Daman is a digital agency specializing in the pharmaceutical industry. As Daman in a short time to develop a new app for one of the Danish regions, the company wanted to work more agile than before. To get started and ensure the agile mindset was maintained throughout the project, got the assistance of Agile Coach from Plan A Projects.
“We got in touch with Plan A Project because we wanted to start working more agile with our projects and lacked someone with solid experience to help us on the right track,” says Andreas Dam, CEO of Daman. “Additionally, I think it’s exciting that Plan A Project building in the positive psychology in their project management model. For me as a manager it is important that the project team thrives, and Plan A Projects’ model is to make it fun and positive to work together on projects. ”
Someone to lean on
“Our project manager, Jens, had been on a three-day course in agile project management Plan A Projects, but had not tried to work with agile projects into practice,” continues Andreas Dam. “Therefore, it seemed natural to bring them on the field, so Jens got somebody to lean on.”
Project Manager Jens Jakobsen agrees: “It’s been really good to have an Agile Coach, which could help us in time, and I could turn many questions along the way.”
New team with limited agile experience
The project, Daman worked on, was about developing an app for one of the Danish regions. The region wanted the app to get a support tool for heart failure patients who regularly have to remember to record and report various facts about their health to healthcare. The project team included Jens as a project manager, two user interface designers and two app developers. The last two came from an external app development company, and overall there was therefore a team that was not used to working together and where most did not have much practical experience in agile.
Education and Agile Coaching
“Ole from Plan A Project started teaching us in their agile project management model, so everyone in the project team was a common understanding of how we should work together,” says Jens Jakobsen. “In addition, he served as Agile Coach during the project and made sure that we stuck to the model instead of falling back into old habits. It has worked really well. ”
Involvement of project owner from the beginning
“It has meant a huge amount to have Plan A Project with the project,” says Jens Jakobsen. “For example, they insisted that the project owner from our customer would be involved in the initial planning meetings with the entire project team. It was a super idea, for it meant that she got a good understanding of what was complicated to make, and what was easy to make. In that way it was easier for her to prioritize where we should put our energy so that she could get the best possible product from the financial and time frames that were for the project. ”
Good use of resources
One of the reasons why Daman wanted to start working more agile, was that they would be able to meet their customers’ expectations and needs even more than they already did. And with the new project model they’ve got some tools they can use in the future. Jens Jakobsen explains: “All this thinking to involve the customer so he or she can help to cut off the bottom, if need be under way is super beneficial. On the whole, we have learned some interesting methods to know, and we have been challenged on how we use our resources in the best and raises the learning curve early on. ”
Well equipped for future agile projects
“When we come to run projects agile, I feel very well prepared for the job. The first times I will probably still use Ole as a sparring partner. Especially in the planning stages, and if I am faced with some challenges along the way, where it may be well with someone to spar with. But now we’ve got a lot of new ideas on how we can approach things, and it will be exciting to bring the ideas with further in the next project, “Jens Jakobsen.
Facts about Damans app development
From Daman began with the preliminary analyzes of what the customer wanted to get done, and the project was finished, it took about 4½ months. In that period, the app also tried and tested by actual users, and usage was analyzed by Daman in cooperation with the customer. The customer has been very satisfied with the project and work has started on a new project for phase 2 of the app.