I was treated to the news that Dr. Neil Calman, President of CEO of the Institute for Family Health has launched his own blog, at http://neilcalman.blogspot.com/. Of course I’m excited by this as I got to meet Neil and his care system very recently and will look forward to being updated about things as they happen with Neil and IFH. When I see Neil, instead of asking, “what’s happening, Neil?” maybe I’ll be asking, “how’s that thing happening, Neil?”

I have noticed in some of my own professional interactions that the conversations start more deeply, more quickly, when I am having them with someone who has been following a blog of mine. I have to remember what I write so I don’t tell the same story. My antidote for this is to appeal to others to have their own blogs, so they can experience the same embarrassment.

I think this is a great way to stay connected to other leaders, and hopefully we’ll have Neil write a few guest posts about the work IFH is doing to support patient centered health information technology.

Hansei is a Japanese term for self-reflection. It’s a concept that’s used in LEAN, and I think useful in life.

For my main project, PCHIT, I am doing the official Hansei, near the 30 day mark, as my advisory committee gets ready to convene in Bethesda this week. On the general topic of this experience, I’m doing the same, informally, at the 30 day DCversary mark, right here.

Overall? Green light. It has been great to explore an entire community (and to some extent a nation) of organizations and the talented individuals in them. This is something that there wasn’t time/resource to do with a focus on a single organization previously.

Step counts on the pedometer here are about 30-40% higher each day here, which is also great. A long walk here doesn’t seem so long because of the density of stimulating things going on. The vibrancy of this experience is only heightened by the unusually sunny, rainless weather. These things make a difference.

The Evolutionary Leap comes from the fact that this is now coming to you from Mac OS X Leopard. The x2 is that this blog system is also now upgraded to the most recent version. Both experiences tell important lessons about how good I.T. can be. The Leopard upgrade - flawless, with many user-centric features that make productivity faster and more enjoyable. The blog upgrade - also flawless, but with a little more care and feeding. The open source nature of the blogging platform means that everything needed is in reach, but “activation and empowerment” are needed to make informed decisions about which parts to upgrade and the smoothest path. Leopard is a closed ecosystem, but one that is carefully managed, with great results. And I say that as someone who really isn’t a technophile. More on that later…