DailyKaizen

I’ve been reading a bit about the software industry, which parallels health care in so many ways, I am finding. One of the things I hear (or is implied) is, “we just can’t do LEAN (or name your improvement effort) at organization x.” We also feel the disappointment in the times when we don’t quite communicate right (per Lee and my recent entries here).

I found this quote in a blog entry from a Python language programmer encouraging his Java programmer colleagues to be flexible in their thinking. In a strange way, it paralleled in my mind some of the thinking we bring to quality improvement, in terms of needing to reflect on our instincts, and in believing that we can solve problems with what we have within us. This all may make no sense to you - it was a bit of a stretch for me, but I liked it nonetheless.

Essentially, if you’ve been using Java for a while and are new to Python, do not trust your instincts. Your instincts are tuned to Java, not Python. Take a step back, and above all, stop writing so much code.

To do this, become more demanding of Python. Pretend that Python is a magic wand that will miraculously do whatever you want without you needing to lifting a finger. Ask, “how does Python already solve my problem?” and “What Python language feature most resembles my problem?” You will be absolutely astonished at how often it happens that thing you need is already there in some form.

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