updates
Here’s a look back at the significant milestones and updates that have defined the evolution of Crew HRM over the past year:
- September 23, 2023 – v1.0: Crew HRM debuted with version 1.0. This initial release set the foundation for future growth, introducing the core functionalities of the plugin.
- November 15, 2023 – v1.0.2: Automated mail notifications for applicants and an email addon were introduced, along with fixes for dropdown icon size issues.
- November 19, 2023 – v1.0.3: Added currency and salary filters for mobile devices and customized the Career page design for mobile, resolving UI color and email event issues.
- December 9, 2023 – v1.0.5: Addressed meeting timezone offset issues for improved scheduling accuracy.
- January 25, 2024 – v1.0.6: Introduced a reCAPTCHA addon to prevent spam applications and new careers page shortcodes and Gutenberg blocks.
- May 3, 2024 – v1.1.0: Added several Pro features, including employee invitation, onboarding, profile management, and leave requests—fixed issues like empty department dropdowns and missing translatable strings.
- July 2, 2024 – v1.1.1: Focused on refining the plugin with fixes for the welcome screen reappearing issue and other enhancements.
- August 19, 2024 – v1.1.2: Addressed a critical PHP Object Injection security issue and improved compatibility with WP Rocket.
- August 21, 2024 – v1.1.3: Improved overall compatibility for a smoother user experience.
Looking Forward
The past year has been a rollercoaster of challenges and triumphs but has also been enriching. As we continue to develop Crew HRM, we’re excited about new features and enhancements, including the upcoming integration with Microsoft Teams. Thank you for your support and feedback throughout this journey.