When I was with APM I learned the phrase “pre-wire.”  A pre-wire is simply the meeting before the meeting.  As consultants it was important to share the meeting agenda with the customer and be aware of any concerns that they may have.  As a manager I still find pre-wires important.  For example, we always review the IT Steering Committee agenda with the chairperson a few days in advance of the meeting.  The better prepared I am for the pre-wire the better the Steering Committee meeting will go.

Whenever you are trying to get approval for an important decision it is always a good idea to have pre-wire meetings with all of the major decision-makers.  Often, just taking the time to meet with meeting attendees in advance is enough to make them sympathetic to your position.  A good manager will know the outcome before the meeting ever starts.

My goal here is to post original content.  I generally don’t like to use this space to comment on someone else’s work.  But this InfoWorld article quotes me.  So, in the interest of self-promotion I am linking to it here:

Guerrilla IT: How to stop worrying and learn to love your superusers

I have always embraced our tech savvy employees.  They are my people.  When others were writing Internet Access policies that restricted employees use to “business-related sites,” we were encouraging people to join the Internet revolution.

I realize that IT cannot meet every possible need.  With tools like QuickBase we can unleash our tech savvy employees to meet their own needs, while keeping them in a sandbox.

As a bonus, the story also talks about Maureen Vadini, a former Parma Community General Hospital nurse that moved to IT to implement the Vocera communicator.

Speaking of Parma, does anyone else my age remember the Ghoul.  I think he was local to Detroit.

The most retail sales, per square foot, take place in airports.  20 years ago, you were lucky to have an airport cafe.  Entrepreneurial organizations are now seeing the same growth potential in hospitals.

If organizations like Simply Retail have their way, our Starbucks kiosks will be the tip of the retail sales iceberg.  They are partnering with healthcare organizations to plan retail stores within their hospitals, especially new facilities.

I love the idea.  There are always people looking for time to pass, offering them a shopping experience is a win-win.  If only I could get one of my hospitals to open a Best Buy.

FCG was one of the first “boutique” consulting firms in the healthcare IT (HIT) space. It was founded by the late Jim Reep and Zan Calhoun. Now, it is part of HIT history.

I believe I was at FCG during the golden age. There was not a lot of structure, but there were a lot of talented people figuring out this new industry. We were staying a few steps ahead of our clients. I remember working on a strategy project and we were arguing about the necessity for a PC network as part of the strategy. That’s how young the industry was.

Back in those days (1987 – 1990) Jim and Zan would shut down the entire company for one week and take us on a retreat in San Diego’s Pala Mesa resort. Somewhere I have have a picture of the staff at my first retreat – the first 50 FCG employees.

This was in important time in my life. I gained a lot of self-confidence and learned what it meant to love your work. I also had a lot of great mentors: Zan, Karen Reed, Julie Bonello and Steve Heck. I also loved my peers in the Chicago office: Pete and Andy Smith, Liz Krimendahl, John Hoben and many others. I still cherish my memories of Friday afternoons at Wrigley Field with this cast of characters. Work is great when you have a sense of camaraderie with your co-workers (which is why I am so happy now).

We were a small firm then. I remember our first $1M month. When FCG was sold to CSC they were a much different public company earning many times that. Good times, then. Good times, now.