In our first edition of the Beyond the Lab interview series, we are privileged to introduce Malvern Panalytical, a global leader in material and life sciences analytics. With over 80 years of experience, Malvern Panalytical has been at the forefront of providing precise measurement solutions that drive innovation and improve the quality of life. Their mission is to create a cleaner, healthier, and more productive world through their expertise, trusted data, and insights.
In 2022, Malvern Panalytical expanded its capabilities in biophysical analysis by acquiring Creoptix, known for its innovative WAVEsystem. The Creoptix WAVEsystem is a next-generation bioanalytical instrument designed for drug discovery and life sciences, utilizing Creoptix GCI Technology. This system combines the unrivaled high sensitivity of the GCI in the WAVEsystem with the WAVEcontrol software to provide customers with superior binding kinetics data analysis.
Tatiana Tiago, Product Manager at Malvern Panalytical
Our conversation with Tatiana Tiago, a Product Manager at Malvern Panalytical, reveals more about the driving forces behind these innovations. Tatiana holds a BSc in Genetics and Medical Biology, an MSc in Medical Molecular Biology, and a PhD in Neuroscience.
Her extensive academic background is complemented by a diverse industry experience spanning research and development, quality control, and technical support.
Tatiana has been instrumental in bridging the gap between scientific research and practical applications, reflecting a passion for staying connected with science while making a tangible impact on the industry.
Tatiana’s recent achievements include launching the Biologics Package for the Creoptix WAVEsystem, a new software solution that significantly reduces assay setup time for customers working within biologics drug discovery. As she transitions to a role focused on Customer Experience and Digital Development, Tatiana aims to enhance customer interactions and drive forward Malvern Panalytical’s digital transformation initiatives.
In our interview with Tatiana, we dived into the maintenance of WAVEcontrol software and discussed general best practices for software maintenance.
What is the significance of software maintenance for your company, and why is it particularly important for the WAVEcontrol project?
Tatiana: WAVEcontrol is the software component of the WAVEsystem, a key component crucial not only for operating the device but also for allowing customers to perform the analysis of their data up to date. The WAVEsystem is a biosensor that is used to measure binding kinetics, which is the speed at which molecules associate and dissociate, being a crucial step in early drug discovery. To be able to determine the binding kinetic parameters, the experimental data is fit using mathematical models to extract the kinetic constants.
This process is complex and time-consuming; however, the binding kinetics can be measured through several different methods, which might be more appropriate depending on the sample types. The WAVEcontrol is built to support our customers in both of these steps: in the assay set-up through our guided wizards and in the data analysis through the Direct Kinetics feature, which provides full data analysis in one click and can then be fully adjusted by the customer thanks to our advanced evaluation features.
Ensuring that the WAVEcontrol operates to the best possible standard and continues to satisfy our customers’ needs, it is essential to have an active and dynamic software maintenance. This not only allows us to ensure technical debt is kept in check and to a minimum, but also allows us to adapt and evolve to better address our customers’ needs through minor improvements.
Let’s explore the software maintenance process in more detail. Do you have a software lifecycle management process in place? If so, could you briefly present the main steps in the process in the context of software maintenance?
Tatiana: The first step in our process starts with interactions with our customers through our customer support channel, periodic discussions, or yearly surveys. Through these interactions, we get feedback on improvements and fixes that would make our customers’ everyday jobs easier, either by speeding up their processes or reducing the likelihood of manual errors. From this feedback, we populate the backlog and ensure clear information on both impact – to user and frequency, allowing us to prioritize individual entries. Release plans are then created to allow for regular frequency of releases.
Throughout the development work, individual items are tested to ensure the acceptance criteria have been met. Once the full scope of the release has been completed, the QC release is then fully tested through a series of workflow-representative tests to ensure the stability of the new version ahead of its release.
It is important to note that while the backlog for the release being worked on is fixed, the remaining backlog is regularly revised and re-prioritized based on value and impact. The next release scope is fixed, when the previous one is about to be released. This ensures a continuous process where the items that provide higher value to the users are worked on first.
Which teams are involved in the software product lifecycle management?
Tatiana: Several teams are involved in the whole process of the software development lifecycle, including the Application Scientist team and Product Management, which interact directly with the customers; the BioSistemika team, which includes project managers, software developers, and testers; and the Quality Control team, which performs the final release test on the new version ahead of its release.
Through the process, the Malvern Panalytical team interacts with the BioSistemika team to find the best solution for each issue.
If you compared the effort needed for product development to product maintenance, what would be the effort proportion?
Tatiana: This is very difficult to estimate because it depends on whether we consider the initial product development only or also additional incremental developments and the age of the product, which can add to technical debt considerations due to dependencies on operating systems or libraries. The initial product development tends to have timeline constraints, which are more restrictive than those of product maintenance, therefore seeming to require more effort.
However, an important mention is that when software maintenance is done regularly and continuously as part of the product’s lifecycle, this allows for continuous value add without necessarily the need to create a new product development as early as might be required if maintenance is not performed. This is because it ensures that technical debt does not creep up, bugs are resolved over time, and minor improvements are implemented, which ultimately extend the lifetime of the software.
What portion of maintenance involves bug fixing, and what portion involves improvement or upgrading software? Bug fixing vs. minor improvements – how do you maintain the balance between these two?
Tatiana: It varies from release to release, depending on the impact and frequency of bugs and improvements. However, in every release, both are always present. If the bugs fixed are of particularly high effort, then it is likely that the improvements are minor, or vice versa. This is why it is important to maintain the backlog grooming a dynamic process to ensure we are working on what will benefit our customers the most. On the other hand, it is also not uncommon that ideas for minor improvements arise from discussions on bug fixing.
How do you prioritize tasks/issues? In what case does a task/issue become a high priority, and can you provide an example?
Tatiana: The prioritization is based on two main criteria: impact and frequency. The impact can range from UI simplification to crash/action cannot be complete. An issue becomes the highest priority when it (or lack of a function) is hindering several customers from being able to execute an experiment in the most efficient way.
A recent example was adding the “Apply to all/ Apply to selected” feature within the Evaluation of the WAVEcontrol. As explained above, kinetic analysis requires fitting a mathematical model, which WAVEcontrol already performs automatically, providing error estimates for the fit to assess quality. However, in complex cases, expert users will be able to make changes to the initial fit, taking into consideration biologically relevant information that can help lead to a better kinetic rate estimate.
The pain point for our customers arose when the size of our customers’ projects increased, and the same change had to be applied to hundreds of samples. Due to the changes in the early discovery market since COVID, this pain point became more and more frequent as kinetic analysis is being brought earlier in the process, consequently increasing the need for higher throughput. To resolve this pain point, the BioSistemika team worked with us to develop a feature that would allow us to automatically apply the changes to any group of selected samples or to a full set of samples.
During the discussions, the BioSistemika’s development team not only looked to achieve that goal but also ensured the UI was as intuitive as possible and improved it further. This led to a solution that significantly reduced assay analysis time and enabled our customers to streamline their workflow.
How do you align internal interests between support, sales, and leadership? How do you satisfy all stakeholders?
Tatiana: This is day-to-day product management as we have to make sure we create products our customers love, yet work for our business. The prioritization of the backlog takes a lot of this into consideration, as in the ideal world, we would always be able to complete all of the backlog in a few releases.
But due to the fast-paced environment in which we live nowadays, where needs change regularly and not have unlimited resources as in any business, it is a constant act of balance. This is why the prioritization must be dynamic. Even when we cannot solve all the issues we would like to, we make sure that we are doing our best to focus on what would benefit our customers the most.
What share of maintenance is planned, and what is unplanned, coming from external sources?
Tatiana: Fortunately, most of the software maintenance is planned, which allows us to work efficiently in planned releases.
The only unplanned work comes from critical bugs that severely affect a customer’s workflow, either because the task becomes too cumbersome in terms of the time required to complete it, or cannot be completed at all.
This is also where the collaboration with the BioSistemika team has proven crucial. Due to their extended expertise, they are able to support us with problem-solving and find solutions quickly.
The bioanalytical instrument WAVEsystem instrument (on the left), displayed alongside the WAVEcontrol software interface (on the right) (Source: Malvern Panalytical)
As you mentioned the importance of your collaboration with BioSistemika for maintaining WAVEcontrol software, could you share your experience in more detail and explain the benefits of such a partnership?
Tatiana: BioSistemika has been our partner in software development for several years. Their expertise in software development, focusing on life science solutions, has allowed us to expand on our software maintenance and development. The project managers have a deep understanding of the life science environment and the software development process. Therefore, they can easily understand our customers’ pain points, help with communication with the developers, and find creative solutions to our customers’ needs. Furthermore, the depth of expertise from the developers ensures we are able to solve critical issues in a short timeframe while also using their knowledge to work on alternative solutions that improve our user experience even further.
Within the software maintenance for WAVEcontrol, the BioSistemika team is fully integrated with the Malvern Panalytical, being an integral part of the process and contributing proactively to make WAVEcontrol a software that is intuitive, automated, and flexible.
Can you explain more about the different levels of testing you are performing? How often do you perform regression tests?
Tatiana: We perform three different levels of testing as part of the WAVEcontrol maintenance. Once the code is complete, the BioSistemika team performs the initial tests to ensure the acceptance criteria have been met.
The individual items are then tested through functional tests to ensure the solution meets the customer’s needs. The third and final test is the regression test, where the final release is tested by performing workflow-critical functions to ensure that the changes applied do not impact existing functions.
How do you decide on a new software release? What is it dependent on? How often do you perform releases? Do you do priority updates and releases at the request of individual customers (exceptions)?
Tatiana: There are two main criteria when deciding on a new software release: time and scope. On the one hand, we try to keep our release at regular intervals so that our customers are aware of when they can expect a new release and can plan with their IT for the necessary actions for updating. On the other hand, we want to ensure that the scope set out within that release is complete to provide value to our customers to the standards we expect.
We do not do priority updates for individual customers per se, as this would disrupt the continuous process and potentially hinder development. However, in the case of critical bugs, as described above, and depending on the impact on the user, we might provide a test release ahead of the final release to allow the customer to resume their activities as soon as possible.
What is your response time regarding unexpected software issues or necessary corrections, and how do you define it? Do you have a defined time frame within which you must respond, and do you have a set process in this area?
Tatiana: Due to the varying complexity of software engineering, we unfortunately cannot commit to fixed timelines when resolving issues, even critical ones. This is because a bug might seem simple to solve at the onset, but once the code is inspected, other areas might also be impacted.
Our commitment is always to ensure our customers can get back to working smoothly as quickly as possible.
