SEP Tips 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…
Read Full Post
Header Image

UX Writing Best Practices: 8 Principles to Improve Your Product Design

User experience (UX) writing is an often overlooked, but extremely important aspect of any digital product or service. It involves the deliberate use of words and language to guide users through a User Interface (UI), helping them achieve their goals while also providing them with a frictionless and even an enjoyable experience.  No matter what […]
Read Full Post
Close-up of overlapping hundred dollar bills

Avoid the Hidden Costs of Taking Shortcuts in Software Design

In today’s risk-averse economy, businesses often adopt conservative spending strategies to mitigate risk. This cautious mindset prompts questions about what expenses can be trimmed, delayed, or replaced with more economical alternatives. We have all experienced meetings where questions such as, ‘Is it a necessity?’, ‘Could we postpone it to a later date?’, and ‘Is there […]
Read Full Post
over the shoulder POV of someone checking email on phone and laptop

Gutting the Phish: How to Spot the Signs of a Phishing Email

Do you remember that Nigerian prince? The one who emailed you in desperation telling you that if you just sent him your bank account, he would transfer you a certain percentage of his vast fortune. After a while, it became part of the cultural zeitgeist, and everyone knew that no prince just wanted to give […]
Read Full Post
running an effective meeting

Keep Your Team Organized with the ART of an Effective Meeting Checklist

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no escaping meetings. Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to transform a meeting from a waste of time into a purposeful gathering. Laying the groundwork before, running the meeting efficiently, and knocking out action items after the meeting can make all the difference. At SEP, we follow a framework called […]
Read Full Post
Facilitator at the whiteboard in a lean coffee meeting

A Super Simple How-To Guide for Running Lean Coffee Meetings

Almost every time I facilitate Lean Coffee meetings, someone will follow up afterward to ask, “What was that meeting style called? Can you share a ‘how-to’?” Well, I didn’t have one. And a quick Google search, like “how to run a lean coffee meeting,” only leads to long articles, hard-to-parse explanations, and companies trying to […]
Read Full Post
close up of person typing on keyboard on laptop

How to Write a Support Ticket Your IT Team Will Love

Hi! 👋 I’m Kishan, a Junior Systems Administrator at SEP since 2022, and I know a thing or two about support tickets. One of the exciting parts about my job is helping SEPeers solve issues that may arise from the services and technologies they are using. An essential component of a modern IT department is […]
Read Full Post
Figma logo

10 Figma Shortcuts to Improve Your UI Design Proficiencies

Though most shortcuts in work are ill-advised or perceived as lazy, some have proven otherwise. As Figma has exploded in use amongst many in the design field these last few years, almost all SEP’s designers have adopted this tool in their own unique way. Like artists, designers have their own approach to the pieces they […]
Read Full Post
Photography 101 with Adam Sturm

Photography 101

I might be the Marketing Graphic Designer at SEP, but I do MUCH more than just design. Part of my role at SEP is to help visually show our brand. One of the ways we do that is through photography! While most companies stick with stock photos, we love to show you the faces of […]
Read Full Post
Shift Key

Transferable & Soft Skills: The Unjustly Unsung Heroes of Software Development

“If you don’t figure out what you want to do for a career, you will fall behind in life.” I can remember hearing this loaded statement as early as 8th grade. Which, looking back on it, is about the equivalent of attempting to teach a dog new tricks as a squirrel scampers about in its […]
Read Full Post