This phrase takes me back nearly 25 years to my first butt-kicking by a businessman with 40 years of experience on me. Nathan Fouch (father of one of SEP’s founders, Mike Fouch) was very blunt in saying that I needed to take better care of myself. It was great advice. Guess what I said? “I […]
Test First Programming – It is kind of like Martial Arts…
Test-Driven-Development/Design (TDD) has been a hot topic of conversation in our office recently (lots of external and internal training about TDD). I think the biggest* “ah, ha”* for me, throughout these conversations, was that TDD is nothing more than a tool. A very powerful tool that has numerous benefits. TDD is not, however, some silver […]
“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 […]
