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 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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Woman balancing project responsibilities

New Leads Need “Domains of Execution”

Okay, sure the title really needs to be “New leads should totally define a list of clusters of responsibilities that every project has so that they can make sure the project is appropriately supported” …but you get it. What’s a “Domain of Execution”? A domain is some cluster of responsibilities that your project will require […]
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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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SEP engagement managers meeting with whiteboard presentation

3 Ways Client Engagement Managers Bring Out the Best in SEP

Software product teams are made up of a variety of unique and vital skillsets that contribute to overall success. At SEP, this might look like: Engagement managers fostering collaboration between internal teams and client needs Team leads overseeing the detailed aspects of day-to-day project work Product discovery gurus facilitating workshops to build shared understanding, roadmaps, […]
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Permission Slip Clip Art

New Leads Need to Give Real-Time Permission

Okay, okay, so the title should really be “New Leads (probably) Need to Practice Real-Time Permission (if they’re still uncomfortable with conflict, especially when a power dynamic is involved)”, but I feel like you get it. Where does “Real-Time Permission” come from? “Real-Time Permission” is a concept I barely acknowledged when I first read Patrick […]
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Networking Engineers

One of the most useful skills I picked up during my Ph.D. studies was how to turn light refreshments into a whole meal.  The trick is to combine hunger and the ability to ignore shame for personal gain. Then one needs only spend an awful lot of time at the end of an event milling […]
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2022 SEP Internship Experience Wrap-Up

The summer is wrapping up for the 13 students who took part in SEP’s internship experience! Within the last few months, the interns have learned a ton of new things, met a ton of new people, and made a ton of new memories. At SEP, interns work on real projects and are valued members of […]
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Radical Candor Quadrants

New Leads Need Self Directed Radical Candor

Hello! If you are new to Radical Candor, check out the concept directly from Kim Scott herself, Radical Candor in 6 minutes I should also mention that the title should really be “new leads who are terrible at thinking on their feet in front of a crowd need self directed radical candor.” It’s just… not […]
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Software team at table

New Leads Need to Prep for Staffing Conversations

One of the things I did terribly as a new lead was participate in staffing conversations for my team. Mainly, I was just unprepared in realizing the scope of what adding or removing a person meant on the distribution of responsibilities that a single team has to balance. In this blog post, you’ll find a […]
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The Bear Kitchen

New Leads Need “That’s Not My Oven!”

If your job was installing an oven in a kitchen, and on the day you do your install the electrician hasn’t installed an electrical socket where the oven’s supposed to go, you wouldn’t run an extension cord just to get your oven to work. You’d tell the foreman you’ll come back when they’re ready for […]
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