Building Software for Small Businesses

A lot of my work is for small businesses. They rarely need a large system. They need one or two things to work reliably and get out of the way.

The hardest part is usually not the code. It is understanding how the team already works and not forcing them to change it. If the software makes their day harder, they stop using it, no matter how good it looks.

So I try to ship something small first, watch how it is used, and adjust. Fewer features, but the ones that are there should be dependable. That is the approach behind projects like AtomIK and Atomik UAM.