Marek Konera uncovers all you need to know about user stories, the backbone of agile software development.

Marc Heasman talks about the sources of insights valuable in understanding user needs.

Business Analyst Lee shares his insight into what its like to be a Business Analyst in Kainos.

An insight into what it takes to join our Product Team from Alison Coote, Product Principal.

One of our delivery team recounts his experience on the Inland Fisheries NI Direct project through go-live.

Does your organisation have technology governance? Find out how we work in this blog from our Digital CTO and Deputy CTO.

Read Marc Heasman’s retrospective on Agile on the Beach, the UK’s leading Agile conference and what he took from it here.

I’ve worked in support now for coming up on 10 years and trying to tell people what I do usually involves avoiding that word “support”. It just conjures up all the wrong images of socially inept people stuck in a basement of an office who get summoned when customers need to resolve the magic of…

Agile Cymru (meaning Agile Wales) ran over 2 days at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff from July 5-6. It focused on the best practices of working in an Agile way and provided many opportunities to learn from the key figures working in the industry as well as the chance to share your thoughts with others….

I sometimes wonder why we bother using the term ‘user’ at all. Before I started working on government services, the user was rarely considered in the terms many of us have now come to understand. Yet for everything we’ve learned about the importance of testing a thing with the users of the thing, there is…

I had the opportunity to speak at the Digital Government 2015 Conference in Belfast recently, and was a member of a panel that included digital leaders from Northern Ireland, Scotland and UK Central Governments. In this blog, I look at how Government can implement digital transformation, achieve reuse and build a platform, while maintaining focus…

The first Agile Cymru event was a two day conference hosted at the Millenium Centre in Cardiff on the 7-8th July. Overall the conference was primarily focused on agile coaching, agile ways of working but did include some sessions with a greater technical focus such as BDD (Behaviour-Driven-Development). The conference was attended by more than 150 enthusiasts keen to…

Last Friday, we had our latest Kainos Consulting Community Day. This is when everyone in our consulting practice gets to come together, listen to some great speakers, run sessions on topics they’re passionate about, and importantly, have one almighty big night out.  It’s a fantastic opportunity to catch-up with colleagues. My contribution was an Agile…

EuroSTAR is probably the biggest testing event in Europe. The conference takes place every year, for over 20 years now, every year in a different host city. This year the 22nd EuroSTAR Conference was taking place in Dublin (on the 24th to 27th November) and the keynotes for the conference were diversity, innovation and leadership….

Daily Standup meetings have always been a regular feature of our agile projects and are increasingly being adopted by projects which aren’t strictly agile. A short daily catchup can be an invaluable tool, allowing team members to keep each other updated and identify any obstacles to them completing their tasks. I’ve found that development teams are very…

Last night, Kainos and DVLA triumphed at the Techworld awards, taking the prize in the Digital and Creative Project of the Year category. The Integrated Enquiry Platform is of the UK government’s early ‘Exemplar’ projects and has drawn attention across the media, from citizens and from industry. It represents a number of very impressive ‘firsts’…

EPR’s are massive undertakings to procure, implement and maintain.  They are also hugely expensive and demanding on valuable clinical front line staff to implement.  These statements are well evidenced in many publications and research over the years, yet still we see hospitals, regions or even countries chasing EPR solutions, usually from a single vendor to…

I recently read Phil Thompson’s great post around the value of story telling ‘Story telling in a business context’.  Reading it called to mind my favorite DevOps leadership story, but in a cautionary note Phil also talks about the dilemma of creating a tale to suit one’s own point.  He recommends a subtle caveat such as “It’s…

If DevOps hit the stock exchange tomorrow it would be sure to see brisk trading, these days many are selling, and even more are buying. That’s a curious thing given they barely agree on what DevOps is or means. So, despite a long term interest (you might even say passion) for DevOps I must say…

This April, Belfast saw delegates from all over the country RSVP to attend the Belfast Technology Conference (BelTech 2014), held over three days. Billed as the ‘premier high tech event of 2014’, the event was curated by digital technology solutions company, Kainos, and delivered speakers from across the world, including technology experts and politicians. Topics…

Tom Gray, the company’s CTO, explains why financial services companies should be looking to this kind of approach to help speed up responses to business process change. UK financial services face tough times. On the one hand, players in the market know they need to respond to escalating regulatory control, fragile investor confidence and weakened…

The innovative software coding challenge, Health Hack NI, which is already over-subscribed, will bring together medical clinicians and technology innovators to pool ideas and – in the space of just 2days – create ready-to-use software Belfast and London – November 26th, 2012 – Thriving technology company Kainos continues to champion innovation in healthcare. A pioneering…

In yet another exciting programme to discover and foster the latest upcoming talent in IT, thriving technology company Kainos has announced the fruits of Code4Derry, a student programme run over the summer in Londonderry in Northern Ireland. The project, to create an online tool to help locals and visitors take advantage of the city’s Wireless…

Belfast and London – 10th October, 2012 – A major event bringing together clinicians, software developers, students and entrepreneurs is to take place in the City Hall this December aimed at producing high quality software that improves health. Health Hack NI is based on a series of successful NHS Hack Days which have been hosted…