SEP Blog

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 Named a Winning Company in the 2022 Powderkeg Unvalley Awards

Westfield, IN - January 2022, SEP, a software product design and development firm has been announced as a winning company in the 2022 Powderkeg Unvalley Awards. This recognizes SEP as one of the best tech companies to work for in…
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Well-done Writing is Rare

I read a lot. I read for pleasure, and I read for work. I read poetry, fiction, and graphic novels. I even read the occasional textbook on how laws around pornography give us a unique view into the changing social landscape of 19th century England. That one, by the way, is a real page turner. […]
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New Leads Need The Engagement Chronicle

On the last day of a 20 month-long project, my customer asked me, “Could you give a brief overview of everything you guys have done for us over the last couple of years?” 😅 As a new lead, I hadn’t thought of starting an engagement chronicle until closer to the end of the project. By […]
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Celebrating Two Years of Behind the Product, a Software Development Podcast

We’re celebrating two years of our Behind The Product software development podcast! Since July 2020, we’ve taken you behind-the-scenes on software stories from engineers, innovators, and thought leaders. Read on for an insightful Q&A with SEP’s podcast host extraordinaire, Zac Darnell, and for a peek into the future of Behind the Product. — New to […]
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Circumventing The Dark Side of Design

A Tale Old As Time Humans have had the tendency to be deceptive to one another for longer than any existing historical document can recall. One of the most infamous examples of this act being used as a literary device is the myth of the Trojan Horse in Homer’s Odyssey. This victory trophy, given to […]
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Inviting Clients Into Our Slack Workspace

At SEP, we design and develop software products for our customers. Our ability to do that well is founded on solid technical practices. To take it to the next level, however, we need to be able to seamlessly collaborate with our clients. Over the past few years, we’ve started inviting our clients into our Slack […]
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Mind the Empathy Gap: 3 ways to stay empathetic as you level up

The title of this post references the iconic phrase from the London Underground, “Mind the gap.” It’s used to warn passengers about the gap between the train and the station platform.  Although hazardous, the gap for these travelers is a natural part of the journey. This post is about another travel hazard, one that I […]
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Test Driven Blogging – using O.R.I.D. to keep my writing focused…

Recently I read a book called “The Art of Focused Conversations“.  This book gave me a lot of great advice on how to have better conversations, especially with people that I work with. The book is split into 2 halves- the first half is the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ about conversations; the second half is […]
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My Favorite Tool That I Struggle With

What tool do I use more often than any other, often while using other tools? What tool am I certain can be an aid in solving almost any problem, if used properly? What tool do I struggle with the most, even though I probably complain about other tools much more often? What tool have I […]
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Beware of Solving Things Yourself

There’s one recurring thing I’ve seen new hires at SEP struggle with over the years. Most commonly, this is something we see in hires that are fresh out of college, but sometimes it shows itself in hires that come to us with years of experience in the industry. While we try to eliminate it in our new […]
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Failure is Part of Success

I did my tenth Toastmasters speech today which fulfill the requirements for a Competent Communicator Award Here is the speech: “Thomas Edison once said, I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. What he is referring to is a cost effective Electric light bulb. He tried 10,000 times to make it […]
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