“Motion != Progress” – Code moves in 5 different ways…
Week #4 of the SEP Blog Battle 2012. This week our title was “Motion is not Progress”. If you are making changes to your source code, then clearly your are making progress. Right? Wrong. Code can move in 5 different ways – you can add functionality, remove functionality, refactor code, delete code, or leave the […]
Spec Driven Versus Client Satisfaction in Outsourcing
Chris Shinkle introduced us to the Kano model of customer satisfaction while internally presenting his Stop Doing Kanban, Start Learning lecture that he delivered at this year’s LSSC. The Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction: As an outsourcing partner, this model has direct implications for SEP. The Performance axis represents our client’s needs in a solution. […]
Changing the Cost Discussion
Discussions with client representatives about hourly rates can be frustrating at times. The belief that an hour of any person’s (or supplier’s) time is exactly the same as any other is like comparing software engineering services to purchasing a case of creamed corn. We could be relatively happy if the focus could just be changed […]
Fitting SEP with a Quality System
SEP has had ISO-9001 Certification for nearly a decade. These credentials help support our work in FDA and FAA for clients. We’ve struggled with the notion of a quality system since the beginning. SEP enjoys a very strong advancement culture that continuously strives to organically improve most of its practice areas. The worry is that a […]
Why Perform Discovery (Envision) On the Front End of a Development Process?
The rapid evolution of technologies, users and markets has increased the pressure on the software industry to respond to industry criticisms. Some of these criticisms were well deserved and these three top the list: Why does it cost so much? Why does it take so long? Why can’t we get what we asked for? […]
SEP’s “Make or Break” (MOB)
A couple months ago, my Vistage CEO group hosted “Make or Break Execution – the Core to Success,” a presentation from Dan Barnett (Primavera). The “Make or Break” (MOB) of an organization is “the one thing that must be done extraordinarily well to achieve your vision”. At the heart of Barnett’s presentation is discovering and […]
Android UI/X – don’t go overboard with your list views
The Android ListView is one of the simplest UI widgets to implement. There are plenty of ListView tutorials and examples, so I’m not going to talk about how to implement a list. Instead, I’m going to focus on the User Experience and ways to improve your lists. To see a really well implemented ListView, take […]
Android AsyncTasks, for updating your UI
Last time, I talked about how to use Android Handlers for handling a blocking task in the background. While Handlers are very powerful, they can easily get too complicated for larger tasks. This time, let’s take a look at the Android AsyncTasks. AsyncTask enables proper and easy use of the UI thread. This class allows to […]
Skills that I Look for in a Software Engineer
I’ve been with SEP for the past five years, starting right after I graduated from college. A few years ago I joined the recruiting team for SEP, and I’ve been focused mainly on recruiting for our engineering positions. Recruiting has been busy again recently – career fairs, interviews, interns, etc. In the spirit of the […]
