Sunday, April 04, 2004

I've been silent for a while, but for some good reasons.  First and foremost was helping my wife navigate through (yet another) major surgery and initial recovery period.  She is doing very well lately, so I am back to work starting tomorrow.  If there is anything one doesn't want to become a veteran of, it is surgery.  Trust me on that.  But Shell is an amazing woman.  While she was recovering I had some fairly large chunks of time at the house.  But wouldn't you know it?  My internet provider AND Groove personal accounts both went wacky for about a week.  My initial response was to run through all the normal trouble shooting tricks.  Hard boot of router, and even talk to a knucklehead at tech support for my ISP ("The problem seems to be on your end Sir"...after which my connectivity magically started working again, with zero intervention on my part.  Hmmm) With regards to Groove, I did my first GrooveClean -all on my home desktop.  Because of the timing involved I simply could not back up all my spaces so I had to make some tough decisions.  Think of it as the classic lifeboat-can-only-fit-so-many-people scenario.  I alternated between getting ticked off that I'd have to resort to such a draconian measure as wiping all accounts and Importing the primary one I have, and leaving Groove shut down completely.  That last one was my favorite for a while as I had time to finish KoToR (awesome game).  A one last GrooveClean, reboot, and 'poof!' I am back in business on all fronts. I have put in a request to the Groove forums for them to develop a way to wipe each account discretely.  Instead of GrooveClean -all, let me pick which account.  Things are problematic when you cannot even log into an account to delete it from that machine.  You're left with a nuclear bomb approach when all you need is a bullet.  Oh, and if you are wondering if 3.0 is a better product, I confess that the beta leaves all of us using it salivating for the full release.  During my trials I can honestly say my 3.0beta install was more reliable than 2.5j.  Not to mention MUCH more fast.  As I tinker with Forms fairly often I have switched my patterns to do 2.5 Forms development using 3.0.  No hangs, no 'white screens of death'.  11:28:20 PM    comment []

Friday, March 12, 2004

Groove Beta 3.0 Released & Why Email is for Lazy People If you haven't been notified, Groove 3.0beta has been announced.  I'm still covered under a Non-Disclosure Agreement about what 3.0 can do fully, but next week I'll post here how much more awesome 3.0 is from even 2.5j.  Let me assure you that this is not the same 'leap' of technology as MS Office was from Office 2000 to XP.  There are substantial, vital and exciting improvements to Groove.  More later. My current rant about email or what I'll call "Why Email is for Lazy People."  As my organization takes baby steps in getting Groove out to the masses I'm seeing a slight (oh so slight) shift to putting stuff in Groove for projects.  And each time I see that I rejoice.  Email is so cumbersome to me because I must place the message in context for the sender.  Its DOUBLY painful if there is an attachment.  And maybe it's just me, but sending attachments via email is increasing.  No floppy drive?  No problem, I'll email you the file.  I take the email and must file it according to whatever organizational schema I have developed.  This is because I have a finite limit on my storage capacity for emails + attachments.  I could file it by name, general topic, date, etc.  And anybody who tells me that it's easier to do this than using Groove is plain wrong.  I have a-gazillion Personal Folders in Outlook and create a new folder more often than I like because an email doesn't fit a category already created. Groove is soooo much better for a guy like me.  With Groove, the 'sender' of the content is providing context for me.  And can do so on several levels.  Excluding some sort of Groove-Uber Space arrangement content is put away by project type or some other contextual arrangement.  And within the space the content is further broken down into type of content.  Email is too broad: send a web address, send a file, send an calendar event, etc and its all buried into an email that I have to sift through.  Using Groove I still get the link but it's pasted to a browser the other person and I co-share.  Send an event and we both see it.  A picture document can be placed in a tool that lets me see it.  We can co-view PowerPoint presentations.  And the list goes on.  When you consider TeamDirection's Project Manager tool there is no way to see how email can compare with the capability.  Manage a complex project with meetings, file attachments, deadlines, etc etc using email and you WILL feel the pain.  Sure, you don't feel the numbness right away because you don't know any better (it's like my chronic knee pain...always there but I don't notice until I pay attention to it). Do yourself, and me, a favor and save me some extra work.  Try out Groove (http://www.groove.net/) and compare it to email.  You'll wish everybody switched to Groove-only interactions. 8:37:58 PM    comment []

Friday, February 27, 2004

Groove gets official 'exception to policy' Although you could see it coming, official word was passed on down the chain that Groove is an authorized P2P technology.  In fact, it was the only P2P mentioned by name as an exception, with strong wording that P2P technology was not dangerous by itself. Just how P2P is Groove?  I sometimes wonder how much P2P Groove is, especially as we progress with our managed licenses (250) deployment with server packages.  That is, until our connection to the Internet goes down at work but we are still collaborating our butts off.  Speaking of a managed deployment, it really is the way to go.  In every possible way you really should move towards managing the client installs.  Having Groove Networks host the management server for you is painless, but you get all the benefits of password reset, security/device use policies and so on. We chose to manage the licenses in-house to have the ability to integrate Groove into our architecture.  Finally, I will be posting quite a bit to my personal blog.  There is a link to it in the Navigator area to the left, and you can find it here: http://www.grandadventure.net/weblog/ 8:25:58 PM    comment []

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

You only THINK you are blocking chat I've noticed that an increasing number of sites I surf to at work have been blocked as "chat." We must have a new policy or something, which is fine by me. Because I know that there isn't a program invented yet that can halt the momentum of the two-way internet. Guess how many weblogs are blocked? (zero) Wiki-enabled sites? (zero) Here's the irony: my organization is seeking to IMPROVE collaboration with a full deployment of Groove Workspace and server products. It is interesting to me, this schizophrenia in an organization. Wanting to get the benefits of collaborative technology but being paranoid to the point of clamping down security controls. Somewhere between no outside connectivity and total chaos of open privelege is the sweet spot for an organization technology-wise. Perhaps security is not the goal, but helping keep productivity flowing (security may not be the target...even the most security frenzied IT shop will admit that blocking 'chat' sites that have discussion threads is no more dangerous than letting people surf the net in general). So if my productivity is in question, why hasn't somebody asked me why I need to jump into the discussion fray? In my line of work, no IT person can pass judgement on productivity based on my surfing habits. It is precisely because I DO participate in multiple online communities that helps give me the edge at work, and keeps my advice to the organization timely and fairly accurate. Setting up policies for security purposes is one thing, doing so to grease the productivity skids is another. When will IT departments understand that they are spitting in the wind, and overstepping their role? 1:00:01 PM    comment []

Friday, January 30, 2004

Groove Networks It was pointed out to me today that this weblog was linked to on the Groove Networks website.  Yikes!  Just when I ran out of anything to say ;-)  To clear up any misunderstandings I must point out that my views here are in no way an official endorsement of anything, whatsoever.   And anything I may spout off is my personal opinion.  Or one that my wife gives me. I've already seen the impact of this link...my hits on this blog went up to a whopping 6!  Only a million + to catch up with Ray Ozzie. 7:35:21 PM    comment []

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

CIO.com's prediction (posting 20 Jan 04) K.C. Bolton: Psychic-Hotline Predictions I like to read technology predictions at the end of a calendar year.  They are revealing.  Every trade magazine, it seems, dedicates some of their end of year efforts to trying to nail down the 'next best thing' for their industry.  Interestingly, IT and healthcare (HC) have one in common that still eludes the pundits: the paperless office. Right now there are focus groups working in both industries to lick this problem. I know of nobody in my industry that doesn't believe that a standardize electronic medical record is necessary. Improved patient safety, efficiency in work, and better HIPAA compliance are just a few of the benefits from a EMR. But (here it comes...) my prediction is that we are still at least 3-5 years from a true standard. I am not disparaging the work by the HL7 (www.hl7.org) group to establish XML as the new standard. But it will take quite a few 'bleeding edge' organizations to take that leap of faith. And it will also take mandates from the federal government with some penalties for non-compliance. Right now there is a sea of clinical information systems out there, many claiming to have the right computerized patient record.  In the federal sector I can count at least three major 'CPRs'.  Who wants to give up what is comfortable, or what has had a tremendous amount of development time poured into it? But...the best horse in the race for a standard electronic patient record is what HL7 is doing. Keep an eye on them. 7:00:01 PM    comment []

Sunday, January 18, 2004

Patient Education, Home Health, and Weblogs If you piece together RSS news readers, weblogs, Groove, and the healthcare system what do you get?  Here's what I can imagine: 1) Departments in the hospital/health organization publishing important content for patients to read.  I'm not just talking about "The clinic hours for Friday are changed to XYZ."  I am talking about meaningful patient education data that is timely.  My organization fielded a tremendous amount of Mad Cow related questions recently...it sure would have been nice to post what Mad Cow is, how one gets it, etc.  2) Patients can subscribe to the feeds they are interested in.  3) With NewsDesk (from http://www.wildgrape.net/ ) a patient can take an article that interests them and pop it into a Groove Workspace for discussion with their provider.  Or with friends.  You get the picture. 4) With Tim Knip's Interop Tool (http://www.suite75.net/blog/mt/tim/)  you can set up collaborative blogging. The initial set up for this system of customized content moving from the public arena to private and back would be a little daunting, but worth the effort in my book.  An organization can now get information out to their constituents, have that launch private discussions, and collaboratively maintain this eco-system.  The key piece is Groove's Web Services which lets any activities move into a more intimate (and secure) setting in case the patient has personal questions.  2:38:42 PM    comment []

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

The Ups and Downs of Blogs and a New Year's Resolution I go through these phases where I post consistently to this blog, then have dry spells.  My heart wants to share more with the rest of the world but I find I often have nothing profound to say.  Since I refuse to go the way of GnomeGirl or some other innane spew of stuff out there this area stays static. However, this is a powerful medium to use.  A "one-to-many" expression of thoughts.  The best weblogs out there inform, intrigue, and keep us coming back for more.  Examples of blogs like this are linked to the left.  If you want to know the absolute latest information on Groove, visit Jeroen's blog.  You don't need to do a Google search about Groove with Jeroen around.  Want to find out about .NET, social movements in the technology field, or fascinating information in general head to S.B.'s blog.  To gain inspiration about healthcare that makes a difference, then Marc Pierson's gold mine is the place to go. Weblogs have tremendous potential for direct translation of meaning and vision.  Ray Ozzie's blog is a top-rated site because readers get a glimpse of who he is and what he stands for (certainly NOT innane spew there).  And I see blogs becoming an increasingly important marketing tool for organizations.  I know the gentlemen mentioned above would agree. In keeping with the traditional New Year's resolutions made this time of year I plan on posting more regularly.  Hopefully I won't spew too much. 8:14:13 PM    comment []

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Leaders in Innovation I just returned from a visit to Anchorage where I spent some time with Marc Pierson and Mary Minniti from PeaceHealth/Pursuing Perfection.  Their visit was meant to continue the collaboration they have started with Dr Doug Eby and staff at the Primary Care Center of the Southcentral Foundation. http://www.southcentralfoundation.org/index.cfm   Marc and Mary also followed up on the coordination the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership (AFHCP) did during our visit to Bellingham in September.  Here's my brief synopsis of our talks: Doug Eby and his staff have established the most comprehensive approach to delivering primary care I have ever seen.  Or read of in journals/texts.  Appointing, staff training, waiting area design, automation, etc are all covered in their design.  Here's the key point I took away from seeing their arrangement: measure EVERYTHING.  But not only measuring each aspect of their system, but posting the results for all the staff to see.  If I have one regret from my trip its that I didn't get to spend more time asking questions from Dr Eby and his staff of dedicated professionals.  One other observation: everyone was genuinely upbeat and positive.  Take a tour through the backoffices of other clinics and listen to the dialogue and get a feel for the 'morale' of folks.  My bet is you'll feel either a neutral or slightly business-like cloud hanging in the organization. Marc and his crew continue to push the envelope with what they are doing.  The trip to Alaska is an example where his organization is seeking to take the best of others and apply it to Whatcom County.  Many organizations tout that they have a "learning perspective" but few set aside budget money for visits to other organizations just to learn.  The symbiosis that will result in Whatcom + Southcentral will be amazing to watch.  I hope to remain a part of this effort in some fashion. The Alaskan Federal Healthcare Access Network (AFHCAN--the telemedicine system up here) is sponsoring an international conference on telehealth.  The conference will be held in Anchorage on the 4 & 5th of March.  http://www.ruralhealthconference.com/telehealth.htm  takes you to their website.  I will be there with several of our telehealth staff from our organization.  If you are planning on attending drop me a line.  12:31:17 PM    comment []

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Pursuing Perfection, Whatcom County, and Synergy Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Marc Pierson and crew in Bellingham, WA. While everybody in the healthcare industry is talking about reform, rarely does anybody DO anything about it. Not so with Marc and crew. Rather than pick away at the fringes of what to fix (Access, Quality or Cost) they took a thoughtful look at their whole system. Key to their strategy was patient involvement in all plans and decisions. This patient-centered care, and not the quasi-lip service given when folks say "patient-focused". While Marc will say that their key to success has been involving the patient, let me share with you my assessment of why they are doing what other health organizations say is their 'vision'...Marc and his staff are passionately dedicated to the patient. What does this passion buy you? A willingness to look at EVERYTHING and incorporate what works and toss out what doesn't. An organizational openess between employees, patients, and other stakeholders. A renewed sense of energy each day, where 'problems' become a journey through which your colleagues (more like family) and you embrace because it 1) Gets at the root of why everybody is there for, and 2) It extends the interaction with one another. An ability to spread this passion for what you do to others in a viral fashion. I have seen literally millions of dollars thrown at projects that were doomed from the start. Sure, the core players were very dedicated, but they weren't able to make the jump to bring in other folks who got the vision and were as passionate about what they do as the original group. Marc's particularly effective at finding folks who just 'get it' and have fire in their belley to take care of the patient, recruiting them to join the campaign, and making them happy. Sounds like a winning strategy to me. 9:00:01 AM    comment []

Friday, October 03, 2003

Groove and Home Health...a winning combination Imagine a home health system that any user with Internet access can download and install.  For free.  Imagine this system being HIPAA compliant right out of the box with no security modifications.  Imagine a system that allows both real-time and asynchronous interaction between the provider and their patient.  Imagine a world of opportunities for placing placing patient education material in multiple formats (web sites, links, video files, PDF files, etc) at the fingertips of a patient.  And where they can ask direct questions of their provider.  And imagine using this same system to connect to other patients having the same ailment, where patients can share stories and experiences. Too good to be true, but it is totally possible.  In the next month or so I hope to share my organization's path on this journey.  We will learn some hard lessons I am certain, but I am also certain that every ounce of sweat will have a direct positive outcome for our patients.  Stay tuned... 6:58:34 PM    comment []

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Some additional musings about leadership... One of the hardest transitions I had to make as an officer in the Army was taking a command position (I had two company-level commands...I guess I screwed up the first one so they made me do it again!).  The saying "you're only qualified for the position you just left" applies here, where a commander knows well how to lead and manage platoon level activities.  But the path to success for a commander (and any other leader I have since realized) lies in the effectiveness of their subordinates.  You could be a great doer of things at the hands-on level but that will kill you as a commander.  Simply stated, you can't do everything and must trust your subordinates to pull things off.  Here's what you must pay attention to: *Ensure your folks know and have interalized the mission, vision, and scope of the organization.  In this respect I spent much more time talking about what we were about (full-spectrum healthcare at the point of injury) than how we accomplished things.  This is critical, and the tendency is to slip back into focusing on 'how' because that's what you know personally.  Forget being the star player anymore, and even forsake coaching over pure cheerleading if you don't have time.  Coaching is harder than you think, but cheerleading we all can do.    *Make sure your folks have the following two things: 1) a sure sense of ownership of the mission with the responsibility AND authority to pull it off, and 2) the resources to pull off that mission.  Too many times we expect people to somehow just absorb ownership of the mission because you gave them the task to accomplish this.  Think about the successful projects you have been on, and I bet you weren't doing them because you had to but because you knew it needed to be done.  THAT'S ownership + responsibility + authority in action.  And don't buy into the false buzzphrase of 'do more with less'.  Resource the mission/project so it will succeed.  And understand that much of the costs/time/resources will be expended well before much of the mission has started. *Don't be afraid to push people to achieve tough goals...but make sure you are with them the entire way.  I have had a reputation of asking for the moon from my subordinates, but I can tell you I was pushing them less hard than I have myself.  But some amazing things come out of this push to excel.  1) People stretch their personal understand of what their limits are and gain tremendous confidence.  2) People WANT to be stretched.  No soldier goes to field training exercises and enjoys playing cards 12 hours a day but it happens in some units.  But good units train hard, back off, and ramp back up again to peak at the appropriate times in exercises.  3) The byproduct of this pressure is often some wonderful moments of teamwork, stories to brag about to their fellows, and an extreme sense of accomplishment. *Leaders should be adept at finding good junior leaders under them, give those leaders increasing responsibility, and spend more time mentoring and nurturing those folks.  Remember, you ain't Da Man anymore. *Look for opportunities outside your normal mission boundaries.  Coupled with an organization that expects to do miraculous things they will pull off more missions outside their normal operational scope.  And it provides them an opportunity to show to others their multifaceted capabilities.  My medical units were often called on to help provide primary security for the assembly areas we were in.  Why? Because we often trained in environments other support units wouldn't attempt, and we employed the same tactics, techniques and procedures that a combat unit would in our operations. *Make time to get together outside the work environment.  Work hard and play hard but do it together.  Have a beer (or three) with your folks.  I found out more about the pulse of the organization by being available to talk in an informal manner with folks. *Don't take yourself too seriously.  You should account for what has brought any success your way, and if you followed the items above you know that somebody ELSE made the great things happen.  Not you.  I also think a great sense of humor can ease tensions, bring off-track conversations back to the forefront, and make for a more fun workplace.  Especially fun for your subordinates is when you go along with them teasing you about some attribute you exhibit.  If they feel comfortable enough to poke fun at you to your face then the organization is probably healthy.  If they do it behind your back then something is dysfunctional.  There's a great article in this month's Havard Business Review about humor in the workplace  http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=BMRTF4MBXCGEOCTEQENR5VQKMSARUIPS?id=F0309A  *Reflect often on how you are doing as a leader.  Are you the type of person that you'd want to have as a boss??  Be a reflective-practitioner of leadership and know that you will never 'arrive'.  Some may mistake this process as some sort of second-guessing oneself, or a flaw in their confidence to lead.  We all have blind spots, but if we never try to find them because of hubris then we will never grow as leaders. *People sense a phony and respect genuineness.  I can't tell you how many times I have validated this with both subordinates and superiors.  I have been fortunate to work for people who appreciate candor.  I have even had to tell subordinates things that were quite difficult but by speaking in a frank and honest way with them they have appreciated it much more.  Even when disciplining them I have had feedback that the soldier appreciated knowing how things stood rather than me shirking away from telling them. In my next post I'd like to share my feelings about visiting Marc Pierson in the flesh...what a special treat to meet a dedicated and talented group that Marc has formed. 9:22:42 PM    comment []

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Wireless Posting 22 Jul K.C. Bolton: Wireless--Make No Mistake, It's Here to Stay I must confess I am not much of a consistent blogger. Not because I don't have anything to say, but because I am so busy in the doing of things that I can't see to make the time to talk about them. This is my poor apology for 'a day' as mentioned below stretching to nearly a month. Maybe its like in dog years;-) The Boston Wireless Expo was a fascinating trip, but only on one level for me. The entire event seemed to center around security, security, security. That's great, but I left hunkering for more meatier subjects (hey, I'm an end user. Security of the network is not something I care to spend 3 days talking about). In particular, I was looking for how wireless will transform industries with some lessons learned. Some of the smart folks out there are thinking: DUH! You won't have to stay tethered to the building anymore. That's a one dimensional view imho. I would have liked to see a wireless healthcare break out session, one for retail stores, etc. How will wireless change healthcare and with some specifics. And research to support the view that wireless is better. [Patient Encounter Total Time reduced by X mins. Processing of billing paperwork streamlined by...you get the picture} Let me talk about an obvious combination: Wireless + Tablet PC + Groove. A wireless network is not needed unless you have devices that can leverage its untethered nature. We are beta testing wireless as we speak, and we are passing around a TPC loaner from a vendor. One school of thought is that these two technologies should be viewed separate and that's correct. Don't build a wireless network just to work with a specific computing platform/vendor, and don't pick a TPC that will work with your configuration of a wireless network. But...testing wireless is more than walking around your office looking for signal degradation. That says nothing about how users will adopt and internalize wireless. In the same vein, don't look at a Tablet PC that's connected to your LAN and make assumptions about how the end user will like it. They will like it a whole lot more if its used in conjunction with wireless and your test should focus on how things interact (TPC and Wireless) in a joint deployment. Enter Groove. Groove can be seen as a way to wrap a huge chunk of wireless computing in a secure environment. Its a backup security measure that enhances already included protocols embedded into wireless hardware and management software. NOW...evaluate Groove on a TPC in a wireless environment. Did I mention the whole focus on security left me wanting more? Yep...they should have included a session on Groove in Boston. I am leading up to this thought: it is no leap of faith to predict that wireless will become so ubitiquous that it will be transparent to the user. We are maybe 3 years from total saturation of wireless in one form or fashion. Maybe then we'll stop talking about security and more about how to squeeze productivity out of continual connection to the Internet. I only hope so. 12:48:00 PM    comment []

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Posting 29 June 03 K.C. Bolton: The Whole World is a Chew Toy We got a new puppy (is that an oxymoron??) two weeks ago and he has consumed my free time. A pure-bred Australian Shepherd we have decided to name 'McKinley'. In Alaska we have the tallest mountain in North America, Mt McKinley. And our little pooch fits the moniker. He actually fits the Athabascan Indian name for the mountain better: Denali. Translation = The Great One. I just returned from the Boston 802.11 Planet Expo. I will post my observations tomorrow. While you are waiting for that I can sum up 90% of the event in one word...SECURITY. 12:35:00 PM    comment []

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