Enabling Product Innovation Through Agile Product Management

Closing the Gaps in Pharmaceutical Chain of Custody

In recent years, given the ever growing number of federal regulations (e.g. the Drug Supply Chain Security Act), and industry-specific policies, and restrictions, pharma providers more than ever are compelled to provide their clients with uniquely-labeled, traceable drug packaging. The unique serial number (and corresponding database) can be used to trace the products throughout the entire distribution supply chain.

As a healthcare technology provider, Tabula Rasa wanted to expand its services to provide end-to-end drug traceability through a responsive web app, specifically Chain of Custody (CofC). This application allows the PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) programs to track, document, and audit the various hand-offs of the delivered medications. This provides a detailed accounting of the product as it passes from the pharmacy that creates the orders for the patients, to the PACE centers, to the transport driver who delivers it, on to the front-desk receptionist that receives the shipments, and ultimately to the end user.

Product Management Challenge

Tabula Rasa partnered with Moove It to outsource CofC to us, from the early-stages of product specification through the entire software development process including deployment; all within a timeline of 4 months.

Tabula Rasa came to us with a product specification that was still being formulated. The healthcare company was looking for bold ideas and contributions from a product design and management standpoint. The challenge was having to make it all fit within the rigid requirements of building a product that complies with regulatory standards and a predefined API specification.

In other words, time-to-market was critical and we still had to take the time to validate critical product decisions with Tabula Rasa’s product owner and key stakeholders before moving to software development.

Agile Product Management to the Rescue

Our product manager utilized an Agile Product Management strategy to divide the high-level specification into epics or segments of component functionalities, and then establish iterative feedback loops to better interface with the client as the product was being built by Moove It’s development team.
In this approach, the product development process stays one iteration ahead of software development, while the Scrum development team operates in parallel to product design. This enables iterative feedback loops in the design process and keeps rework or wasted development time to a minimum.

Benefits of Agile Product Management:

It creates a tight interlink between the product owner, the product design team, and the development team.
As the product development cycle shortens, tasks can be accomplished faster, and a constant workflow can be established. The development team is more deeply involved in helping to solve technical problems throughout the process– providing timely relevant feedback that helps to prevent possible issues prior to development.
It fosters a mindset that accepts change as a natural part of software development, creating a working environment that enables innovation.