Monthly Archives: February 2010

The Keystone Initiative: A Checklist Success

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Jeff Mather

From Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, p. 44: In December 2006, the Keystone Initiative [which used checklists in the ICU and integrated executives to help remove roadblocks] published its findings in a landmark article in … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Health Care, Life Lessons | Leave a comment

WTF Is It Going to Take?

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Jeff Mather

Update from the day after: Just so that everyone knows, I’m not singling out any specific people or any particular party. I’m only angry at Congress and the pundits who are more concerned with scoring political points than with improving … Continue reading →

Posted in Diabetes, Health Care, This is who we are | 3 Comments

Random Bits of Awesome – February 2010

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Jeff Mather

Dear readers, it’s time for a roundup of topics that just aren’t big enough for their own posts. I’m just going to jumble them all together. Enjoy! It’s Olympics time. Woo! I don’t understand people who profess not to love … Continue reading →

Posted in Australia, Crusty Old Paint, Cycling, Diabetes, General, Travel, Worthy Feeds | Leave a comment

Idea of the Day

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Jeff Mather

If you don’t already subscribe to the New York Times‘ Idea of the Day weblog, you should. (If I weren’t at work with a lot to do, I’d write about how it aggregates some of the best articles in print … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Worthy Feeds | Leave a comment

Checklists

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Jeff Mather

We use checklists a lot at work. They help us reduce waste and ensure a high quality product. If we’ve run into a problem before, we’re likely to run into it again, so we might as well go down the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Computing, Life Lessons, Software Engineering | Leave a comment

Good Times at the MFA Boston

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Jeff Mather

This evening I went to the MFA to see the current exhibits. I was delighted by all of the daily life figurines that were part of the Tomb 10A exhibit. The Harry Callahan exhibit was small but enjoyable, and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Crusty Old Paint, General | Leave a comment

How Much Does Health Care Cost?

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Jeff Mather

So far, I’ve looked at how much my prescriptions cost (almost $6,000 per year) and how much the rest of my health care costs (about $7,100 or $4,250 depending on who you ask). Adding those numbers up, you get $10,250 … Continue reading →

Posted in Diabetes, Health Care, Life Lessons, This is who we are | 1 Comment

Now Running WordPress 2.9

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Jeff Mather

It took me forever to upgrade from WordPress 2.2. (Thanks, Internets, for not hacking my site.) After almost obliterating my web log in the upgrade process — thank g-d for backups and reversible changes — I’m now running 2.9.1, and … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Life Lessons, MetaBlogging | Leave a comment

Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Costs

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Jeff Mather

My auntie’s husband — I guess that would make him my uncle — baited me on Facebook into debating healthcare reform. I’ve been a bit coy discussing here what I would like to see in a healthcare reform package, preferring … Continue reading →

Posted in Health Care, This is who we are | Leave a comment

Implementing Lean Software Development – Part 1

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Jeff Mather

At midday yesterday my carpool buddy and I looked at the weather map, saw a scary blob of impending frozen doom, and decided to heed the Governor’s advice to go home. But the snow that was forecast — the blizzard … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, From the Yellow Notepad, Software Engineering | Leave a comment