From Agile to Continuous Development in the Healthcare Domain - Lessons Learned

Starting in 2006 our organization in the healthcare domain began a shift towards agile-like development rather than a strict interpretation of the "V-model". But this was only the beginning of an ongoing journey. Today modern software engineering is characterized by much faster development cycles than those used in traditional models. Our business demands that we shorten release cycles and support many different deployment scenarios. Due to the nature of our products, it is also necessary to address the relevant regulatory requirements which make this task even more challenging. Over the years, we have made a number of improvements in the spirit of "continuous improvement" that have helped us reap the benefits of a more continuous way-of-working. These include organizational, architectural, and process-based improvements as well as explicitly focusing on the necessary culture in the organization. This experience report is a summary of our learnings and hopefully will provide something for everyone that helps on their own journey.