4 Ways Agile Helps Us Deliver Great Software for Healthcare

By November 21, 2017Technology

Isosec use a software development methodology called agile. The agile methodology requires us to design our apps in several short increments followed by feedback from the NHS staff who will ultimately use it. This way, we can uniquely tailor our apps around the working practices of the users and because we’re experts in agile development we can do this rapidly and on a small budget.

Let’s explore how Isosec use agile for the benefits of Healthcare and how this translates into rapid and collaborative delivery of our apps.

What is agile?

Agile follows the 12 agile principles that were set out by a group of leading American software developers in 1991. These developers wanted to emancipate their industry from its slow and bureaucratic command-and-control-style of management. Instead, they championed client-driven and continuous iterations of software by small, autonomous teams who work in short cycles.

Thus, agile represents an organisational model that revolutionised information technology. It has greatly increased success rates in software development and has led to gains of up to 60% in new-product introductions, marketing programmes, human resources and employee engagement. For these reasons, the agile principles are nowadays embraced in various industries beyond software by some of the most well-known companies, such as Microsoft and Spotify.

Why do Isosec use agile?

At Isosec, agile helps us to be Innovative, Customer-driven and Happy which are part of our core values. We adopted the agile mind-set to be able to provide smart, user-friendly and highly innovative clinical software solutions to the NHS. As a result of agile, Isosec developers work in an environment that fosters collaboration, responsiveness to new ideas and insights, and continuous learning. These shared values help us to stay motivated on our mission to transform and mobilise Healthcare.

Every morning at Isosec we hold a daily stand to set the tasks for the day’s work.  These tasks are part of the team’s ‘sprint’ which is a short cycle (usually lasting around 2 weeks) aiming to achieve a set of specific goals which are broken down into smaller pieces. When we complete these tasks within the allocated time frame, we achieved our ultimate goal: to provide working software at the end of each sprint for our customers. Then, we plan a new sprint with our customers’ new requirements in mind; repeating this process until our users are delighted with the final app.

There are 4 benefits to using agile to transform Healthcare:

  • Collaborative: We listen to our customers and their feedback drives our development so the end product is always going to be precisely fit for purpose.
  • Rapid and cost effective: We are building software incrementally instead of trying to deliver it all at once near the end of project delivery.
  • Innovative: We are constantly striving to innovate and be ahead of the competition when it comes to healthcare technology. See our new iO Virtual Smartcard where we applied cutting edge biometric technology for the NHS as an example of this.
  • Happy and positive: We attract and retain the best talent because agile developers have the freedom to choose how they want to implement the right solutions to deliver value.

An example of how agile works for healthcare development

Isosec works in partnership with the NHS staff who will be using our apps, let’s take Virtual Smartcard as an example. With Virtual Smartcard, the Registration Authority department can go paper and card free whilst improving financial efficiency, work productivity and security.

At the start of a new Virtual Smartcard project, a pilot group of 5-10 users is chosen to assess the current processes. Together, we come up with a re-engineered process using Virtual Smartcard to manage their specific inefficiencies, in one Trust it was the mismanagement of agency staff smartcards, for example. We reengineer the process and after the initial approval by the team and managers, our first sprint begins. From our experience, it usually takes 3 sprints to customise an app to have the functionalities that best suit the needs of the users. Finally, the app is rolled out to the whole team in phases.

With our agile development process we can readily deploy Virtual Smartcard and our other tailored mobile solutions in less than 12 weeks, structured as follows:

  • 2 weeks of engagement for process redesign
  • 2 weeks of implementation
  • 1 week of dual-run process
  • 6 weeks pilot (or shorter depending on the project scale)
  • 1 week of reporting and case study

Interested to learn more?

If you would like to discuss the benefits of Virtual Smartcard for your Trust then please send us an email to info@isosec.co.uk or get in touch with us on Twitter @isosec.

Harry Robinson

Author Harry Robinson

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