Margaret Thatcher said, “Anyone who finds themselves on public transport after the age of 26 must consider themselves a failure.” There’s probably some sort of corollary for anyone twice that age that spends part of every day writing to imaginary people on the web and believing it makes a difference.  The good news is that I don’t hear the voices as much as I used to–sometimes you just have to end with a preposition.

When I write I like to pick a side and stand by it instead of standing in the middle of the road where you can get run over by the traffic from both sides. Likewise, I don’t look for consensus around an idea. Consensus is the process of everyone abandoning their beliefs and principles and meeting in the middle. When was it decided that meeting in the middle is beneficial? So, achieving consensus about a problem is nothing more than that state of lukewarm affection one feels when one neither believes in nor objects to a proposition.

Having this approach to solving business problems tends to yield a high number of critics. I don’t mind critics; those are the same people who after seeing me walk across a swimming pool would say that my walking only proves that I can’t swim–which if you’ve seen me training for the triathlon wouldn’t be far from the truth.   I rather enjoy it when someone offers a decidedly personal attack on something I wrote if only because it means they can’t find a legitimate business principle on which to base their argument. I love the debate, and I don’t expect anyone to agree with me just because I say it is so, although if one or two of you did that would be nice.

In trying to promote a different way of looking at the EHR decision, I’ve learned that it’s not possible to lead from within the crowd. The as-is was created by history, by followers. The future will be created by someone who believes it can be done better. I believe firmly in the notion that implementing an EHR without understanding your specific business problems need is like trying to cure a cold with leeches.

My best – Paul