What inspired you to join the technology industry?

In theological circles, and especially in theological schools, there's a lot of talk around “call” and a sense of “calling.” But, ask a programmer about “call” or “calling” and you'll probably hear about using a functions or object-methods.

When I read about Google's Code School Learning Opportunity I knew I wanted to apply. Code School issues Open Badges!

The open-ended, final question on the application took me by surprise: What inspired you to join the technology industry? Wait a sec! Did a tech giant just ask about my “call story”? Yeah, I think so.

I have my doubts about whether a human at Google will actually read my application. If the filtering algorithm looks for compound and/or complex sentences, there might be a chance. However, I know there are humans that will read this post. So, I'll also share my technology “call story” with the handful of folks curious enough to click the link in an email or a Tweet.

A year and a half ago, I encountered an electronic health record system for the first time. After only a couple minutes in the consulting room, tense silence interrupted the usual, easy conversation. I watched, appalled, as my psychiatrist fought his way through the clunky, poorly sequenced fields of the e-prescribing interface. An engaged healthcare consumer, I quickly voiced my concern, mitigating the effect on our treatment relationship. This relieved the immediate anxiety I felt as a patient, but my concern as an advocate held fast. What impact would this technology have on those who already feel disempowered by the healthcare system? How would it affect the health of people at the margins of society?

A half-dozen years earlier, I'd left web application development to pursue a graduate degree in theology, focusing on social justice. The two fields scarcely touched, and in social justice theology, I found the kind of passion I'd seen—but, despite my aptitude, never experienced—as a programmer. Likewise, I scarcely looked back, even after leaving theological school without a degree.

That afternoon, as I watched technology that should have facilitated the provision of healthcare impede my doctor's work, these seemingly disparate and disjoint fields collided. During my theological study, I lacked a clear sense of “call” or vocation, but in that collision it began to crystallize. My “call” is neither in technology nor in social justice; my call is in both technology AND social justice.

That's it. …the short-version, at least.

Finally, share the link to the application form with others who might want to apply. And if you know a girl who's crafty, creative, or thinks technology is kind of cool, tell her to check out Made with Code, it's a pretty neat site (even if does have lots of pink).

Bad Retail UX!! I may take my business elsewhere.

The process of ordering a prescription via Walgreens website this afternoon was unusually frustrating. Why? Poor interface design! I wouldn't be quite so irked if this were even remotely close to being an edge-case, but it's not. It happens thousands of times every weekday:

• A patient makes a follow-up visit to a doctor.
• The doctor sends a new electronic prescription for medication(s) the patient is already taking with no change in dosage.
• The pharmacy receives the eRx, fills it, and notifies the patient, but…
• The patient recently picked up a refill of the medication and doesn't need more for a while.
• The filled prescription sits on a shelf at the pharmacy for about a week; then it's restocked.

Also, because I'm offended by Walgreens' assertion that …any message or other communication sent to Walgreen Co. becomes the exclusive intellectual property of Walgreen Co.…, I'm claiming the copyright on the content of my email message to Customer Service for Walgreens website before I hit the send-button by sharing it here.

Online Pharmacy: “On file” Prescriptions Missing from Prescription History

Dear Walgreens Customer Service,

Prescriptions that are ”On file“ do not show up in a customer's prescription history, even when the “Show Hidden Prescriptions?” radio button is set to “Yes.”

In my case, this is particularly problematic as an earlier prescription, from the same doctor for the same medication and dosage—these details are identical—appears with the messages “Refill Due” and “0 refills remaining. If you'd like to refill, we'll call your doctor for you.”

Such poor interface design provides a dreadful user experience for customers. I expect retail websites to make it easier for me to purchase products, not more difficult. Although I have been Walgreens customer for over eight years, I may now considering transferring my prescriptions to CVS or Rite-Aid—both of which have stores closer to my home.

Furthermore, as the line between web-applications and software applications has become increasingly blurred, retail websites have come to set the bar for user experience in their respective sectors. When the retail website for a major national pharmacy chain like Walgreens has set such a low bar for user experience, is it any wonder that so much software in the healthcare sector is difficult to use?

With frustration and great disappointment,
Shelley V. Adams

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Message subject line and content © Shelley V. Adams; licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. The subject line and content of this message, including this footer, has already been published as part of a post on the author's blog.

I Should Learn to Use a Calendar: On Smartphones, AD/HD & Quality of Life

I hustled into Green Street Church aware that, if I was running late, it was only by a minute or two. The building seemed unusually quiet as I walked inside. A few seconds later, when I reached the room where the Institute for Dismantling Racism's monthly community caucuses begin, I understood why. There was no one there.

My next thought, “This is Thursday, right?” I pulled out my phone and hit its “wake up” button:

11:58

Thursday, July 18

Battery 96%

Yes, it was Thursday, and I was actually a couple minutes early. My next question: “Why am I the only one here?”

…and at this point having a smartphone begins to influence the sequence of events.

Maybe I was in the wrong place. I swiped my finger across the phone's screen to unlock it and tapped the email icon. I scrolled down through a week's worth of subject lines until I saw what I was looking for—Evite Invitation: IDR Community Caucusing—and opened the message.

where:

Green Street Church

The train of thought that followed went something like this:

Okay, I'm in the right place.

…and, yeah, I got the time right so, what the…

[Looking more closely at the phone's screen.]

Thursday, July 25, 2013

…and today is?

[Another finger-swipe—downward from the top edge of the screen—to reveal the phone's “notification area.” with current date]

Thu, Jul 18, 2013

Dangit!!

Hmmm… Maybe I should learn to use a calendar.

Consider what it would've taken to figure this out before I had a smart phone. Forget about looking at the email, and calling wouldn't have been an option. Since I hadn't phoned IDR's office before, the number wouldn't have been in my contact list. I would've needed to go upstairs to the office and—assuming anyone was there at lunchtime—ask if I was mistaken about the day/time/location.

Today, it took less than two minutes to figure out that I'd gotten the date wrong—I was a week early! Furthermore, had I chosen not to write a blog post, no one else need have known about it. For many, this might mean avoiding a minor inconvenience. However, given the frustration and embarrassment that accompanies such mishaps and their frequency for those of us living with AD/HD, this represents a noticeable improvement in quality of life.