Product Development 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…
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The Value of Software Product Discovery & Other Important Lessons – On the Podcast with Brendan Wovchko

On this episode of Behind the Product, Brendan Wovchko joins us to share common problems he sees in product discovery, how his team has matured their product development practice, and how to lead product teams well. As the CTO at Ramsey Solutions, Brendan shares how he leads with simplicity while leveraging tools like Opportunity Solution […]
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How Product Discovery Maximizes Your Chances of Success

Savvy companies use product discovery to bring focus to new projects and during projects to shape upcoming releases. This helps design software for the three needs of effective products: Functionality: The software has the requested features, is well built, and maintainable. Business: The software is designed to accomplish specific business objectives. User: The software has […]
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Developer looking at code on laptop and mobile phone screens

How a ‘Bucket of Hours’ Can Benefit Your Software Product Maintenance Plan

Why are we talking about software product maintenance plans? Maybe you just launched your latest killer app. Or maybe you have legacy software that it hasn’t stood the test of time. Wherever you are on the spectrum of very old to very new software, you would benefit from having a software product maintenance plan. Software […]
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Floppy Disc on a desk.

Think Software Maintenance is Expensive? Here’s Why It’s Worth the Investment.

The world of software and software development moves at lightning speed. Every day, new tools are introduced. Languages and frameworks are upgraded. App store requirements change. Operating systems are updated. New hardware is announced. So, what happens if the software world evolves but your software codebase doesn’t? Development Tools Chain Reaction Development tools continue to […]
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A Matter of When, Not If

Prologue You are enjoying a brisk December evening by the fireplace. The tea in your cup warms your hands and fills your nose with fragrant aroma. Then you realize that Christmas is in a week. The Stories in our Heads Are you anxious? Maybe you don’t have time to get presents shipped in time. Maybe […]
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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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10 things I learned in my first 10 episodes of podcasting

I’ve had the opportunity to interview talented, driven and successful leaders in Indy tech. We often don’t get to hear how software products get built and what it took to make them a reality. These stories of success and challenge have been encouraging for me to hear so I summarized some of my biggest takeaways.   […]
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Example Breadboard

Breadboarding: A Simple Way to Prototype

There is an awkwardness defining the solution for a software project. Some projects define the solution by generating a backlog of features to implement. They specify what should be built, but create few insights about the user’s experience. On the other hand, a project could start by emphasizing the visual experience with clickable mockups. While […]
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A Pandemic Isn’t a Reason to Stop Researching (but… It Might Be a Good Reason to Start)

When it comes to doing user research, I’m always going to recommend learning with someone in their own space. Seeing someone use your product in their environment will always add more context to your investigation. Generally, research falls into these categories: exploratory/generative research (looking to understand problems, needs, goals, etc.) evaluative research (benchmarking your understanding, […]
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