Building resilience in tech

(Photo credit @alesnesetril)

Did you know today is my half-birthday? I wish there was more to celebrate right now (tho leaping dogs & people singing on balconies make me smile). Let’s hope that by my real birthday, things have returned to some sort of new normal. In the meantime...I thought I’d pivot towards exploring the topic of ‘resilience,’ both in products & people.

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#techtopic

Resiliency in tech is about preparation for uncertainty & continuous learning. For any product, you want to build in redundancies and back-ups to help ensure that your systems don’t stop working at critical junctures, whether it's for Workday or online games. Most companies have to continually review what systems are defined as critical to the operation of the organizations. It used to be more about infrastructure tools like data storage -- but now, can some companies really operate without access to Google docs or CRM platforms?

Resilient tech is also a category of technologies that help countries & municipalities keep their people healthy, safe, fed and powered. These range from telecom/5G to cybersecurity to managing water crises to disaster recovery. More than ever, these technologies require investment & talent to meet the challenges of our changing world.

Learn more:

• BCG overview for businesses on building a 'world class tech function' that is 'digital, simple & resilient'

• Jan 2020 Consumer Electronic Show - video panels discussing 'resilient tech'
  

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#meditation

I love using Headspace - I’m on day 458 of my latest streak, and have found that building a daily meditation practice has been absolutely essential to build my ability to bounce back from adversity. Headspace is offering a collection of free meditations to employers & their employees and I highly suggest checking it out: https://www.headspace.com/work/covid-19

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#virtualkaraoke

Instructions included for how to host your very own online karaoke party as you practice physical social distancing. No word yet on whether any of these people will ever want to sing with (or speak with) these people ever again!

https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/how-to-host-zoom-karaoke-while-coronavirus-social-distancing.html

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Want a Career in Tech but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at MY COURSE, ‘TECH SEARCH COMPASS’ FOR STEP-BY-STEP SUPPORT

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How can tech help patients in a pandemic?

(Photo credit @hush52)

Hope you are safe & healthy wherever you are. Last Friday, I was an attendee & company sponsor(!!) at the Johnson Women in Tech conference in NYC. The more intimate conference setting led to in-depth discussions between attendees & panelists about tech topics & career growth, and I also received a request to focus on digital health trends this week.

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#TECHTOPIC

Not surprising that health is top of mind for many right now. I see two larger themes right now in the realm of digital health-related to patient access & personalization of care. (I’ll focus on access this week, and tackle personalization next week.)

Within patient access, access to care & access to records stand out right now.

Telemedicine is seeing a huge increase in usage within the past few months as patients seek care but are avoiding hospitals or physical waiting rooms. While there are limits to what telemedicine can diagnose, it can and should alleviate stress on the hospital systems and increase access to care for those in more rural/remote locations. It has also become an employee benefit, with Maven doing amazing things for women's health.

Access to electronic health records (EHRs) continues to be a hard problem to solve. Patients lack true portability for their records between doctors or hospitals (often records are still faxed!) While a new interoperability standard was just announced this week, lots of debate continues between the EHR vendors on execution. We need to solve this -- in a crisis, this lack of cohesive & comprehensive data sharing can have adverse effects on a patient’s health or diagnosis.

Learn more:

• https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/coronavirus-could-be-boon-for-telemedicine-to-stop-hospital-crowding.html - Virtual services could keep the so-called “worried well” from flooding hospitals.

• https://ehrintelligence.com/news/onc-interoperability-rule-garners-mixed-reviews-from-stakeholders - Highlights the debate on interoperability regulations that will hopefully spark cooperation among the top EHR tech companies and healthcare providers

• https://www.tableau.com/covid-19-coronavirus-data-resources - great collaboration between a tech company & a university to share data widely on the pandemic trends in an easily digestible, visual format

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#NEEDASMILE?

• Adorable puppy video alert!

• MIT Admissions released a fantastic video to let prospectives know decisions will be made on Pi Day (3/14). Baby Yoda makes an appearance.

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Want a Career in Tech but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at MY COURSE, ‘TECH SEARCH COMPASS’ FOR STEP-BY-STEP SUPPORT

Are you ready for your virtual interview?

(Photo credit @johnschno)

Many companies have made ALL interviews virtual - here are a few tips to consider to help you prepare:

• Prep your area: ensure there is nothing visible behind you that is distracting or embarrassing. Have a copy of your resume within sight as a reminder, but don’t read from it.

• Test your equipment: use plugged in headphones where possible to reduce background noise. Try out the specific video-conference tool ahead of time to see how it works - this helps remove one worry from your mind!

• Project energy: think about your greatest accomplishment right before you start the interview. Try to connect with your interviewer by smiling more. If it’s a phone call, try putting up a photo of a friend who you can ‘talk to’ to reduce anxiety and make it feel like a real conversation.

• Prepare for questions about current events: try to imagine how this pandemic might present a challenge for the role you are interviewing for, and prepare a solution to that challenge. For example, how might you propose to solve potential supply chain issues for Amazon while keeping customers happy?

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