Pandemic startup software engineering: An experience report on the development of a COVID-19 certificate verification system

The COVID-19 virus has caused a global pandemic that has heavily impacted daily life. Rapid advances in testing and vaccinating led to an additional use case besides the well-known contact-tracing apps: certificate-verification systems. Verification systems are often commissioned by local authorities to enable more public life, and are often developed by smaller organizations or startups. So, the development of verification systems differs from other software projects, featuring interesting and unique properties. In this article, we present an experience report on the development of one verification system by a German startup, focusing on three properties: working in a pandemic, developing a product for handling a pandemic, and the startup context. To this end, we surveyed nine startup developers and analyzed the results with two experts from the startup. We found that the developers focused on fast delivery to cope with the time pressure of releasing the verification system, which is why some phases of typical development processes were hardly carried out. As a result, while the verification system is successful, we also identified negative effects of the properties (e.g., programming mistakes, well-being). We discuss our findings to guide researchers and practitioners in preparing for software engineering in future emergencies. Editor's note: Open Science material was validated by the Journal of Systems and Software Open Science Board.