Don’t Pay Consultants to be ‘Yes-People’

I’ve always had a hard time talking to “blue-sky” thinkers and entrepreneurs with the “next big idea.” It’s not because I don’t enjoy talking to them. It’s the opposite — they hate when I question them. I’ve been guilty of this, too. You’re passionate about your good ideas — you love them. And when people […]

The Benefits of Rotating Consultants on Projects

Earlier this year, I rotated onto a long-running project. This was the first project I’d joined that already had an established code base and team. This particular project is complex, with a large team, big goals, and a long history.

15 Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Software Project

When starting a new software project, there are a series of questions that need to be explored before diving headfirst into the development cycle. At Atomic, we often spend time in what we call the “Research, Design, and Planning” phase of the project to do just that.

Software Rot, Part 2 – What Maintenance Looks Like

Software applications (like homes, cars, and nearly everything else) need maintenance. Even when the software itself doesn’t change, the systems/devices it runs on and the larger software environment are always moving forward. This is called Software Rot. Most software maintenance falls into one of these categories: Updating Dependencies – Upating the frameworks, libraries, etc. that […]

Software Rot, Part 1 — Why & How it Goes Bad

Software rots if not maintained. The longer it sits on the shelf, the harder it becomes to work on it. It may even stop working on its own one day. This surprises my clients frequently, so I wanted to talk a bit about why this happens and how to plan for it.

Improve Your Programming Challenge by Asking Candidates to Read Code

Atomic interviews quite a few folks for entry-level software development positions each year. Part of the interview process involves a programming challenge. We try our best to present challenges that are similar to the work we do day-to-day, rather than asking candidates to solve obscure algorithmic puzzles. Generally, though, our candidates start from a blank […]

Management Levers: An Engaging Engagement Model

I’ve been selling custom software projects for nearly a decade. In my opinion, the most important part of the sale is correctly setting the client’s expectations for the design and development journey that’s in front of them. A key expectation to align on is the engagement model. Over the past few years, I’ve been describing […]

Code Reviews Are a Mistake – Try Pair Programming

Recent projects have made it crystal-clear to me that formal code reviews create waste and provide no value in return. By relying on pair programming, my project teams are delivering more effectively and efficiently than before.

Five Requirements to Bring Software to the Market

As consultants who build software, it’s sometimes easy to forget that, for our clients, the software itself is only one piece of the larger product launch. You could build the best software in the world, but if no one knows about it, that doesn’t matter.

How Atomic Goes About Setting a Project Budget

If you’ve worked with other custom software companies, you’ll notice that Atomic’s approach to budgeting is unique. It’s a lot more time-intensive and comprehensive. In fact, when I deliver a budget model to a customer who is comparison shopping, they often tell me something like, “This is the most comprehensive analysis I have seen from […]

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