Richard Madders: PA Consulting graduate

Job: consultant analyst (IT delivery practice)
Employer: PA Consulting
Qualifications: BEng computer science/software engineering, University of Birmingham

I recently worked on a 15-week project for NHS London, a Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The aim was to help improve the way it reports on the performance of A&E departments across London. It wanted to increase its ability to use the data it gathered on patient admissions to drive performance improvement. We helped assess the types of data collected and the sorts of questions that different stakeholders would like to use it to answer (for example ‘What is causing the biggest delay?’), then designed and implemented a web-based ‘dashboard’ reporting system that displays the desired data, including graphs and charts.

My role in the team I worked in a team of five, of whom two of us were full time on the project. I was the development team lead, which involved taking overall responsibility for the design and development aspects of the project, and also did the majority of the technical work to develop the database that formed the back-end of the system. The other full-time team member was the project lead, which involved project management responsibility; he also did the majority of the technical work on the web-based front end of the system. There was an assignment manager (a senior staff member who checked that we were on track), a senior consultant (who specialised in data visualisation and helped design our graphs and charts) and a tester. In the final couple of weeks I took over as project lead while my colleague moved on to a new project. This gave me the chance to develop project management skills myself.

Multiple stakeholders

As well as the internal team, I worked with representatives from relevant parts of the NHS. These included staff from NHS London, the Department of Health, the NHS Information Centre and individual hospitals (including chief executives, consultants, nurses and data analysts). I was based at NHS London’s offices and worked closely with the ‘product owner’ there, who had overall responsibility for the project on the client side. We also visited a hospital for workshops with NHS staff.

Through the project I learned how to adapt my communication style depending on who I was dealing with. A hospital chief executive may have only a minute or two to talk, whereas a data analyst might be keen to discuss the intricacies of the data. I also improved my ability to manage expectations: given the many different stakeholders, I had to balance the need to keep them all on board with the necessity of prioritising the most important features of the system in order to keep it on time and within budget. It was important to be a good listener, and to interpret people’s different needs into requirements that everyone could agree on and that could be incorporated into one system.

The Scrum framework for software development

We delivered the project using an approach called Scrum, which focuses on working in an iterative, collaborative way. As with any project, we gathered and discussed requirements and compiled a list of required features of the system (for example what sorts of data it needed to provide to users). However, we then prioritised the most important features and had a five-week ‘sprint’ of developing an initial version (‘iteration’) of the system that focused solely on these. This was followed by a workshop with NHS staff to introduce them to it and seek their feedback. The outcome guided our next ‘sprint’ of work, as we knew whether we could move on to developing lower-priority features or if we needed to focus on reworking the most important ones.

Designing the front end

At the design stage I used graphical tools such as Photoshop to mock up what the front end of the system might look like. I also developed ‘personas and scenarios’ to represent who the different typical users of the system would be, what they would need, and what their journeys through the system might be. (For example, ‘I’m Bob from St Thomas’ Hospital and I need to know X’.) We then developed the system around these.

Database development: using SQL Server

In the development stage I used database technologies such as SQL Server to design the data warehouse that would underlie the system. I needed to design different tables of data; for example the main table dealt with episodes of care and contained details such as the patient’s ID, age and gender, while other tables dealt with details such as medical investigations carried out, treatments received, which hospital was attended and how the patient arrived at hospital. Technical problem solving was another key skill. I hadn’t used all of the relevant database tools before (for example Microsoft Analysis Services, which pre-aggregates data from the backend of a system) but I was able to ask colleagues for help.

One of the most satisfying aspects was seeing the product evolve from one iteration to the next. It also kept me motivated to know that I was working for the NHS, doing something worthwhile and helping improve A&E services.