Monday, October 17, 2011

What we can learn from TCP/IP

"I sent you an SMS to let you know I can't do it"

"I didnt get the message"


Time and again we see this common issue arise; sometimes simply as an excuse, but many a time, because the message is locked up in some digital chakravyuh, fighting hard to come out and reach the recipient, but not being allowed to move further due to various types of bandwidth bottlenecks, or because the receipient mobile is not available for that very instant.

Whatever the reason may be, it often leads to misunderstandings, conflict, trust issues and many a time a business loss.

Given that, what I find surprising, is that in typical SMS or eMail communications, how we shy away from responding to the original sender. "THANKS ...MESSAGE RECEIVED" ...

Thats something we must learn from our friend TCP ... the TCP of the TCP/IP fame...the protocol which is responsible for the internet... TCP or the Transmission Control Protocol provides reliable transmission of messages between programs running on 2 different computers. It is the protocol that major Internet applications such as the World Wide Web, email, remote administration and file transfer rely on. And the basic concept behind its reliability is simple ... "Acknowledgment of communication is the key to reliability" ....

On the right is an image showcasing "The 3 way handshake in TCP"


Imagine if we each of us simply responded with an 'OK' to the sender.

It would give us the freedom to believe that if an acknowledgement of some sort is not received, my message was not communicated. Saving us so many misunderstandings, conflicts and losses.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Information Therapy via Technology

My presentation at the 2nd Annual Conference on "Putting Patients First". I alongwith my good friend Aditya, contributed a chapter to the book USING INFORMATION THERAPY TO PUT PATIENTS FIRST. This presentation touches upon some of the ideas from that chapter.