Championing agile development at Sysmex New Zealand: Meet Paul Clarke
Meet Paul Clarke, the Programme Manager overseeing the Eclair product at Sysmex New Zealand. Since joining our Product Development team in early 2021, Paul has quickly become an invaluable asset, contributing his 15 years of health IT experience and forward-thinking mindset to lead the team’s agile development efforts. Under his guidance, product developments have become faster, more adaptable, and highly efficient.
Paul has played a pivotal role in spearheading Sysmex’s work to support the nation’s Covid-19 response. One significant project under his purview is the development of the Eclair Touch Covid-19 collection app, which has digitally transformed the Covid PCR testing workflow at Community Testing Centres (CTCs) across the country, as well as in former Managed Isolation and Quarantine facilities (MIQF). Working in close collaboration with key stakeholders, including Te Whatu Ora (previously the Ministry of Health), ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research), the health districts, and NZ laboratories, Paul ensures that their requirements are met while continually adapting to the evolving needs amidst the ongoing pandemic.
Agile leadership
In his role, Paul manages the product backlog for the Eclair web and mobile products. He takes the vision of the product and breaks it down into actionable items called user stories, which the team then works on.
Paul explains, “I write user stories that describe the software features we need to develop from the perspective of the end user. User stories provide context to the development team, highlighting the problem that the new software feature will solve and the value it will create.”
Effective interaction and collaboration are hallmarks of agile development, which Paul strives to achieve when facilitating agile meetings among our cross-functional team of developers and testers. These meetings include daily stand-ups to review progress, fortnightly retrospectives to openly discuss what went well and areas for improvement, as well as fortnightly team planning sessions to prioritise user stories for the upcoming two weeks.
“Agile creates a culture of continuous improvement and enables us to deliver faster results, foster innovation, and maintain a strong customer focus.”
While the Covid-related work is complex and involves multiple moving pieces, Paul thoroughly enjoys problem-solving alongside his team, and feels empowered by creating products that make a real difference for lab workers.
Keeping up the momentum
To sustain the ongoing momentum of innovation and progress, Paul remains fully committed to enhancing the functionalities of the Eclair product. Understanding the significance of user experience, he actively solicits feedback from end users, gathering invaluable insights that indirectly shape the product roadmap.
We are incredibly proud of Paul and the Eclair team for driving innovation within Sysmex New Zealand. Their agile mindset and dedication have elevated our product development capabilities, transforming our approach to challenges, and making a positive impact in delivering health tech solutions for the fight against COVID-19.