By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Just six years ago, custom software developer Atomic Object began with two employees—the founders, Carl Erickson and Bill Breza. A couple of weeks ago, the Grand Rapids firm added their 19th employee and tallied up this year's revenue predictions: $2.5 million, a 25 percent increase over last year.
Erickson and Breza are pioneers in something called agile software practices—a method where the developer writes tests for the software before writing the software. Those tests become the programs that prove that the software works.
"The idea is that even if a project takes six or nine months, every single week we’re delivering a fully tested system to the client," Erickson says. "We took these practices and figured out how to use them in embedded software. There is no other contract software development firm doing this."
That embedded software is revolutionizing how certain industries produce their products. For example, one of Atomic Object's custom embedded software programs improves the performance of an automatic guided vehicle on a client's factory floor. Another enhances a color measurement system printing companies use to calibrate colors.
"The status quo is you don’t see anything until the very end of the project and it may or may not be what you really want, and it may or may not cost what you were told it would cost, and it may or may not be delivered on time," Erickson says. "With delivery every week, the client says if its what they want or not, and the budget is much more predictable."
Source: Carl Erickson, Atomic Object
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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