I was getting my internet connection fixed and a technician had to come out. He thought that the hardware needed to be swapped for a newer version, but before taking that somewhat drastic step, he decided to call central technical support and see if they could reset things. They tried, it still didn't work, and … Continue reading Don’t let a good mistake go to waste
Leadership
Metrics as judgments
A police officer arrests the same person dozens of times in order to make an arrest quota. A bank employee opens accounts for customers without their permission because of a cross selling incentive. A teacher helps students cheat in order to improve tests scores so that the school will receive more funding. What's happening in … Continue reading Metrics as judgments
The trap and the treasure hunt
Even well intentioned leaders can sometimes use questions that break down a team rather than build it up. One of these question types I call the trap, and the other is the treasure hunt. The trap works like this. You ask someone a question, expecting that they will get it wrong, so that you can say … Continue reading The trap and the treasure hunt
Goals and Guardrails
A colleague and I were discussing a project to try to coordinate the cooperation of several radiologists who currently work in silos. I asked him what main problem we were trying to solve. He said that the main issue was the lack of fairness: some radiologists read more studies than others. I can understand where … Continue reading Goals and Guardrails
Agreeing not to disagree
A colleague, tired of discussing an issue with me, threw in the towel. He doesn't agree, I can go do what I like, but he and his group are not going along with it. I understand that kind of frustration. I've felt it before and feel it on a regular basis. What helps is to … Continue reading Agreeing not to disagree
Radiology is not ruined, it just doesn’t know what it is
Robert Wachter recently published a book exerpt, Has Technology Ruined the Radiology Profession? The basic idea is that technology, first seen as a boon to the profession of radiology, has actually eroded its value, perhaps to the point of replacing radiologists with machines. It's a cautionary tale, meant to warn the rest of medicine of the … Continue reading Radiology is not ruined, it just doesn’t know what it is
Red Goggles 