BIREME/PAHO/WHO continues to develop scientific and technical health information products and services, together with countries in the Region through agreements and technical cooperation projects, with the support of PAHO/WHO, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and national government institutions.
In line with the 2023-2025 digital transformation strategy, BIREME adopts the Scrum framework, based on the Agile methodology, for its projects. This methodology prioritizes flexibility, collaboration and efficiency in software development, with short cycles (sprints), constant communication, continuous feedback and incremental delivery of products. Scrum organizes the process through defined functions, artifacts and events, promoting the continuous delivery of value and improvements in development.
In this sense, the progress made in implementing the adoption of the agile culture is noteworthy:
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Collaborator certification
BIREME supported the training of its staff by providing participation in Scrum training courses. As a result, more than 10 employees obtained certifications (PSPO (Professional Scrum Product Owner) and PSM (Professional Scrum Master)), demonstrating the institution’s commitment to developing skills and strengthening its intellectual capital.
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Global project development with Scrum
The development of the alpha version of the WHO’s Traditional Medicine Global Library employed the Scrum framework with its characteristic events (sprints; planning; daily’s; review and retrospective). With two-week sprints, incremental development was planned in the plannings, monitored in the daily’s, inspected in the review and in the retrospective the team’s development process was analyzed and adjusted. It took six sprints to reach the alpha version.
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Training and use of PO in other projects/products
As part of the continuous development process, professionals are being prepared to play a strategic role in all the organization’s projects and products. This training covers everything from identifying and understanding customer needs to effectively prioritizing the backlog, with an emphasis on applying agile methodologies. The aim is to train qualified Product Owners (PO) to ensure strategic alignment with business objectives, promoting greater efficiency and productivity in development, as well as ensuring superior consistency and quality in deliveries.
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Organization of the deployment backlog following agile governance
In line with the Agile methodology, the development demands (backlog) were organized using Scrum practices to monitor deliveries and prioritize strategic goals. The items were structured in standardized Excel spreadsheets and aligned with the respective Work Plans, ensuring traceability and clarity in monitoring.
Criteria such as Definition of Done (DoD), acceptance criteria and others were applied, considering effort and task alignment. Centralized registration was carried out on SharePoint to facilitate consultation and management. The prioritization process is already being applied, ensuring deliveries are in line with organizational priorities.
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Definition of a governance based on a productized matrix structure
The agile matrix structure was organized into three layers, promoting a clear division of responsibilities and strategic alignment with the Scrum methodology. The Director is responsible for strategic vision and direction, acting as a facilitator and support for the other levels.
The Managers take responsibility for the teams, focusing on direct leadership and standardizing knowledge management. This layer ensures that learning and practices are uniform, aligning efforts with organizational goals.
Thus, project management and monitoring at BIREME/PAHO/WHO are being aligned with the Agile development methodology, considering its continuous components: (1) Elaboration, formalization and development of proposals with continuous monitoring of costs and expenses in order to maximize the cost/benefit ratio of the project; (2) Intermediate releases to counterparts and BIREME teams in order to reduce the interval between development and delivery of value to the end user; (3) Operation of the internally customized DotProject system for recording technical progress and follow-up by focal points, including external ones; (4) Periodic follow-up meetings with the actors involved; (5) Preparation and publication of routine results reports; and (6) Effective communication at all stages and dissemination of results.
This implementation will be included in the OPS Adelante initiative as a good practice for strengthening its institutional processes in support of the Organization’s technical cooperation for the Region.