add better writeup, closes swanson#8

Author: Matt Swanson

_posts/2012-10-14-better.md

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+---
+layout: writeup
+title: "Better: A Surgeon's Notes On Performance"
+categories:
+- writeup
+---
+
+![](/static/better.jpg)  
+[Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance][link]   
+Atul Gawande    
+ISBN: 0805082115    
+
+---
+
+**What's the point?**  
+How can you improve when the cost of failure is so high? Medicine is filled with high
+risk decisions where the consequences of making the wrong choice can result in the loss
+of human life. 
+
+While the stakes in developing software are rarely as dire, we can apply
+lessons from medicine to improve our own processes and abilities.
+ 
+**How was it?**  
+At first glance, it is easy to dismiss this book and say that software is nothing like
+medicine. But both professions have to deal with complexity, imperfect information, 
+communicating with "clients", and the challenges of working with teams.
+
+As I read the book, it was surprising how many parallel connections I could make to
+software. 
+
+Battlefield surgeons perform "patch job" operations and then transfer wounded
+soldiers back to hospitals to receive more care. The surgeons used data to identify 
+patterns of injuries and optimized their care. In software, we have hot-fixes and
+track application errors to predict bug reports.
+
+Obstetricians came up with a metric (the [Apgar Score][as]) that provided immediate
+feedback about the condition of a newborn child and allowed for objective comparison.
+Remind anyone else of the recent industry trends of validated learning and metric driven
+development?
+
+[as]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apgar_score
+
+My favorite part of the book was the concept of "positive deviance". 
+
+Gawande describes how some performers are able to consistently ride the upper tails of 
+the bell curve by identifying and maximizing small changes that result in positive 
+outcomes. 
+
+Being 99.5% effective vs 99.95% effective doesn't seem to make a difference in a day 
+— but tally that 0.45% difference up over a year the difference is 83% vs 16%. 
+A very powerful example of gradual improvement if you ask me.
+ 
+**Who should read it?**  
+There are good lessons for every developer in this book. Before you reach for the next
+software book about improvement, performance, or team dynamics give this 
+cross-disciplinary book a shot; I think you'll be glad you did.
+
+[link]: http://www.amazon.com/Better-A-Surgeons-Notes-Performance/dp/0805082115