HosPortal takes on the government…

Here at HosPortal we love a well-done podcast. You may remember our last recommendation for Cautionary Tales. This time we have another recommendation, albeit one that does not draw parallels between HosPortal design and nuclear reactors.

This recent issue of the Odd Lots podcast (“Why the Public Sector Struggles to Build Good Technology”) talks about why governments find it so hard to build good software. Although it is from a US perspective we think it has lots of relevance in Australia, and for medical rostering in particular.

It also made us reflect on why HosPortal came into being in the first place. Despite there being huge investments by state health departments into their rostering software, there was a clear gap more than 15 years ago to solve the issues that doctors actually experienced, and solve the administrative inefficiencies experienced by actual roster administrators.

We are now 15 years later and those gaps still exist, and HosPortal continues to solve those problems even better than ever. And we are now even taking on state-based rostering software in areas that they have not evolved much.

Some interesting reflections in the podcast that resonated with the HosPortal team are below.

Government designed and managed software	HosPortal
Initial design Major project to get design specifications and briefings. Software often out of date by the time it is even designed.	Initial design Nimble team of commercial and technical personnel who can design, scope and build features in weeks.
Flexibility Slow, steady release cycle. Often months and years apart.	Flexibility Dynamic release cycle, depending on customer needs and evolving priorities. Can be days apart.
Feature definition Dozens or hundreds of people involved, compromising the design intent.	Feature definition Small number of people involved. The HosPortal personnel dealing directly with the end users are always involved in the design brief and the decision to release changes.
Maintenance Development team demobilised to work on other projects; possibly never see the errors in their own work.	Maintenance Development team persistent employees, and need to address bugs and issues with their own work even months later.
Cost Major funding project up front.	Cost Reliable subscription and SaaS model where all emerging features are released to all customers. No more to pay.
Complexity Software always adheres to policy and practice, even if it is inefficient and ineffective.	Complexity HosPortal insights and pre-sales reviews can introduce improved practices and challenge old ways of working.

This post’s cover illustration is Swearing Allegiance to the Southern Cross by Charles A Doudiet, representing one of Australia’s few structured rebellions, where miners rebelled against the government management of the gold fields in 1854 resulting in the death of 6 colonial government soldiers and 22 diggers. The Eureka Rebellion is an iconic moment in Australian history and it, and the Southern Cross flag, came to represent Australian attitudes to democracy and a fair go for all.