Author: neil

Farewells

We say farewells all the time. Sometimes explicitly, other times without even realising it.

Today was a farewell to two of my colleagues friends at work.  Over the last several months, I’ve come to laugh, cry, and learn with them to the point where I don’t think I consider them mere colleagues.  The circumstances of their employment changed though, and that required a heartwarming farewell to them, in the context in which these relationships were formed.

The day is also ending – it’s dusk, and I have not made the time today to go for my walk yet, so there is no picture I took today. If I hurry on now, there is some chance to get the faint light and the brilliant imagery in the skies, but it’s also likely that I’ll farewell the day without an image of the day.

late edit:

Human Engagement & User Interfaces

For the last few weeks, the pressures on frontline healthcare workers, particularly when it came to vaccination targets was insane. The abysmal failure in sourcing sufficient vaccine dozes, the ridiculous challenges in finding appointments in the area where you lived, the hours-long wait to get into the building on the day of your appointment, it has taken a toll on nearly everyone who had to deal with it.

My teenager was finally eligible to be vaccinated, and today was her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. We were in an out of the hospital in 30 minutes, including a 15 minute observation wait, so it was overall a far better experience than mine just over 3 weeks ago.

What was more interesting to compare was the number of mouse pointer clicks that the nurse had to deal with. In my case, I counted at least 100 before the nurse was able to administer the dose in <10 seconds. In my daughter’s case, it was fewer than 30. Much of the effort seemed to have been streamlined. The nurse spent more time engaging my daughter as a human at the center, rather than clicking away and making the computer the center of her work.  The UI seemed to have taken over & hidden all the administrivia to the mechanical process that was built into the workflow, and the experience was so much more bearable for it.

 

Meeting Madness

It was a beautiful day.  A few people on the beach – if not in this frame. A gentle breeze. Perfect temperature. An hour long walk on the beach, feet sinking in the damp sand. Occasionally the surf racing quickly and getting feet wet. Better than a walk in the park. The weather stayed pretty awesome nearly all afternoon.

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A meeting I was in today went from a useful discussion on practical things to a verbal car crash. I’m not sure my life – or anyone else’s for that matter – is better off because of that discussion. It required a follow up conversation to clear things up which didn’t necessarily do that, which meant that was a waste of time too.

“How to avoid meetings” must be a subject for all students. Even better, “How to have effective – or no – meetings” could be a subject. I suspect it will save time, energy, frustration, and quite some hair.

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Much better in meeting with nature.