Nashua Scrum Club

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care: A Case Study:  The Technical Side of Agile (Unit Testing, CI, QA Automation)

Puneet Lamba, Senior Manager at Sapient Corporation

The author of this presentation led a 2010 initiative at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) to lay a foundation for SOA development using Agile software development practices. The year-long project laid a foundation for SOA governance and delivered almost a dozen SOA services. This presentation will describe creative Agile project management and software development practices stemming from Sapient Approach 3 (TM), that were applied with unrelenting thrust and amazing results. You will learn about highly collaborative project execution techniques such as continuous capture and playback. You will also learn why the author believes that Agile projects often fail because they neglect critical technical enablers including governance, design patterns, continuous integration and QA automation. A version of this presentation will be delivered at the OMG SOA In Healthcare conference in DC, July 13-15, 2011 (http://www.omg.org/news/meetings/HC-WS/index).

Bio

 Puneet Lamba is a Senior Manager at Sapient Corporation, a technology consulting company. Puneet has over 17 years of experience delivering solutions to clients in various industries including health care and financial services. Puneet studied electrical engineering at IIT, Roorkee and computer science at the University of Windsor in Ontario.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 October 6, 2010

Contact: Cynthia Andreola, Public Relations Director
Harbor Homes, Inc.
45 High St.
Nashua, NH 03060
603-882-3616  x1129

Keeping jobs skills relevant can be a win-win in this economy. Such is the case when a group of high tech folks partnered with a local non-profit in need of free technical expertise. Harbor Homes, Inc. and the affiliate agencies making up the “Partnership for Successful Living” have formed an innovative alliance with members of the Nashua Scrum Team, a high tech group that meets monthly, which, using Agile project management principals, is creating and implementing a donor management system. Eight individuals with various technical expertise volunteer for 10 hours a week at the Partnership’s main administrative building in Nashua and work directly with staff to enhance the Partnerships  current Customer Relationship Management software capabilities, thereby increasing the organizations’ fundraising capacity so that they can provide better outcomes to the clients they serve. At the same time, the volunteers have the opportunity to learn and apply “Agile” project management methods in a unique way that benefits the entire community, especially its most vulnerable residents.

This innovative project is the only one of its kind in New Hampshire, and has been ongoing since June. It is expected to continue until the end of the year. According to Peter Kelleher, President and CEO of Harbor Homes, Inc. and the agencies of the Partnership for Successful Living, “through Scrum, we are able to leverage the professional expertise of our volunteers, to create a superior way to track donations of time, money, and in-kind items while concurrently building a network of community support that can be cultivated over time.”  Current Scrum volunteers participating on this project include: Al Beaulieu, Ted Emerson, Bob Fischer, Brian Mack, Alan Peckham, Sean Reilly, Marie Schulmann, and George Sluz.

The Nashua Scrum Club was started by a local group of software professionals.  Bob Fischer, one of the club’s founders and a Board Member of the Partnership for Successful living states, “Scrum is a lightweight project management methodology that enables organizations to rapidly design and implement new technical capabilities.  Scrum has a collaborative, learn-by-doing approach that enables people with subject matter expertise and organizational goals to work effectively side-by-side with technical staff.  Scrum teams build new functionality in small chunks that can be incrementally rolled out”.  In a non-profit where time to focus on project work is scarce; Scrum provides a simple framework to get the most value out of the time invested.

Nashua Scrum Club is a professional organization where people can both learn and apply Agile Project Management and advanced technical practices while giving back to the community.  Amanda Abelove, founder of the national Scrum Club, had the idea having project teams of volunteers learn Agile by working on projects for non-profits, and Nashua Scrum Club is the first group to implement the concept.  The Nashua Scrum Club organizers have a passion for this way of working and founded the club to have something local in New Hampshire.  Additionally, several of the founders who were laid off at the beginning of the recession decided that the club should have a focus on employment.  Specifically, club members can build marketable skills by participating on one of the non-profit projects, and during the club meetings there's an explicit focus on networking and matching employers with potential employees.                                                                          

The Partnership for Successful Living is an innovative collaboration of six nonprofit agencies providing comprehensive housing and supportive services, helping individuals and families to achieve sustainable independence. For more information about the Partnership for Successful Living member organizations, visit www.nhpartnership.org. For more information about the Nashua Scrum Club, visit www.nashuascrumclub.org.