Culture 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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Why the Inside Man (KnowBe4 Training) Changed My Opinion of Security Training

The “Inside Man” is a 12-episode show produced by the training company, KnowBe4.  In a show where everyone is british except one shady, well-dressed, American villain, there is a hacker, hired to steal company secrets. The hacker ends up enjoying his very average job, and his very average co-workers. Hijinks ensue. Lessons are learned. I […]
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5 Products Built During Our Hackathon That We Actually Used

When we run company hackathons we end up with quite a variety of ideas. The teams working on these projects always get something out of them regardless of whether the projects continue on past the weekend. We do have some projects that go further than fun over the weekend. These are the products that we […]
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Facilitation: Don’t Lose Before You Start

So you want to facilitate a workshop for a team? Maybe you’re external to the team and have been asked to help by facilitating. Awesome, it’ll be fun. Just show up at the time and place annnnnnnd you’ve already lost. You better think (think) Think about what you’re trying to do — Aretha Franklin Ask […]
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How We Run Company Hackathons

We’ve been running hackathons at SEP since 2011. Over the years we’ve experimented with the setup. It’s ranged from actual product pitches to technology explorations (and everything in between). Recent hackathons have settled into a pattern that works well for us. That pattern includes: Pitches Q & A Form teams Build Demos Our hackathons run […]
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2019 Intern Experience

What was your favorite thing about this summer? “My favorite thing about this summer has been trying out such a wide variety of functions here at SEP.  To name a few, I have gained experience in user research, graphic design, and user experience.” -Laura Buckles “SEP did a great job at giving me a glimpse […]
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The SEP Foundation – Why Would We Do That?

SEP has a long history of giving to charitable causes. In our early days, we had three major shareholders, each of whom earmarked a set amount to give to a charity of their choice. Clean water in Africa, global adoption organizations and various educational initiatives were all causes dear to our founders’ hearts. While this […]
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3 lessons I’ve learned as a non-traditional software engineer

I am about 3 months into my journey as a new software engineer. I work at a place where the bar is high for what it means to craft quality software. My peers are well-educated and highly disciplined engineers with many years of experience. Those conditions alone would be enough to cause someone new to […]
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Pulling the Andon Cord

In the manufacturing world, the Andon cord obligates anybody who spots a problem to stop production. Anybody. Andon cords are a part of the Toyota Production System. The Andon cord is a simple rope that extends the length of the production line. (Black/yellow cords in the picture above) Pulling the rope stops production. Toyota not […]
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Reclaiming Lost Time with Podcasts

Podcasts are a sneaky, underrated way to learn things during time that you might be otherwise wasting. I drive 30 minutes to and from the office every day. That adds up to 5 hours a week of listening time for podcasts or audiobooks. My phone automatically downloads new episodes and I use an adapter to […]
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