This week, a doctor and I discussed communication within a physician group - the amount of information, notifications, and numerous locations to search. Our company offers software that helps with this, but really any solution requires someone to invest time to solve it. We got to talking about how often we all roll over problems in the service of bigger priorities. Every day we encounter ...

In last week’s post, I defined humane software and asked for feedback. As a reminder, the definition was: an ongoing endeavor that looks beyond the simple goals of the system at any other results and seeks to expand benefits and reduce harms.

One reader wrote in with some profound thoughts on what humane software is. He said that humane software is empathetic and takes into account the ...

In this blog/mailing list, I have been writing about "humane software," particularly as it relates to medicine. Still, I have never stopped to acknowledge it directly or define what it means. So today, I will address that, head-on, by defining humane software. To increase the level of difficulty, or really to avoid a pet peeve, I'm going to try to avoid defining in terms of what it is not. ...

We had a great meeting today with a group of doctors and nurses who are using our scheduling system. This was the first time we had met with them since they started using it, and you won’t believe me when I tell you all of the nice things they had to say. But I am going to tell you two things because they relate to good software overall.

1. One of the doctors turned to me towards the end ...

Today I was talking with a mentor about our mission. Sometimes when I talk about what we are doing, imposter syndrome kicks in and I sound unenthusiastic and monotone - or maybe what’s really going on, my own uncertainty, comes through. But today, he asked why I talk about “physician wellness” and I was startled by my own burst of energy and emotional response. He genuinely didn’t know - and ...