Author: Jason Porritt

Introduce Human-Centered Design: Start Small and Start Today

Introducing Human-Centered Design doesn’t have to be complicated. It isn’t a monolithic process that has to be applied across an entire organization before it works. Human-Centered Design is a discipline, a way of thinking and framing context, that provides value incrementally throughout the lifecycle of product design, development, support, and beyond. You can start simple, wherever you are in a product lifecycle, and begin reaping value from it immediately. Read more on Introduce Human-Centered Design: Start Small and Start Today…

Four Lessons Learned while Troubleshooting CAN Bus Communication with my Subaru

I recently started a fun personal project involving two of my favorite things: cars and software. Modern cars come with plenty of software on board, controlling everything from engine behavior and stability to door locks and entertainment. The software already running on my Subaru does plenty of interesting things, but I’d really like to see more live information from its engine control unit (ECU). So I’ve taken the only logical next step: building a digital gauge. Read more on Four Lessons Learned while Troubleshooting CAN Bus Communication with my Subaru…

Six Ways to Tame Your IoT Project

IoT projects can be complicated. Compared to a mobile or web application, connected physical products frequently involve a wider breadth of software, hardware, and people. The complexity of building an IoT product can quickly become overwhelming if not properly managed. Here are a few things that can help tame the chaos of an IoT project. Read more on Six Ways to Tame Your IoT Project…

More Robust Browser-Side Networking

What happens to your web application when used over a flaky network connection? Does it swallow errors and stop responding? Does it bounce users immediately to the browser’s built-in “no connection” page? Does it give you a way to continue using the application when network connectivity is restored?

It used to be acceptable to simply say that a web application could only be used when there was a consistent, reliable network connection. They are web applications, after all. But it’s time to stop using that excuse. Read more on More Robust Browser-Side Networking…

The Many Uses of Pairing: Replacing Post-Work Review with Collaboration

One big thing that Extreme Programming got right is pair programming. Rather than waiting until work is complete to review code with another developer, the authors of XP figured that if having two pairs of eyes on code was important, why not do it continuously? Read more on The Many Uses of Pairing: Replacing Post-Work Review with Collaboration…

Book Review – Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change

I appreciate books that provide an easy-to-remember, visual framework for the key points. Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition is one of those books. The framework is a six-quadrant grid meant to help identify ways to influence key behaviors in ourselves and others. Read more on Book Review – Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change…

Utilize Your Software Consultants to Frame Product Management Decisions

As software product consultants, we’re typically not in a position to take responsibility for significant product management decisions. However, we care a lot about the decisions that are made and want to know that our customers have the best information and context to make their decisions.

At every stage in a project, from sale to delivery, we can provide important information to help frame product management decisions. Below are a few things that a good software consultant brings to the table when product management work needs to get done. Read more on Utilize Your Software Consultants to Frame Product Management Decisions…

Smart Strategies for the End of a Project

We talk a lot about what we do before and during projects: how research, design, and planning (RDP) activities can shape a well-informed project plan, how we can manage a project’s scope to meet a budget, and how we can make delivery to production work for our clients. But what about when that’s all done? What’s important when a project is over? Below are a few tasks that should be considered as a project wraps up. Read more on Smart Strategies for the End of a Project…

7 Tips for a Joyful Return to a Software Project

We start a lot of new projects at Atomic, but we also spend a lot of time working with our clients to continue adding new features to software products that we built some time in the past. I recently returned to a project that I spent nearly two years building after eighteen months away from it, and I wanted to share a few things that can make jumping into a past project a joy. Read more on 7 Tips for a Joyful Return to a Software Project…