Aarni's Blog

A Finnish medical startup, Laastari Lähiklinikka (freely translated as “Band-aid Corner Clinic”), presented their brilliant new service model at a seminar arranged by User Intelligence and SC5. Laastari has built a light version of a medical clinic for getting quick help on typical ailments: sinusitis, ophthalmitis, urethritis, and so on. They also give vaccinations. iPads play an important role in their service model.

Our health care system has been built around large units with big overheads. To treat a small ailment is costly, and the costs are going up all the time. The founders of Laastari started off by re-thinking the whole service model. Instead of a health care center they offer one room in a shopping mall. There’s a nurse, a couple of chairs, some small equipment, and an iPad.

You can pop in the clinic without reservation, and your visit lasts less than 15 minutes. The nurse uses iPad software. She or he writes down your name and social security number, and the iPad software offers a menu of typical illnesses. After the first selection the system shows a set of yes/no questions. 

After completing the questions the nurse sends the diagnosis to a remotely located doctor. The doctor’s iPad gives an alert; the doctor reviews the diagnosis and selects a proper medication. If you have visited the clinic before, they already know your possible allergies and previous treatments. If there’s a need to get a picture of your infected ear, for example, the nurse can send it along with the diagnosis.

Ville Öhman of Laastari emphasized that they have considered patient safety carefully. If the diagnosis shows that this time your ailment needs a more thorough investigation, they’ll send you to a hospital with a printed description of your diagnosis. Having a professional diagnosis at hand speeds up the process at the hospital. They don’t charge you in that case.

You pay a lump sum for the visit, now € 45. If you want a vaccination, they charge € 25 plus the price of the vaccine. The clinic sends the prescription to the nearest apothecary where you can pick up your medication.

There is a pool of doctors taking part in the service. They have been enthusiastic about the new service model. It is convenient for the patient and for the doctor, and the pricing is reasonable. The patients’ feedback has been overwhelmingly positive as well.

A company has two basic kinds of project: external and internal. External projects have a paying customer; they make money, but internal projects waste it. At least that seems to be the sentiment in many firms. People think that internal projects are less valuable and less critical.

The truth is that internal projects require the same level of attention and dedication as external projects. They use cash generated from customer projects to strive for business results: competitive advantage, cost savings or increased revenues.

As a management consultant I’ve helped clients in the planning and execution of internal development projects. Time after time the same issues seem to hamper initiatives. Here are some of the most typical, and my ideas on how managers could avoid them. 

Plan steps that deliver results fast

A long change program with results expected far in the future is not going to create a feeling of urgency and commitment. Break down a large project into manageable bits that deliver visible results fast. The more concrete and measurable the results are, the better.

Give employees time for the project

Few employees are lucky enough to get a full time post working on an internal project. Most workers have to take care of everyday business first; only when this is completed can they use what little time is left for the project. They cannot give their best when their minds are constantly struggling with other issues.

You should give the employee a whole day in a week, or a week in a month when he or she can concentrate solely on the project. Offer a replacement to cover their usual role for that period, and communicate the arrangement to the employee’s colleagues and managers. Make sure to support the employee in situations when the requirements of the project and their “normal” work collide.

Share a simple project model

Companies have great models for customer project deliveries. Still, many companies lack basic project methodologies and practices internally.

Practically all personnel should undertake basic project training. A company must have a simple, generic project management model and manual. Those who are going to be named project managers should receive training or mentoring before the project kicks off.

Communicate

The managers who initiate a project have certain goals in mind. They know why the project is necessary and why it is beneficial. Unfortunately, others can see the project as one more distraction with little or no results.

People are more accepting of change when they understand why it is necessary and what’s in it for them. It may sound like a cliché, but bi-directional communication is a key to project success. Showing an example is a great way to communicate.

Give credit

A successful customer project not only brings in money, but also gets attention. The project team receives an extra bonus or other rewards. Sometimes a project is noted in the media. How often are people involved in internal initiatives awarded due credit?

Make internal projects known in the company and reward success. That way you’ll ensure you have an even more motivated project team next time around.

Follow up

It is amazing to hear from time to time that companies don’t measure the effect of a project. It is no wonder people think that nothing has changed and that internal projects are a waste of time.

Plan how to follow up on the results after the project is completed. Making these results public and discussing them is an effective way to learn and improve project performance in the future.

Photo: iStockphoto

Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, was originally a very shy guy. In his book iWoz he writes, “Most inventors and engineer I’ve met are like me–they’re shy and live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists.”

Steve writes that, “artist work best alone–best outside of corporate environments, best where they can control an invention’s design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee.” He does not believe that anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by a committee. Why? Because the committee would never agree on it.

Steve’s thoughts are perhaps against the mainstream that emphasizes teamwork and “innovation processes”.  Steve promotes the idea of an engineer who thinks how to create the best possible end result with the fewest number of components. He says, however, that in his entire life he has only seen about twenty engineers who really exemplify that artistic perfection.

Steve gives his advice to “that rare engineer who’s an inventor and also an artist”. The advice is: work alone. He says that if you’re a young inventor who wants to change the world, a corporate environment is the wrong place for you.

“You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team. That means that you’re probably going to have to do what I did. Do your projects as moonlighting, with limited money and limited resources. But man, it’ll be worth it in the end.”

The book on amazon.com: iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It