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Practices Articles
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.
SEP Wins TechPoint’s 2024 Innovation Service Partner of the Year Mira Award
SEP Recognized as Indiana’s Top Innovation Service Partner, Winning TechPoint’s Prestigious Mira Award Westfield, Indiana - SEP has been named the Innovation Service Partner of the Year by TechPoint at the 25th annual Mira Awards. The Mira Awards, Indiana’s largest…
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Working with teams over the past 25 years, I have often been asked about where individuals should start on Professional Development. While I read a lot and know a good number of people that I can direct individuals to, I am always looking for better resources to help people. Recently, I was working with a […]
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AgileIndy 2024 Recap: Learning, Networking, and SEP Insights + Jeff Patton Keynote Replay
We had a fantastic time at AgileIndy 2024! SEP was well-represented, with multiple speakers sharing their insights during the event, and we truly enjoyed the sessions. From engaging breakouts to networking opportunities, it was a great chance to connect and learn alongside fellow Agile practitioners. If you missed the event or want to rewatch your […]
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Agile Indy 2024 Trip Report
Agile Indy 2024 From the AgileIndy site: AgileIndy is a user group devoted to raising awareness, acceptance, and support to people who explore and apply agile values, principles, and practices to make building software solutions more effective, humane, and sustainable. This year’s conference took place on Friday October 18th at 502 E Carmel Dr, Carmel, […]
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How to Make Bets That Pay Off: Effective Prototyping for Product Organizations
Many product organizations today face similar struggles: delivery cycles take longer than expected, timeframes are unpredictable, and schedules lead to unforeseen costs and outcomes. Often, designed, built, and delivered features go unused, ultimately failing to achieve the desired business results. We’ve seen these struggles appear when organizations pursue a solution without understanding critical assumptions about […]
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Design Configuration Management: The Awesome Best Practice You Didn’t Know You Needed
We’ve had a design practice at SEP for over a decade but didn’t have an official Design Configuration Management (DCM) process until recently. For most of that time, we’ve been a pretty small group of designers who typically had their hands full doing good work for our clients. Historically, designers on a project would hit […]
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Your personal programming project misses you. How to make more time.
Personal programming projects are a great way to explore new topics. They can allow you a scaffold for exploring new technologies or techniques. They can use a personal interest as a motivator to overcome the trials of learning. But they compete for your limited time with your responsibilities, friends, and family. Sitting down for a […]
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Using Generative AI Every Day at Work? An AI Strategist’s Honest Take
I use Generative AI tools because, as a developer, I can’t ignore them. My clients and peers expect me to be at least conversant in AI technologies if not an expert. Maintaining that expertise means engaging with new tools as they come out. I’ve made a point to use them where I could for the […]
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AI Code Gen Tools Need Human Developers to Produce Good Code
Last year, AI code gen tools made a huge splash in the software development world. Again. Someone had the bright idea that “Hey, source code is text. Maybe we can generate that!”. What started as one big offering has grown to dozens of tools to write our code for us. These tools excite some, terrify others, and leave many wondering […]
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Optimizing Discoverability in 5 Simple Steps: Unmatched IA in UX Design
In user experience (UX) design, taxonomy and ontology are two important but often overlooked tools. Taxonomies organize information into groups. Meanwhile, ontologies focus on relationships and concepts within a specific area. By understanding these concepts, we can enhance a product’s information architecture. First, let’s start by discussing the basics of taxonomy and ontology. Then, once we […]
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