That's part of the problem -- as stated in the article. Developers are piss-poor at understanding that not everyone thinks like they do
But let's not forget that there is a reason for this difference in thought process. Programming is a very specific process with (in general) very specific results. Typical end-user thinking is anything but specific. The day that the two meet will be that day where a computer can "do what I mean", and that's not going to happen anytime soon. Software written to do complicated tasks often must trade "correctness" for "useability" back and forth. End-users often have no appreciation for the difference between the two.
As software tries to do more and more, making it work correctly gets more and more complicated, and explaining how it works gets more and more complicated. The only real way to span that gap is with time and money (both of which are in short supply these days). That's just the way the world works.
There's more: Other studies focus on personality differences between techies (introverted, analytical) and computer users (extroverted, intuitive). Techies, professors conclude, must act more like psychoanalysts; they must learn to "appreciate the difference between what people say and what they mean."
"Can someone please tell me how to connect my bluetooth PDA to my home computer and my wireless laptop, which are both connected to the internet through a broadband connection? And can you please explain it in language that a child can understand? And can you do it in twenty minutes? I'm busy."
If IT professionals find themselves irritable. It's because they are increasingly expected to straddle a growing chasm between the engineers trying to accomodate increasingly complicated software requirements created by their end-users, and the end-users who are unwilling and/or incapable of putting in the work required to understand how to use the software they decided they need.
I'm sorry that Marc Fisher feels that this latest system switch was a bad one, but I would ask him to try to do his job with that system he learned to use 22 years ago--the one with the 2-page manual. I would suggest that he'd be run screaming back to the new system in no time--and if he doesn't, he should take it up with his own management rather than dumping his frustrations on the poor IT people whose job it is to put up with stubborn people like him who want/need to be able to do sophisticated things, but aren't willing to learn.
Why bother doing it yourself at all? It's a nightmare. Let somebody else do it for you.
As per another poster, I would check out AthenaHealth.com. We aren't just a billing system, but more of a practice-management system. We have been working on alleviating frustrations exactly like the ones mentioned above--and we've been succeeding, by most accounts.
Medical billing really is a complex mess. It's true that it's not rocket-science for programmers mathematically, but the problem is that the regulations you have to adhere to as a practice have far more exceptions than rules. You are not going to just "slap a GUI over a RDBMS", since it would take decades of man-years just to
sort through the details, and at the end, you'd have to have a whole team of programmers to keep it consistent with all the changing laws and Insurance policies.
AthenaHealth is a web-based _service_ that aims to help doctors spend their time with patients instead of with computers. We do code-checking, payment-posting, and even can generate detailed reports that you can drill down into to nearly any level of detail you like, so you can actually see what is happening to your money. We do the work of keeping abreast of all the changing rules so our clients don't have to.
Anyway, I could sing our own praises for hours, but that would look silly. Instead, if you are looking for a better way to manage medical billing, check out AthenaHealth, and see if we fit your needs.
Slashdot Mirror
That's part of the problem -- as stated in the article. Developers are piss-poor at understanding that not everyone thinks like they do
But let's not forget that there is a reason for this difference in thought process. Programming is a very specific process with (in general) very specific results. Typical end-user thinking is anything but specific. The day that the two meet will be that day where a computer can "do what I mean", and that's not going to happen anytime soon. Software written to do complicated tasks often must trade "correctness" for "useability" back and forth. End-users often have no appreciation for the difference between the two.
As software tries to do more and more, making it work correctly gets more and more complicated, and explaining how it works gets more and more complicated. The only real way to span that gap is with time and money (both of which are in short supply these days). That's just the way the world works.
There's more: Other studies focus on personality differences between techies (introverted, analytical) and computer users (extroverted, intuitive). Techies, professors conclude, must act more like psychoanalysts; they must learn to "appreciate the difference between what people say and what they mean."
"Can someone please tell me how to connect my bluetooth PDA to my home computer and my wireless laptop, which are both connected to the internet through a broadband connection? And can you please explain it in language that a child can understand? And can you do it in twenty minutes? I'm busy."
If IT professionals find themselves irritable. It's because they are increasingly expected to straddle a growing chasm between the engineers trying to accomodate increasingly complicated software requirements created by their end-users, and the end-users who are unwilling and/or incapable of putting in the work required to understand how to use the software they decided they need.
I'm sorry that Marc Fisher feels that this latest system switch was a bad one, but I would ask him to try to do his job with that system he learned to use 22 years ago--the one with the 2-page manual. I would suggest that he'd be run screaming back to the new system in no time--and if he doesn't, he should take it up with his own management rather than dumping his frustrations on the poor IT people whose job it is to put up with stubborn people like him who want/need to be able to do sophisticated things, but aren't willing to learn.
Why bother doing it yourself at all? It's a nightmare. Let somebody else do it for you.
As per another poster, I would check out AthenaHealth.com. We aren't just a billing system, but more of a practice-management system. We have been working on alleviating frustrations exactly like the ones mentioned above--and we've been succeeding, by most accounts.
Medical billing really is a complex mess. It's true that it's not rocket-science for programmers mathematically, but the problem is that the regulations you have to adhere to as a practice have far more exceptions than rules. You are not going to just "slap a GUI over a RDBMS", since it would take decades of man-years just to sort through the details, and at the end, you'd have to have a whole team of programmers to keep it consistent with all the changing laws and Insurance policies.
AthenaHealth is a web-based _service_ that aims to help doctors spend their time with patients instead of with computers. We do code-checking, payment-posting, and even can generate detailed reports that you can drill down into to nearly any level of detail you like, so you can actually see what is happening to your money. We do the work of keeping abreast of all the changing rules so our clients don't have to.
Anyway, I could sing our own praises for hours, but that would look silly. Instead, if you are looking for a better way to manage medical billing, check out AthenaHealth, and see if we fit your needs.
--Georgi
But Doctor-assisted suicide is still illegal in 49 states...