Building the Path to Value: The Most Important Thing You Need to Know

As a software development agency, one of the most important things to consider when building a product is the “path to value” for both customers and stakeholders. This is the path through your software, service, or product that creates value for customers and ultimately leads to value for stakeholders. When building an MVP (minimum viable […]

The Importance of Knowing What Not to Build for Software Product Teams

What not to build during software development

As software product teams continue to grow and evolve, it’s important to remember the importance of knowing what not to build. While it can be tempting to build whatever a customer asks for, it’s important to focus on the core problem the product is trying to solve and stay laser focused on that problem. Additionally, […]

Why Good Software Testing is Critical

Testing is an essential part of software development, but it is also a divisive subject. There are different opinions on how to approach testing, from test-driven development to code coverage. In this blog post, we will share our thoughts on testing and how to make sure your code continues to work as intended. When it […]

Is Software Planning Wasteful?

One of the most wasteful exercises that software organizations take part in is planning. While planning in general is not wasteful, the amount of time spent on planning is the issue. We’ve seen software teams spend too much time on planning on not enough time executing. Planning the details 6 to 12 months before the […]

The Importance of a Feedback Loop in Software Development

One of the key components of a successful software development process is a short and effective feedback loop. This refers to the process of getting feedback from employees and customers and using it to improve the development process. In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of a feedback loop and how you can improve your […]

How to Know if Your Software Teams are Effective

Today, we’re going to talk about how you know your software team is being effective. This is a question that comes up a lot when we talk to non-technical founders or people who are in a project leadership position but don’t necessarily have a technical background.  You may have a software team in place but […]

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

Creative Mines Software Team Huddle

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 […]