What is the ROI of Outsourcing Software Development?
Something that’s come up in many recent conversations is the return on investment (ROI) of hiring software contractors. With the United States being in a (technical) recession, many software companies are considering their expenditures. As somebody who’s built a SaaS company, outsourced software development, and experienced all the challenges that go with growing a SaaS […]
What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Contractors
Elon Musk made the headlines a few years ago when he made an announcement about consultants and contractors at Tesla. For people who have some experience with using or being a consultant, it may have resonated with them but they might not have the full picture of what made the news. In 2018, Elon famously […]
West Michigan CEO Summit at the Amway Grand Plaza
The West Michigan CEO Summit is an annual event hosted by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. This year, we were excited to send Business Development Leader Arick Davis, and Social Media Marketing lead Sarah Laman to learn from presenters and panelists from throughout the state. This year’s lineup covered so many valuable topics, including […]
How to Build Software Teams
In our recent vlogs, we discussed software craftsmanship and how learning can benefit teams. This week we’re diving into teamwork and diversity, the other two core values at Creative Mines. Building strong teams is an essential part of any development project. Today, we’re breaking down the steps to building great software teams. Identifying What the […]
Teams are the Fundamental Unit of Learning in Software Organizations
I had a conversation recently about how much we, as software professionals, have to stay up to date with the ever-changing technology in our industry. We’re constantly learning new technologies and techniques to get products built and shipped to our customers. Software development is a very fulfilling career for people who like to learn. However, […]
How to Implement Craftsmanship as Part of Your Software Process
Craftsmanship is one of our four core values here at Creative Mines. It influences everything we do, from finding the right team members to delivering final products. We choose team members based on their values, passion for mastering software craftsmanship, and willingness to share that experience with others. The idea of craftsmanship seems like it’s […]
People or Process? A Thought Experiment
Previously we discussed reasons why developers might feel that their project is process-heavy. “People over process” is a common refrain when developers are not feeling valued in their projects. Let’s take a look at an (extreme) example of what happens when there’s no longer a balance between people and process. Remove Process Completely As a […]
People Over Process: What Developers Really Mean
If you’ve ever worked on a large software development project, chances are you’ve heard developers say “people over process.” People over process comes from the first value of the Agile Manifesto, “Individuals and interactions” over “processes and tools.” It is the most quoted and most memorable value from Agile. It also clarifies what we as […]
Software Revolution 2.0
How achieving the right balance of people and process can unleash the potential of your development teams. Meet Drew, the team lead for an exciting new SaaS product in the collaboration space. The chance to work on this product was what attracted him to this company and now, after years of hustling his way up […]
Avoid These 5 Things While Building Software Products
Product management is the art of collecting information about a problem and distilling that information into a single cohesive solution. The biggest challenge of building a software product is figuring out what not to build. 1. Don’t Solve Adjacent Problems When building a product, it is natural for ideas to start flowing. It is not […]