SCIO BLOG
We love to share our knowledge, that’s why we create a space with our thoughts regarding software development, product Development, product management and much more.
The Toyota Production System in software development: Lean, Agile, and Effective.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezSoftware development is a notoriously unpredictable process. Even the most experienced developers can find themselves facing unexpected challenges and surprises which can lead to frustration, as new requirements pop up, deadlines change,...
The Expert Blindspot, or why you should let junior developers do code review.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhen you are trying to bring a new application to life, code reviews are an essential part of the development process. They help ensure the quality of the code, identify potential problems and bugs early enough to squash them and provide...
Quiet Quitting: Myths, facts, and misunderstandings about a new reality of working
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhat is the future of work? That is a question that virtually every organization, in both the private and public sectors, from software to manufacturing to service and everything in between, has been asking themselves since the onset of...
Why can your career portfolio look like a squiggly line?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhat are the expectations you have for your career? And we mean real, tangible things that you can expect from choosing a particular professional field: Autonomy? Flexibility? Knowledge? A better living standard? The chance to grow as a...
Scio Spotlight: Talking about passion, projects and videogame development with Pedro Ramírez
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezFor many people, the idea of software development is just a job, with long hours in front of a computer, coding and debugging programs until they meet the requirements of their employer or client. However, software development can also be...
Is the future of FinTech in the hands of Artificial Intelligence?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhen most people think of Artificial Intelligence, they probably conjure the Hollywood depictions of evil robots that become sentient or self-aware, and then go out of control. However, even if this is the general pop culture stereotype...
The Bus Factor and Nearshore talent: A net positive outcome
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhen you're cooking up a new software application, it's important to think about the future. We have talked before about measures like futureproofing, refactoring, and how to deal with technical debt to maintain an application in the long...
The Intelligent Edge: A new frontier in how we make software
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThe intelligent edge is one of the most talked about topics in technology development today, and for good reason - it represents a shift away from the centralized model of computing that has dominated for so long. But along with this new...
Ghost colleagues: Creating a sense of professional connection in the age of remote work.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThere is such a thing as a colleague in the age of remote work? As we begin to get accustomed to working far away from the office, even for a couple of days a week, some of the things we took for granted in the past have begun to be...
Good Test Case design in QA: Quality at every step of the process
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezCreating software can be compared to solving a big, complex puzzle. A developer needs to take a bunch of pieces (code, algorithms, requirements, deadlines, etc.) and put them together in the right way to create a functioning product that...
Is the FinTech sector responsible for the financial education of its users?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezFinTech has emerged as one of the most important aspects of the modern world, playing a crucial role in providing access to financial services and products to everyone and changing how we manage our finances. And there's no doubt that...
The Rubber Duck Method: What is the explanation behind this debugging approach?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezDebugging software is an important, if often tedious, the task for any programmer. Finding and removing errors generating crashes, freezes, or incorrect results is critical to ensuring the quality of a piece of software, and while some...
“Soft Tech”: Bridging the gap between technology and mindfulness in the workplace
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWe all know how it feels to have a long, stressful day at work. After sitting in front of a computer for hours, staring at code on a screen, or attending back-to-back meetings in faraway places, the last thing you probably want to do is...
Social anxiety and the workplace: How to achieve a better environment when returning to the office?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThey may have been happy to put the office behind them when the pandemic first struck, but software developers with social anxiety are now bracing for the return to the office. And so far, the results have been mixed; not even...
Developing FinTech applications: A puzzle of high stakes and many pieces.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhen it comes to software development, the core principle of "Know Your Customer" is as important as ever; after all, you can't develop a truly useful application without a deep understanding of your user base. And when it comes to the...
Maintaining Productivity: Is the Pomodoro Technique for you?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezOne of the main challenges for software developers everywhere is maintaining a high level of productivity throughout the day. No matter the size of the project, or how interesting the final result may be, it will involve hours coding...
DevOpinions: Is the Python language here to stay?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezNo single programming language can claim to be the most popular (as popularity is subjective and depends on factors such as industry type, location, and personal preferences), but Python is certainly one of the best candidates to grab...
The significant impact of Green Coding on the environment: Is balanced software development possible?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWith the need to be more environmentally focused every day, we look at an approach to software development that can help our industry utilize its resources better and more efficiently: Green Coding.When it comes to good practices in...
The quality in Quality Assurance: What does a good approach look like?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThe process of QA testing came into prominence, at least within more mainstream audiences, when stories about it came out regarding the popular (and some might say) infamous videogame Cyberpunk 2077, which has become known as one of the...
The Manifest Names Scio as one of the Most Reviewed Software Developers in Mexico
It goes without saying that software is the future. Apart from improving businesses and their processes, these new technologies are also used to create new services and products. At Scio, we help our clients as they look to utilize the software for their companies....
Is your talent distributed or remote?: A new way to look at inclusion in the workplace.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezAt this point, the adoption of remote work has become normalized, to the point of (almost) becoming standard in many sectors of the software industry; all said, the option to work away from an office is now a pretty popular perk among...
Nearshore software development: A solution for the growing tech talent shortage in the post-pandemic world.
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezWhen it comes to the Technology sector in most countries, one fact has been making itself clear since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: talent shortage is on the rise. In fact, according to a survey by the Harvey Nash Group,...
Five years of technology: What has changed in the world of software since 2017?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezEvery year, the data insight company Gartner, as part of their mission to help our industry to pay attention to the latest trends and development in software and development, publishes a list of the most promising technologies of that...
It’s (not) about time: Why is managing your energy the best software development approach?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThere's a (not very old) saying about how you can't manage time, only energy, and nowhere is this truer than in the world of software development. As a developer, there are always going to be more things on your to-do list than you can...
HR, AI and the future of job applications: Where are we headed?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezMaybe it’s not exaggerated to say that the future will be driven by machines. With advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, neural networks, and algorithmically-driven programs; machines can be applied virtually...
No-code tools and platforms: The future of software development?
Curated by: Sergio A. MartínezThe practice of no-code is becoming one of the growing tech trends in software development, and as a Nearshore development software company, here at Scio we take a look at what it could mean for our industry, and where the future of...
The responsabilities of a manager in agile software development: 5 things you need to master
By Scio Team“The biggest variant when developing software is people. And a Project Manager is the one tasked with making sure they reach their best productivity. More than money, time or the scope of the project, it’s about soft skills.” — Chuz Magaña, Project Manager...
What does modern career growth look like in software development?
Curated by Sergio A. Martínez, with contributions by Ivan Guerrero Cardoso & Víctor Ariel Rodríguez Cruz. It may seem like a pretty simple question, but how will your career look five years from now? What is your current goal? Because no matter if you are a...
The blurry line between Junior and Senior Developers: What actually matters?
By Scio Team Untangling how deeply our life changed during the Covid-19 pandemic will take a long time, and while we are still dealing with much of its aftermath, the process of planning the future doesn’t stop, even if we aren’t quite sure of what’s next for the...
The Hybrid Future: Keeping the human connection in the new age of working.
Our relationship to work is evolving, and a new model of flexibility seems to be the next step in our industry. However, the challenges that bring, as well as the human side of the story, need to be at the forefront. By Scio Team...
What is prioritized in product development when it comes to the size of the company?
By Scio Team When we think about the landscape of software development, it’s easy to fall into a binary view: people either work at a tech start-up, with the allure of innovation and cutting edge technology, or they work with a corporation like Google,...
What does success look like to you?
By Scio Team It’s easy to see the idea of success as a default goal, something everyone should be looking for in any endeavor they start. And while it’s true that always looking for a specific destination is part of our nature, what does success mean? Because when we...
Does one size fit all? The hyperpersonalization of work
By Scio Team “Are you an office person, or a home person?” might have been a weird question to ask in a job interview a couple of years ago, but as our relationship with jobs evolves, we begin to understand the different ways people see work, which have an immense...
A career built on learning: How Scio approaches growth in software development.
By Scio Team A software developer is a person who likes to learn as a trade, try new things, look for different approaches, experiment with new languages, and be part of a community that exchanges information, knowledge, and tips. Especially today, with our world more...
You could change the outcome of something by measuring it
There are a lot of opinions about the best possible way of measuring productivity, but that can bring us to another question entirely: why measure it at all? In this second part of our interview with Adolfo Cruz, we dig into the reasons why measuring productivity is...
The Flexibility of Nearshore Development
By Scio Team The way we conceptualize work is changing, first as a result of the pandemic, and second as a result of technology letting us do something unthinkable a mere five years ago. The result is a landscape where a lot of organizations are more willing than ever...
The challenge of working smarter: Cognitive inertia and software development. 
By Scio Team Whether you are coding software or managing a company that creates software, the name of the game is optimization: there’s always a better way to do things, a wrinkle to iron out, a bump to flatten quickly. However, even if we somehow reach a perfect...
Is not always a purely technical approach
How to measure productivity effectively? Adolfo Cruz, Scio’s very own Project Management Office director, offers insights into a question many in the business have in their minds all the time. By Adolfo Cruz. Building an exact image of productivity is a question...
The challenge of the Home Office: A chat with Project Manager Jesús Magaña (Part 2)
Last time, we discussed the skill necessary to work remotely with Jesús Magaña, one of our Project Managers here at Scio. But, as you might think, setting up a home office is another story entirely. How to manage it? We hope this second part of our chat sheds some...
“How much value, not how much code”: A reflection on productivity in software development with Adolfo Cruz.
How to measure productivity? That’s a question that many in the business, from CEOs to coders to engineers to managers, have in their minds all the time, and Adolfo Cruz, Scio’s very own Project Management Office director discusses metrics, measures, and meanings of...
Technical debt or Futureproofing?: Two sides of creating software.
Is technical debt a recurring problem you face, or is trying to future proof the software you write the best course of action? Today, we take a look at one of the most complex problems when creating software, analyzing the pros and cons of both approaches. by Scio...
Mythbusting:Are introverts better programmers?
There aren’t many professions without a stereotype attached, and programming is sure among them. But are these ideas about the personality of programmers accurate, or are we missing something else? Let’s look into these old myths, and see if they hold up. By...
Mythbusting: Has productivity changed in the Age of Remote Work?
Productivity is among the top-of-mind issues many companies getting into remote work are considering, and there’s a lot of information out there about its benefits and its drawbacks. So we looked closely at some of the myths about remote productivity and found very...
“We are starting to shift our place in the world”: An interview with Senior PO Gilda Villaseñor about her volunteer work with young women in the software industry.
Even if the software industry is open for everyone with talent and dedication, women historically had to overcome more challenges to carve their own spaces. So we had a chat with Gilda Villaseñor about her work with Technovation, and the motivation to bring more women...
“The best way to keep in touch with both worlds”, a chat with developer Nati Lara.
The field of software development has a lot of roads, some are more challenging than others. And for Nati Lara, a Front-End dev currently living in Denmark and mom to a toddler, these experiences have been incredible. How does remote work and software impact her job...
Is AI going to replace human developers?
The idea of a future when AI can perform all sorts of tasks, even programming, is irresistible, but is it something feasible? Is programming a job that can be done by machines, and if not, why? By Scio Team One of the biggest leaps of these past two decades, and...
Mythbusting: Are introverts better programmers?
There aren’t many professions without a stereotype attached, and programming is sure among them. But are these ideas about the personality of programmers accurate, or are we missing something else? Let’s look into these old myths, and see if they hold up. By...
The Art of Collaboration and Remote Work: A chat with PM Jesús Magaña.
Working with a team is always a challenge, and doing it from another country is a craft. So we sat down with Jesús Magaña, one of our experienced Project Managers to talk about remote work, teaming-up, and the best parts of doing home office. Enjoy! What does...
“They have programmers in Mexico?”: The story of remote work at Scio with CEO and Founder Luis Aburto (Part 1)
When it comes to working remotely and managing a hybrid working model, nothing is better than hearing it from someone doing it since 2003. So we sat down with Luis Aburto, CEO and Founder of Scio to find out what worked, what didn't, what is Nearshore development, and...
The show must go on: Developing a venue booking app with UPick
The show must go on: Developing a venue booking app with UPick As the year winds down, it’s time to look back and celebrate all of our achievements of 2021, the challenges and the goals we conquered, and the clients whose projects we helped to become reality. ...
Remote Work: Soft skills for a successful team
By Scio The importance of soft skills in the workplace cannot be overstated, and doubly so for remote work, when coordinating a team you may not know in person is the core of a successful project. But how to apply those skills? It’s no secret that managing an...
ScioTalks: from Chemical Engineering to Software Development
By Sergio A. Martínez & Bryan Breit Here at Scio, we want to dedicate this month to celebrate all the great things that make us who we are, especially the incredible talent that chose to join us this year. So we sat and had a chat with Bryan Breit, a Test...
The Resurgence of the QR Code: When technology saves us.
The December holidays are the perfect moment to look back and celebrate the best things that happened this year. Or in the case of Scio, celebrate all the technologies that manage to make our lives a little easier in 2021, which is why we are taking a look into one of...
For a New Way to Work: Celebrating what the pandemic changed for the better
By Rod Aburto These last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about something happening in the car industry of the United States. Many of the bigger automotive companies are considering a reimagining, becoming more of a service industry than a manufacturing one....
The December Renewal: Celebrate a better job this holiday
We know the winter holidays are for kicking back, getting closer to your favorite people, and reflecting on everything that has happened in the last 12 months. And, if you are hunting for a new job, it’s also a seemingly perfect moment to look for an opportunity and...
The Best is yet to come: Scio’s wishes for an incredible 2022
A new year approaches! And the team of Scio expects great things of 2022, so join us to celebrate and share our wishes in this brief overview of the resolutions that we want to reach. Happy Holidays!
Doing Nearshore in LatAm: Differences between countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, others)
Latin America’s influence as a major provider of nearshore software development and IT outsourcing has the world taking notice. Especially considering they offer tax incentives, a growing population of English speaking workers, and a rapidly improving...
Top Software Development Companies In Mexico
Contrary to popular belief, software development isn’t just a Silicon Valley thing. Mexico has exploded onto the tech scene with game-changing companies creating software across the full spectrum of industries. With a rapidly growing talent pool and shared...
How To Hire Developers in Mexico
When you’re toying with the idea of outsourcing software development outside of the US, Mexico may not be the first country that springs to mind. Especially considering that Southeast Asia has dominated the outsourcing market for over a decade thanks to its cheap...
Benefits of Agile Development
There are multiple methodologies that can be applied during software development, and one of the most popular is the concept of Agile software development. In an Agile environment, applications can be created through the implementation of individualized steps, with...
Agile Project Initiation
If you search on the Internet for "agile project initiation" you are going to find a LOT of templates. People want structure and easy answers, so of course, these simple answers rise to the top of every search. Many (if not most) of the templates offered are...
Successful Software Development Outsourcing
As a provider of nearshore successful software development services, Scio has a proprietary interest in assuring the success of our customers' outsourcing projects. But of course, in that respect, we're no different than any service provider. So, it could easily be...
7 Reasons You Might Need a Software Development Company
Are you having a difficult time upgrading your services and software products? Do you feel like you are wasting time and resources on starting up your game plan? A lot has changed in the tech world in the past few years. More and more, companies are realizing the...
Responsibilities of an Agile Software Development Manager
When we hear the word “agile,” the first thing that comes into our mind is the quick ability to respond to change. This skill is crucial, especially if you want to adapt to the evolving world of technology. This term represents how you are able to think and respond to...
The 8 Advantages of Custom Software Development
To keep up with evolving technologies and operate more efficiently, businesses now require software applications. While some companies acquire ready-to-use applications, many decide to develop their own custom software for a number of reasons. Custom software refers...
What Do You Need? A Software Development Team? Or an Engineering Team?
Of course, the first question for anyone looking at this is - what is the difference? Let’s start by saying that we’re not speaking specifically about “product engineering” - although it plays a part in this discussion. We’re actually looking at software...
5 Questions to Ask – Does Your Software Dev Partner (Really) Know LPD?
Lean Product Development (or Design), LPD, is gradually becoming a standard methodology in software development in much the same way that agile, scrum and lean have become industry standards. But, as is the case with other "standards" - many people say they have...
Planned Rotations on Dedicated Teams – Winning Strategy?
Rotating team members on agile software development teams is a controversial subject. Some leaders in the agile community are strongly opposed to the idea and won't consider it at any level. Others are open to the subject, but frankly too concerned about the possible...
Measuring Performance & Productivity in Software Development Teams
Work is always measured in some way. If you are doing repetitive work, the tendency is to measure the number of repetitions, like the pounds of fruit picked by a field worker in an hour or a day. If you are doing knowledge work, the tendency is to simply measure hours...
Poor Results? 5 Major Concerns in Offshore Outsourcing
Do you have experience with outsourcing software development through an offshore vendor? What were some of the problems you faced? What problems did you recognize? What problems were glossed over in the final analysis that contributed to less than optimal results?...
Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 5 of 5
Common Myths & Misconceptions for Distributed Agile Teams in Software Development Throughout this series, we have explored some of the best practices for agile-scrum teams, but in the light of distributed team situations. Scio provides software development teams -...
Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 4 of 5
Organizational & Team Best Practices In the previous article in this series, we started exploring the general organizational and team best practices for agile-scrum projects. In this article, we're going to finish up a few basic issues and then move into points...
Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 3 of 5
Organizational and Team Best Practices While it might seem that adopting the agile-scrum framework to distributed teams is all about the right tools (especially if you read marketing materials from tool makers), in general, it is more about how you organize your teams...
The 5 Variables of Project Estimation
Our thoughts on this subject come from practical experience. Companies who come to Scio with their projects often come with a multi-megabyte PDF, UML diagrams, and a list of specifications. “Give us a firm, fixed price for getting this project done by June 2nd at 2pm...
10 Major Cultural Differences Among India, Ukraine, and Mexico
With the continuous rise of smart technology, it is only natural for company owners and managers to find ways of incorporating software development into their respective businesses. After all, software engineering is the core foundation of the web and mobile apps that...
How do people in different cultures handle the word “NO”?
No matter who you are and what culture you were raised in, hearing the word “no” can be downright devastating. After all, the word is commonly associated with utter failure and defeat. There are various reasons why people say ”no” to you. However, your words and...
Lean Software Product Development in 4 Phases
When you develop software products in a repeatable, production fashion, you have to step back occasionally and take the long view so you can properly discuss the process with clients. We've been involved in that exercise recently and I thought it might be useful to...
What Makes Software Services Companies Successful?
When building any kind of company, there are steps you must take that will do the most to ensure your success. These steps are especially lucrative when building a company that works for other companies such as the ever-growing industry of software-as-a-service. It...
SaaStr Annual 2019: Key takeaways
Our Service Delivery Manager Rod Aburto and our PMO Adolfo Cruz attended the 5th SaaSt Annual event. They were lucky to hear from the best executives, founders, and VC's in SaaS. In this article, they share with us their experience and some key points that were...
Traditional vs. Agile Software Development Method: Which One is Right for Your Project?
Software development projects use different types of software development life cycle (SDLC) methodologies, depending on their nature and requirements. They basically define the way that software development work is organized. The two main approaches are the...
Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 2 of 5
Technical Best Practices Building on the discussion of distributed agile-scrum teams in software development we started in the first post in this series, in this post we will discuss some of the principle technical best practices our team at Scio has found to be...
Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 1 of 5
Practices required for distributed teams: Basically Agile (and Scrum!) The use of the agile methodology in combination with the Scrum framework is a widely accepted industry standard for software development throughout the world. Together the methodologies...
10 Risks of Offshore Outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing or offshoring, in short, refers to hiring a third party company that operates in another country to take care of some business operations or services for you. It is a business strategy to lower business costs without sacrificing the quality of the...
Soft Skills for Software Development Teams
Background Before we discuss this subject - let’s reach a common understanding of what we mean by Soft Skills for Software Development Teams. Developing custom software requires a clear understanding of what the client needs to accomplish with the finished product. If...
Recognizing Cultural Differences in Outsourcing
First, let me say this is not an article for budding sociologists or business leaders who think that the last 20 years of increased person-to-person connectivity across the world, with the Internet, social media, entertainment and globalization, have broken down the...
Top 10 Project Management Tools to Run Outsourced Software Projects
In recent years, the Agile project approach has been the choice of many for their software project management needs. It uses sprints, which in turn utilize short cycles that concentrate on the continuous development of a product through a constant feedback system in...
4 Characteristics of Great Agile Software Development Teams
It has always been said that the kind of members you take in your team determines the success rate of a project. This is true for software developers, especially because completing a project takes a lot of time, money, and energy. The Agile Manifesto started in 2001....
5 Tips to Integrate External Software Developers into Your Team
Today, more and more IT companies, especially on agile software, have been hiring external software developers to work on a certain project or product. This has proven beneficial to the industry for years. According to statistics, outsourcing software developers can...
5 Key Considerations in UX Design for Software Applications
In this modern age of technology mostly dominated by applications, one of software developers’ major considerations is how the overall product or application affects user experience. When we mention ‘user’ and ‘design’, two things come to mind: User Interface (UI) and...
How to Divide Responsibilities in Your Startup
Startups are an exciting place to be right now. They are full of ideas, passion, and a race to become the next Unicorn. Everyone wants to work for the next Uber or Snapchat, but their meteoric rise to prominence was the result of a complex series of steps, setbacks,...
Advantages and Disadvantages of Building a SaaS Application
As computer and internet technologies have evolved, so have the products and applications that are available. While it used to be that software applications would come as a self-contained program, more companies are switching to SaaS-based platforms. Essentially, a...
Best Practices for Quality Assurance in Software Development
Need to test your app? Click here and Contact Us! Software development can be complicated, often involving a high level of knowledge and expertise. And even for those with development experience, working out all of the issues within an application to ensure that the...
The Importance of Having Business Management Software
Every business, big or small, has a great number of activity going on at all times and has a lot of things that they need to keep track of. This is why businesses ranging anywhere from a large chain to a singular freelancer can benefit greatly from a business...
10 Hidden Costs of Outsourcing
Outsourcing is a standard practice in the software development industry and it continues to experience steady growth, year after year. Among the common drivers cited are lowering costs of outsourcing, rapid acquisition of skilled resources, and...
Is Your Outsourcing Partner a Body-Shop?
In one sense or another, we've all heard the term "body shop." In the world of automobiles and mechanics, it refers to a shop that repairs or modifies car bodies, but in software development, it refers to outsourcing vendors who use contract labor to fill their...
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