On Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:55:11 +0100, Tim Schofield
<t...@weberpafrica.com> wrote:
> Hi
> 
> On 25 September 2011 09:43,  <an...@e-healthexpert.org> wrote:
> > 1. The single most pragmatic and useful initiative in the Care2x
> > project continues to be care2x_tz (I am sure that that's what has
> > been keeping Care2x alive)
> 
> I am not sure whether you intend this as a compliment or a criticism,

Compliment.

> fractured into many different branches. To my mind this is to do with
> a lack of what you call 'command and control'.

I was referring to 'command and control' not governance and leadership.

Any software development project needs governance and leadership.
Healthcare supporting software do need, perhaps, even more than other
software projects

The problem is that healthcare systems are a special kind of
systems - complex adaptive systems - and those cannot be governed by
means of command and control.
In those systems "the way to go" naturally emerges from the day-to-day
activities.
Sometimes, under a few very special conditions, you even influence
those systems. But you will not be able to dictate "the way to
go" by decree (either of a single individual or of an illuminated
oligarchy).

> amazing job in trying to bring these disparate branches together, but
> I honestly believe that the best thing to do with care2x_tz is to
> scrap it, and restart the project from this latest code base.

The real innovators have been Gjergj and Mauri, not Meggle.
Most of the relevant work that is being raved now I can trace it back
to Gjergj or to Mauri.
I find it more difficult to trace back any good code or pragmatical
ideas to Meggle.
I have been following, however, that tendency that Meggle has to be
"the owner of the shop" (looking back, I wonder, is this one of those
"german things").

> Well I don't think the care2x developers can be blamed for the demise
> of the PHP6 project. I too have my doubts about the usefulness of the
> phone interface, but I'm not sure I would call it a wild goose chase,
> just an interesting initiative that may or may not come up with
> something useful.

That's where governance should step in. To call these attempts what
they are: a waste of already scarce developer resources.

> As for the gui, if you have ever used the current
> one you will surely agree it could be improved :-)

Well, I have used a lot (for a few years now, I tendo to prefer
OpenEMR) and I agree that the GUI needs improvement. But that
improvement is not critical. What is critical, in this fase of the
project (and, at least in the last 6 years), is the simplification and
modularization of the code.

> Well after many years in open source, I believe that those projects
> which have a strong central command are best placed to survive. Look
> at most of the successful projects they have this strong centre.

A strong leadership and a lean governance mechanism.
Linux, Ubuntu, Nginx, Postfix are good examples of that.
MySQL, PHP and Apache are lousy examples.
Just to cite a few.

> Either I don't understand you or this paragraph is nonsense. What
> emulator platform are we talking about?

Those which try to emulate a LAMP in a non L(inux) machine?

> >  c) use a single widely available platform (price free and open
> >  source): with single, specific, OS flavor, DBMS, Web server, Web
> >  interface. Everybody must be using the same platform and living the
> >  same day-to-day problems, to be able to quickly see what is
> >  related to the Care2x code and what is due to idiosyncrasies of
> >  the platform;
> 
> As above.

To be able to develop and debug Care2x and not be distracted by
problems not related with the Care2x code, we should reduce
variability:
by using a given distro flavor, periodicaly updated following a
given cicle (problems dealing with the code changes
in DBMS, PHP and other supporting software are naturally taken care by
that distro maintainers & update mechanism).

This single change was critical to boost the success of OpenEMR.
Not so long ago (2 years?) it was quite like Care2x, now it is one of
the sole Full 'Meaningful Use' Certified Open Source software
(http://openhealthnews.com/hotnews/openemr-41-achieves-full-meaningful-use-certification).

And, by the way, I continue to think that the best thing that could
happen to Care2x would be a merge with the OpenEMR project. They need
those hospital management extensions, and Care2x sure would profit from
that project leadership and development flexibility and discipline.

> >  d) reduce the number of tables needed to make Care2x run to half of
> >  what they are now;
> 
> I agree, but have you checked out the latest code?

Well, yes. And I am sure that if you check with Gjergj he will be
able to tell you who first suggested the need for that (and a few
other) changes a few years ago.

> This is exactly what Robert and Gjergj have been doing with this 3.0
> code. Did you not look at it first before sending this email?

Ditto.

> I don't think (though Robert may correct me) that there is any
> intention to prevent developers from working on the core, its just
> that as with most projects, having commit access to the core will be
> restricted to those who have proved their ability first.

 "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs"

I hope that time will show that I was wrong and that you were right.


> > Somewhere in the paper it is written: "Build a standardized process
> > and business outcomes"
> > Beware of the fact that standardization and innovation are opposite
> > variables.
> 
> Hmmm, I am not sure that this is correct, what is your basis for this?

Try to google for "standardization vs innovation"

If you have a special interest in this subject in this field, I can
select and sugest a few of the best papers on that subject.


> > Since Elpidio's first code releases we have had more and more
> > standardization and less and less innovation and creativity...

We are in a sore need of another Elpidio in his first days.


Best regards,

JA

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