Project Objective:

Develop a cutting-edge GenAI tool designed to assist medical professionals, including medical students, residents, and neurosurgeons perform brain surgery.

Framework / Methodology:

Agile; one-week sprints

Project Management System:

Teamwork

Constraints:

Timeline

Risks:

The largest risks involved in this project were the fluid nature of stakeholders’ decisions regarding requirements. The team also experienced key stakeholder resignation, midway through the project. 

Outcome:

Julie took an agile approach to this project. This approach provided the flexibility needed to adapt to the frequent changes in requirements from stakeholders. Each sprint began with a planning session and ended with a review and retrospective, allowing the team to stay aligned with project goals and quickly address any issues.

One of the most significant challenges Julie faced was managing scope creep. Stakeholders frequently altered their requirements, adding complexity to the project. To mitigate this, Julie maintained close communication with all stakeholders, ensuring that changes were documented and prioritized appropriately. She also kept a well-maintained backlog of features, a decision log, and a risk register, ensuring the team focused on the MVP’s most critical features.

As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, a key stakeholder in the project resigned unexpectedly, causing even more uncertainty. Julie acted swiftly, developing a relationship with a new stakeholder, and getting him up to speed on project status and requirements quickly. Her proactive communication and thorough documentation helped maintain project momentum despite these disruptions.

As the deadline approached, the team entered an intensive and stressful phase of testing and debugging. Julie helped support the Development team during a four-hour testing session the Sunday afternoon before launch. The team worked tirelessly to ensure the GenAI tool was polished and free of critical issues.

On July 29th, 2024, the GenAI tool launched right on schedule—a long time in the making.