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We’re curious people by nature. And we love to teach others what we’ve learned. So explore our blog to gain fresh insights from our expertise in areas ranging from culture to AI.
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Why the Best AI Agents Are Powered by a 3-Step Loop from 2022
Part 1 of the Data Governance & AI series I spent a month building an agent framework the “right” way. There were prescriptive JSON based workflows with staged pipelines, and a persistence layer for coordinating human-in-the-loop feedback. A gate review system enabled agents to validate each other’s work and loop back on failures. A debate […]
SEP Named One of Indiana’s Best Places to Work for 2026
SEP has been named one of Indiana’s Best Places to Work for 2026 by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce — marking the 17th time the Westfield-based software product design and development company has received the honor. SEP was selected in the medium company category, which includes organizations with between 75 and 249 U.S. employees. Headquartered in Westfield, Indiana, […]
The Most Important Software Development “Tool” in the Age of AI
The software industry is rapidly evolving right before our eyes. It’s both exciting and somewhat terrifying to witness. Paradigm shifts are often uncomfortable, but we know that AI tooling is here to stay, so we need to make the most of it — in a responsible manner. It’s very easy to tell a coding agent […]
Why Your Software Feature List Will Change (And That’s a Good Thing)
Every software consultant has experienced this moment: A client arrives with a detailed feature list, meticulously crafted and approved through multiple layers of their organization. They’ve secured funding, aligned stakeholders, and are ready to build. There’s just one problem—that list is going to change. Significantly. I recently managed a project that perfectly illustrated this reality. […]
Work-Life Balance Isn’t the Goal
Work-Life Balance is a great start. But, I think we can do better… I don’t think we were ever meant to attempt to compartmentalize work and life in some sort of balancing act. Work bleeds into life. Life bleeds into work. A hard season at home shows up at your desk. A stressful stretch at […]
How to Decide What Gets a Yes When Everything Looks Promising
Every growing company eventually hits the moment where the opportunities in front of you outnumber the people and dollars behind you. And someone has to decide what gets a “yes.” I’ve been on both sides of that. In a past life, I had to make directional decisions in a fast-growing company without a great framework […]
Agile and The Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500 has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And after years of building software at SEP — an Indiana company through and through — the similarities are striking. The pre-race strategy sessions. Testing assumptions during practice sessions. Real-time adjustments during pit stops. The moment when weather […]
Why I Evaluate IT Services Like Products on a Shelf
One way I look at IT is through a product lens. Evaluating each product or service provided as something you’d choose to buy from the store. Sometimes you have options, sometimes there’s only one solution available. This mindset stems from my time as a Product Manager at a digital services company, where I focused on […]
A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer at SEP
Morning: Getting Started One of the things I love most about SEP is the flexibility with my schedule. I have to drop my son off at school at 8:30 am, so I usually don’t arrive at the office until 8:50am. Being able to start a little later in the day is great for me, but […]
A Manager’s Guide to AI Adoption in Software Engineering Teams: Just Keep Prompting
AI tools for coding aren’t a nice-to-have anymore — they’re table stakes. At SEP, we recognized that early and gave engineering teams the green light to start using them, provided the tools met our security standards and our clients’. Once the green light was given, engineers across the organization were free to use AI in their work. The only stipulation: each […]
If You Can’t Wait 5 Years: Start Experimenting with AI for Robotics Today
In my last post, I discussed why the ChatGPT moment for robotics is likely still 5 years away. But if you can’t wait that long, this post has practical advice on how to start experimenting today. Be warned: the ecosystem is fragmented, the learning curve is steep, and (AI + hardware) == quirky. If you thought LLMs […]
SEP Appoints Jason LaJeunesse as Director of Data
Westfield, IN — SEP is pleased to announce the creation of a new leadership role, Director of Data, and the appointment of Jason LaJeunesse to the position. This role was created to support client needs as organizations modernize their data platforms, prepare for AI adoption, and build durable, long-term data foundations. “Data has gone from a step […]
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Every industry has its jargon and ours is no different! If you’re new to our world, or just want to see if we mean the same thing, check out our glossary. No big deal if you don’t speak the lingo—we’ll meet you where you’re at. But one thing’s for sure, we can’t make something awesome together if we’re talking past each other.
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Different problems call for different tools. We’re not tied to one way of building, which gives us flexibility in how we tackle the work. That range shows up in a tech stack that supports many paths forward.
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Our FAQ answers common questions, so there are fewer surprises.
We don’t hide behind jargon.
Words matter when teams are working together. This glossary explains common software terms, so nothing gets lost in translation.