More Agile than ever: The case study of the development of a dashboard for the management of ICU beds during the coronavirus outbreak

ABSTRACT

This case study outlines the agile development of a web information system, called Leitos, to manage the ICU and semi-ICU beds assigned to COVID-19 patients. This system aims to aid the State Health Department of Rio Grande do Norte (SESAP/RN)'s actions in response to Brazil's coronavirus outbreak. The purpose of this study is threefold. First, we intend to present the methodology and strategies used to develop and implement the Leitos system. Second, we describe the adaptations we have made to the agile practices to cope with the urgency of pandemic times and the remote teams. Lastly, we present the main characteristics of the Leitos system. The case study describes a real scenario, where the SESAP/RN requested us to rapidly develop a technology to integrate ICU beds and patient data related explicitly to COVID-19 from 61 health units (hospitals and clinics) spread across the state. With a small remote team of volunteers, we heavily relied on the Agile Scrum Methodology, where the first sprint took only one week and covered approximately 70% of the system's requirements. By the end of October 2020, 215 government agents and clinical unit staff have used this system, which suggests the efforts described in this article were crucial to support SESAP/RN's decisions on public health during the earliest stages of coronavirus pandemic in Rio Grande do Norte. As the main contribution, this article provides valuable insights into the impact of COVID-19 outbreak and the remote work in real agile teams. © 2021 IEEE.