Lean 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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Lean/Agile Pay It Forward

We have a Pay It Forward Program here at SEP, where we get $50 from the company to do something nice in this season of giving. It can’t go to friends or family; it can’t be just another charitable donation to a .org. Many Pay It Forward participants have bought cups of coffee for strangers, […]
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5 Ways All Software Projects are Product Replacements

I was updating my bio at work for the last few projects I’ve been on since I was between projects. I looked back at some of the projects I’ve worked on and remembered the “good ol’ times”. Some projects were executed well and the client appreciated the outcome (read: warm fuzzies), while others produced a […]
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Getting the Most Value with a Development Partner

What is software development? When we say software we typically mean a software product to sell to a market or a system to increase productivity. In both cases, doesn’t the customer have some idea of the cost and potential value before the project is initiated? If the initial estimated cost versus the expected value (Rate […]
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My Ideal Software Project: 7 Values I Believe In…

At SEP, we have very diverse teams, clients, and projects. With all of that variety and diversity, comes a lot of variation in how projects are run. Almost every project, in my experience, has used different processes and techniques. I was recently inspired by one of my coworkers, Jennifer, by a letter that she wrote […]
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Making and Changing Plans

We all make plans everyday. Small plans, big plans, short term plans and long term plans. We plan for retirement; we plan for the weekend and we plan for our next meal. We make plans for everything and hope nothing changes. But inevitably our best laid schemes gang aft agley. Gang’ing Aft Agley So what […]
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Chris Shinkle Nominated for 2013 Brickell Key Award

Software Engineering Professionals (SEP) Director of Innovation Chris Shinkle has been nominated as one of six finalists for the 2013 Brickell Key Award. Awarded to two worthy individuals every year at the Lean Kanban North America Conference (LKNA), the Brickell Award recognizes those demonstrating outstanding achievement, leadership, and contribution to the Lean and Kanban community. […]
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Good idea, bad idea…

Another installment in SEP’s 2012 Blog Battle. I’m lucky enough to work in a place that’s fertile ground for ideas. There’s freedom in the work and the work environment. People aren’t punished for trying things. We have good resources at our disposal. Part of my role is to help people in and out of SEP […]
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Spec Driven Versus Client Satisfaction in Outsourcing

Chris Shinkle introduced us to the Kano model of customer satisfaction while internally presenting his Stop Doing Kanban, Start Learning lecture that he delivered at this year’s LSSC. The Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction: As an outsourcing partner, this model has direct implications for SEP. The Performance axis represents our client’s needs in a solution. […]
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Fitting SEP with a Quality System

SEP has had ISO-9001 Certification for nearly a decade. These credentials help support our work in FDA and FAA for clients. We’ve struggled with the notion of a quality system since the beginning. SEP enjoys a very strong advancement culture that continuously strives to organically improve most of its practice areas. The worry is that a […]
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