Atomic Spin

UX/Design Techniques • Nov 08, 2017

Toggling Switches when the Server Says “No”

When the system was in a particular state, the user was allowed to toggle a switch. Our challenge: how to communicate that yes, we got your click, but we can't actually toggle the

Web Apps • Nov 07, 2017

Leveraging the Boundary Between Client and Server in a REST API

A lesson I learned about leveraging the boundary between the client and server in a REST API by abstracting embedded resources.

Choosing Your Team • Nov 06, 2017

Facing Knowledge Asymmetry & Finding a Software Consultant

When you don't understand software, it's hard to know which consultants to trust. Here's how to avoid ending up with a $.5 million lemon.

Developer Tools • Nov 06, 2017

Comparing the New Atom-IDE to Visual Studio Code for Web Development

A comparison of Atom-IDE's new features with Visual Studio Code for web dev. Would I recommend Atom-IDE? At this point, only for the brave and curious.

Developer Tools • Nov 05, 2017

Simple Database Dump/Restore with Postgres on Heroku

This fetches the database URL using the Heroku CLI, and then uses Postgres's pg_dump command to dump the contents of the database into a local file.

Project & Team Management • Nov 04, 2017

Better Project Budgeting with the SUMIF Function

Your spreadsheet's SUMIF function is super handy when budgeting for a project. It can show you, at a glance, how the costs of different features add up.

UX/Design Practices • Nov 03, 2017

Design Thinking and Atomic Project Leadership

IDEO defines Design Thinking with three lenses: Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility. Our project leadership roles align well with these dimensions.

Functional Programming • Nov 02, 2017

An Introduction to Property-Based Testing with JavaScript

How to apply the powerful Property-Based Testing technique to functional-style codebases in Javascript with the JSVerify library.

Development Practices • Nov 01, 2017

Be Expressive: How to Give Your Variables Better Names

Well named variables are one of the most useful things you can do to build a maintainable and predictable codebases. They make code seem effortless.

Growing as Makers • Nov 01, 2017

Why “Fake It ’til You Make It” Is Bad Advice, and What to Do Instead

None of us feel confident 100% of the time. So instead of lying about it or beating yourself up, be genuine and keep a ravenous appetite for knowledge.

Web Apps • Oct 31, 2017

React and TypeScript – The Basics

What's required to set up a React TypeScript project, how basic React/Redux type definitions work, & how React with TypeScript is different than JavaScript.

Development Practices • Oct 30, 2017

Using State Tables for Testing

Using state tables for testing is great for situations where there are a variety of inputs for a function that produce different results.