What is your favorite MedTech software?

  • 24 January 2023
  • 2 replies
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What is your favorite MedTech software?
Etienne
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  1. For brainstorming:

    đŸ’„ StrategyđŸ’„

    I mean the software.

    we like sticky note and whiteboard sessions, but nobody likes inputting the mess back into Excel afterwards.

    It takes weeks... (Eh, what else do we pay Project Managers to do, amirite?)

    Instead, what if your team could asynchronously put those sticky notes into an Impact/Effort table, and turn it into a list with weighted scores (or tag them to become User Needs or Design Inputs later) automagically?

    Strategy does that, and a lot more. Specifically built for cross-functional MedTech teams.

    Plus there's an option for early access.

    Link in the comments.
     
  2. For physical design:

    đŸ’„ SolidworksđŸ’„

    I know, mechanical engineers are biased - but I've searched microfilm, NX Ideas, AutoCAD, and paper drawings... Those are hours of my life I'll never get back.

    SolidWorks beats them all.

    Plus, in 2021, when I had nothing more than an idea and an LLC, but SolidWorks gave me a free year of Pro + Simulation... Yeah, I'm biased...

    And their Entrepreneurship Program is still going strong! I'll link to it in the comments.
     
  3. For document management & Design Controls:

    đŸ’„ Greenlight GuruđŸ’„

    Document Management System, validated electronic signature, and connected Design Controls & Risk Management... I cried happy tears when I saw it autogenerate a DHF, and route a Design Review for sign-off.

    Plus, with how much free content they give away through the Academy, webinar, and blogs, they're like the official sponsor of the Superbowl - er.. MedTech...

    Link in the comments.
     
  4. For clinical evaluation reporting (CER) and literature search:

    đŸ’„ Nested KnowledgeđŸ’„

    I never realized how much work goes into a CER until I saw how much work this software eliminated it for me.

    While you may like manually searching PubMed, and copying and pasting links to your Word doc, this software lets you tag data and extract it into a searchable report that traces it back, and even offers an AI element to uncover things you didn't know you needed.

    I love it when engineers finally get sick of the old way of doing things.

    Link in the comments.
     
  5. For clinical investigations:

    đŸ’„ SMART-TRIALđŸ’„

    Imagine having to change one of the steps of your carefully planned clinical study protocol - and then disseminate that change to multiple sites. đŸ€Š

    Miserable (if you're using paper.)

    What I love about SMART-TRIAL is that it’s a pre-validated system to collect info via text - suddenly subjects can complete anytime, anywhere.

    And while I love Back to the Future, Mad Max, and The Goonies... 1985 called, and they want Excel back.

    Don't make life hard on your engineers - give them the tools they need to do what they do best.

 

  1. For cloud connectivity (SaMD):

    đŸ’„ Galen DatađŸ’„

    Sure, we know what Amazon Web Services is, but are they going to set up a Quality Agreement with you ? They pretty much have their processes, and you have to situate yourself around those. Galen Data is cool because it is built specifically for MedTech companies. 

 

What are your favorite MedTech tools?

Sharing is caring! 😂

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

2 replies

MichaelRoberts

Etienne, I’ll throw out a few tools that I see a lot and ones that are pretty much at the top of the list in terms of features and usage.  Your list above is good but just to expand on the software side of things.

  1. Jira & Confluence - I feel like these are almost the standard for anyone doing software work (alternatively, if you’re a Microsoft shop, Azure DevOps may be your tool of choice here).  And now Jira is really being used by lots of non-software usage.  With JSM, people are using it for IT service desks, facilities service desks, and HR service desks.  there are a bunch of cool automations to make work easy and there are tons and tons of marketplace plugins that integrate with just about any tool out there (or other tools integrate with Jira).  The integrations here are the main reason I made the point in today’s panel about people using the tool they want.  Most developers and product people are familiar with Jira so if your other systems tie to it, they can do their work and not cause issues with other data points.  If you’re doing software, I feel like Jira is the standard.
  2. Github - Pretty standard as a source code repo.  I don’t think I’d use it for bug/issue tracking but the repos are worth it for sure.  If you’re a startup or mid-market company, I feel like Github is a no brainer.  If you’re in the enterprise realm, there may be better, more cost effective solutions but otherwise, it’s a great platform that integrates with so many other tools out there today.
  3. GitLab - If you want a fully contained software to plan, develop, secure, and operate software, then this is the tool.  What you may lack in flexibility, you gain in having the whole system that does everything you’d need from start to finish.  Again, integrations are big here and I’ve seen lots of GitLab integrations have huge impacts to end products because it’s so easy out of the box
  4. Jenkins or CloudBees CI - I would say this is a bit more detailed and “enterprisey” of a platform than someone who may need GitLab.  Jenkins is the open source version and CloudBees CI is the enterprise version that has several other features to extend the usefulness of those Jenkins build environments.  If you’re integrating code, and need it to plug into Jira and Bitbucket or Jira and Github, Jenkins or CloudBees CI is a common platform.  Jenkins, because it’s open source, can get out of hand if not managed well.  Our team has written several blog posts on our site that talk about some of those challenges (islands of Jenkins or the Jenkins Monolith) but if managed well, this can be a huge piece to the devops stack for companies building software.

Hope that helps folks out there!

 

Etienne
Userlevel 5
Badge +1

Awesome, @MichaelRoberts - GitLab, Jenkins, and CloudBees are all new to me, so I’ll have to check these out! 

Thanks for sharing!!

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

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