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 Selected as a Nominee for TechPoint’s Innovation Mira Award

TechPoint has announced the nominees for its 25th annual Mira Awards, highlighting the most innovative companies, universities, and organizations in Indiana’s tech sector. The awards celebrate achievements across various categories, including the Innovation Partner of the Year. Nominees in this…
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My LSSC 2010 Presentation

In addition to chairing a track, I will also be speaking at the LSSC conference to be held April 21-23, 2010 in Atlanta GA.  My presentation on using Lean and Kanban in a contracting environment will by on Wednesday the 21st from 5:00pm – 6:00pm in the Kanban Track.  I’ve posted the abstract here: Kanban […]
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Deconstructing “always” and “never”

How many times has a statement (requirement) like one of the following been given to you? (only to find out months later that there is an important exception that was not given to you): Field X will always be a positive integer! (except for the case where we decided long ago to populate it with “-9999” […]
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Is source control branching a good strategy?

I’ve always wondered about whether creating source control branches for every feature is a good idea at all.  Isn’t one just postponing the problem of the big merge come release time?  I’ve always felt that working off the mainline, checking in frequently, and creating very small features is the best way to go, since at […]
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Every team needs a toolsmith

Every software project is different, and there are subtleties associated with each one.  Every project  requires unique and specific tools, and we need someone to build them, or each member of the team needs the freedom and responsibility to do it him/herself. I have very little (zero?) tolerance for waste when it comes to automatable […]
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New Approaches to Risk Management

— I was lucky enough to attend the 2009 Agile conference. This post is one in a series of session reports from it. Presenter: David Anderson David framed this session with the idea that much of the stated value of Agile is in managing risk. Wanting to dig deeper, he tried to find a good […]
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Question Debugging

There isn’t much I dislike more than asking a question at a high level and getting an answer back that feels demeaning because the answerer explains everything to me from the ground up [without ever pausing to breathe or giving me an opportunity to say ‘Yeah, I know, move on’]. I typically already understand the […]
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What I learned about prevention in software development

‘Prevent problems before they occur’ is the mantra I try to live by, both in my personal life and at work. I have not been entirely successful, but I am learning to get better at it. I exercise every day, eat healthy, and brush my teeth regularly. I have learned that similar actions done regularly […]
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Client Tenure – Dealing with clients for the long haul

I’m in a fairly unique position here at SEP. For the last seven years (out of the ten I’ve been here), I’ve worked almost exclusively on a series of related projects for the same client. When I say client, in reality I’m talking about the company since the individuals that I’ve dealt with have changed […]
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Do You Own Your Tools?

I saw this tweet from @unclebobmartin the other day. Why do we feel like our company ought to buy our tools for us? This is an interesting concept to me, because, as of late, I’ve been considering pimping my work area to be mine… just as any other craftsman might. My dad is a skilled […]
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