Would you trust this "doctor"?

The local paper has carried a series of letters from midwives and obstetricians on the topic of home births. Essentially, should a woman be allowed to give birth at home with a midwife but no doctor in attendance.

Today there is a letter from "M. Aitken, vice-president, National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists". Under the headline of "No finance gain", regarding "claims that obstetricians earn more for assisted deliveries and inductions" Aitken writes, "This is incorrect." (The West, 30 Oct 2012)

This is a clear and absolute statement: Aitken is clearly stating that doctors earn no extra money for assisted deliveries. Stand back, cross your arms, watch the baby pop out -- and earn the same as though you were fully involved and up to your elbows in blood and birth fluids.

Of course, Aitken continues, "there are understandably some different fee payments depending on the complexity of the case."

In other words, the more involvement by the doctor, the more the doctor will charge.

Three sentences, two direct contradictions.

Would you trust this doctor?!

Oh, btw, I'm only guessing at "doctor". This "M. Aitken" may well have a day job as hospital accountant. Rubbing his (or her) hands in glee at the prospect of more childbirths forced into hospitals. With all the extra hospital income that that will ensure.

Perhaps... probably... Aitken is correct to write that doctors "are not driven by financial incentive but healthy outcomes for mothers and babies." But let's not pretend that there is no financial benefit to doctors.

Doctors earn money from childbirth. The more complex the birth, the more money they earn. And hospitals earn nothing at all, from a no-complications birth at home.

Financial gain may not be the heart of the argument. Yet it is certainly a very important factor in the equation.

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Problems ? Solved

Our age of increasing uncertainty

This is the dawning of the age of... uncertainty.

Here I am, typing away on the latest technology tablet PC. With WiFi access to all the information of the internet. And I claim "uncertainty"?! Absolutely.

Here's a simple example. I'm sitting in a small flat in La Rambla, Barcelona. (Can't get enough of that place-name-dropping:-)  And I want to get to a restaurant across the road. So I ask Google Maps to show me the way.

Apparently, the fastest way to get across the road is to walk 800m down the road, round the roundabout and 800m back again.

Okay, I can look out the window and see a better way. What if I can't see the better solution?

In a small village known as St Jean Pied de Port, we followed a different navigation device, a Garmin Oregon. We wanted to walk from the railway station to a particular hotel. We selected, "pedestrian walking".

The Garmin took us 4.5km (or 4,5km in the local language). We could have walked it in less than two kilometres -- if only we knew the streets of the village.

Thanks to our dependence on navigational technology -- we are always uncertain. Is this the best way? Does this device know all of the roads? More importantly -- and a major source of uncertainty -- how does this device calculate the "best" route?!

With a printed map we work out the best way for ourselves. We understand the logic behind our route choice. We are able to change our minds -- to adapt -- while we are on our way.

Dependence on technology has removed our need for thinking. Made us less flexible. Added a new level of uncertainty to our lives.

And that is not at all the topic that I intended to cover!

The dawning of the Age of Uncertainty is best shown by this tablet PC.

Suppose I intend to write C-A-T. In years past I would have pressed three keys on a keyboard: C, A, T. ( On a keyboard? Okay, not all that many years past.)

On the tablet I press cat and am given three options: car, cat and cast. If I mis-key (with fingers that are larger than the buttons on the virtual keyboard) then I could be offered xat, cat and day. (Day?!) Interestingly enough, if I type xat followed by a comma -- I get cat...

Typing on a virtual -- and "clever" -- keyboard adds a new level of uncertainty to this post. I need to watch and check every word that I think I type.

What if I need to make a change?

I tap my finger as close as possible to the word to be changed. Then tap again. Then try to slide the little blue pointer to the correct point. Find that I tapped too slowly so I have selected a entire word... Tap again...

And find that my finger slipped. And I have discovered the wonders of one-finger-zoom...

Perhaps I should read the manual? Of course there is no manual... Just thousands of web pages on topics which are occasionally related to my problem. But I'll never find them because without already knowing the answer -- I don't know the relevant search terms.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great little tablet. (Google Nexus 9, in case you were wondering.) It does everything that I need and perhaps a quarter of what I want.

When Windows was released I was impressed: click the mouse anywhere on the screen and an option would appear. Just what option, was often uncertain. As a beginner, just keep clicking till you find a suitable option.

With the touch screen, touch anywhere on the screen and... something will *happen*. Not always what you wanted to happen.

The level of uncertainty has increased.

Just as you think you have it all under control... a new feature is announced. One-finger-zoom, for example. I've seen it announced. I have yet to see instructions as to how to use it. All I know is, sometimes... it happens.

Welcome to the world of touch computing. Welcome to the world of dependence on unexplained -- but useful -- technology.

Welcome to the bright daylight of the age of uncertainty.

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Problems ? Solved

Case study: Target the intended audience

Imagine that you are the exhibit manager in... for example... the Museu de la Musica Barcelona. In Spain. You have a magnificent collection of musical items: instruments, sheet music, recording technology, knowledge... from across several centuries.

How do you design your public displays?

The actual Museu has its exhibits displayed in a well lit area. Behind protective glass. Lighting is perfect, every item is clearly visible. There are printed comments.

The comments are the weak point of the display.

Comments are in three languages: Spanish, Catalan and English. The English is stilted and confusing.

If you are providing comments in a language other than your own -- have it checked. By someone who both speaks the language and understands the subject.

That is, if your intended audience includes English speakers.

Most Museu comments are in white font on clear glass. To read a comment you need to stand at just the right position: light in the right position, no colourful musical instrument behind the letters.

Test your planned lettering. Is it possible to read it? Easily? Do you intend to encourage your audience to read your comments? Are they worth reading??

The main weakness of the Museu display is... that the comments are not worth reading. At least, not for the casual museum visitor.

The Museu de la Musica display is set up by experts in musical history, for experts in musical history. If you know your musical history then here are examples of what you know from the theory.

If you know nothing of musical history -- there is very little that you will learn at the Museu.

Who is the customer of the museum? Is it the expert who already knows it all? Or is it the casual visitor who would like to learn...

Consider your own communications with your clients. Do you tell them what *you* would like to hear? Do you communicate as though they already know everything and are just confirming their knowledge? Fine, if that is true.

If your clients depend on you for your expert knowledge -- be prepared to communicate. Use clear language. Provide sufficient detail. Inform... without being insulting!

Communicate to your intended audience. Not just to yourself.

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Problems ? Solved

Use those customer complaints

This is an old, old message: a customer complaint is an *opportunity*. Just last night I had a practical lesson.

A lesson for me. The business itself failed to use the opportunity to learn...

We are visiting Barcelona. Never been here before. Choices of places to eat are... almost... endless. We selected a conveniently close restaurant.

The drinks waiter gave no eye contact, he was too busy to provide more than token politeness. No worries, the restaurant was chock-a-block full of tourists, with more queuing. The waiter took a little more time.

Overall, service was accurate and efficient. Just the way we like it.

Gazpacho, good. Ham and melon, good. Veal steak, excellent. Veal stew, tough, stringy, uneatable.

As the waiter cleared my half uneaten meal I told him, the "veal" was stringy, tough, inedible. His English was adequate, enough to understand that I was not satisfied... we were not charged for the veal stew.

But...

The waiter clearly did not understand *why* I could not finish my meal. I no like? No! I no able to eat it!

Was there a fault with the "veal"? Was there a fault with the cooking? Could the cooking method be changed, to improve the final quality of the final dish? Some businesses put enormous effort into surveys, to answer these questions.

None of these questions will be answered -- because the restaurant did not identify the problem. I was sitting there, ready and willing to explain what I saw as a problem. I was not given the opportunity.

Results: Customer dissatisfied with meal. With no "getting it off my chest". Opportunity for customer feedback -- lost.

When a client is dissatisfied -- use the opportunity. Apologise, yes. Make amends, as far as possible.

And find out -- then and there -- exactly what caused the dissatisfaction. So you can fix it.

Or, at least, be better prepared for a similar problem with future clients.

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Problems ? Solved

Humanity and the environment

We're on a walk across northern Spain. Followed by a train trip that crosses spaghetti western country, dry bare near desert.

Everywhere we look there is the evidence of European history and development. Farms, crops and cleared fields, grazing flocks and herds. Villages, towns, cities, buildings and ruins. Roads, traffic, power lines, factories.

Humanity and all of its accessories.

The one thing that is missing, is "natural".

There is absolutely nothing that has not been altered by people. People settling,  clearing, building, fighting, destroying. Then doing it all again. Even the sparse and harsh desert has been cleared and cultivated. Even the" forests" are plantations.

Europe has thousands of years of human history, human beauty and human development. Nothing at all is left of wild nature.

Have we left it too late to protect Australia? If we begin to act now, is there a chance to save some of Australia's natural beauty.

I hope that we care enough to try.

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Problems ? Solved