Atomic's Process
Make, test, adjust repeat
“Atomic Object successfully delivered a structured and actionable technology roadmap within budget.”
“Everything was beautifully communicated and organized. I never felt confused about where we were in the process, and we always hit every single deadline we laid out.”
“Atomic Object’s project management was exceptional.”
Our Proven Process, Tailored to Your Needs
Our process harnesses your industry knowledge and our 25+ years of product development experience. Together, we can create something enduringly valuable.
01
Pre-Project Consulting
Since Atomic Object deploys teams of full-time employees on projects, our start date for projects depends on their availability. This means you won’t get stuck with an outsourced team, and when a project ream is assigned to you, your needs become our priority.
Completing the form above will get you in touch with a Managing Partner who will work with you to understand your schedule constraints and do their best to meet them.
02
Research, Design, and Planning
Your stakeholders will meet with the project team for a Research, Design, and Planning (RDP) engagement, tailored to fit your project.
- The Atoms on your team will learn all about your business, potential users, and product ideas.
- We'll all put ourselves in the users' shoes, with provisional personas and context scenarios—validated with user research, if appropriate.
- We'll prioritize product features into a Story Map, set milestones, create an estimated task backlog, and review the budget.
These artifacts make up our preliminary plan, which will guide the rest of the project. The RDP phase helps us become a team with shared goals and a shared concept of what the product will be.
Curious about the benefits of Research, Design, and Planning? Check out this post from our Grand Rapids Managing Partner, Brittany Hunter.
03
Software Creation
Armed with the preliminary plan, we'll start creating software in iterations—weekly cycles of creation and refinement.Armed with the preliminary plan, we'll start creating software in iterations—weekly cycles of creation and refinement.
- Plan: Set priorities for the coming week's work, fine-tuning the original plan and making sure we're making the smartest use of your budget.
- Test: Write automated unit and system tests to know when our code is done and working properly. Test visual designs with usability tests and design review meetings.
- Create: Write code and design interfaces to create functioning software, using Agile methods.
- Review: Discuss the past week's work, plus any difficulties or new ideas. Review progress toward milestone and budget.
Iterations help us stay on track, adapt to change, and incorporate new ideas. They make the difference between a mediocre product and an amazing one.
04
Support & Maintenance
When your product is ready, Atomic helps you bring it to the world—working with a 3rd party host, getting approval from the App store, or integrating it into your company's infrastructure.
When you're ready to make some changes—even small tweaks—Atomic is here to help. We offer chunk-of-time support contracts; you'll only pay us for the work we do, but you don't have to negotiate an agreement or secure funding for every 2-hour task.
05
Planning for the Future
Launching your first release is really just starting another Test phase. There's a lot to learn: How are people using the product? What else would they like to see it do? We can help you make sense of all this feedback and lay out a plan for future releases.
Ready to get your project started?
Talk to a Managing Partner
