Category Archives: 1-By Laksh
All these articles are from Laksh’s desk
‘The Knick’ TV Series
Modern Medicine had to start somewhere, is the tag line for the first season. And it starts with a drug addicted and brilliant doctor getting out of a nefarious joint and heading to the hospital-The Knick. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and a terrific cast lead by Clive Owen, season 1 grabs you from the word go. As a concept the series just blows off your mind…as it unravels the various discoveries and inventions in medicine and set them against the burning topics of early 20th century like racism, abortion, feminism, immigration, contagious diseases etc.
Humanity is hard to cure, is the tag line for the second season, as the series takes more and more of a noir genre. It starts of with Dr.Thackeray in a sanatorium and far from treatment from his cocaine addiction, he now finds himself in peace with a new drug-heroin. Luckily for him, Dr.Gallinger brings him back to ‘The Knick’ and the field of medicine advances once again.
Blu Ray for the second season has a few interesting bonus features, like inside the body shop, under construction, inside the costume shop and invitation to the ball. Production designer gives an excellent brief about how the set evolved, simple color palette (almost black and white, should Steven Soderbergh decide to shoot sans color) and the space design facilitating the various interactions of the characters. The invitation to the ball reveals the long shots employed by the director. A nice little package that gives good information about the making and would have been even better if there were a few interviews with the director also.
One of the key features for me is characterization and the various pull and push factors employed in portrayal. Every character has a nagging weakness, a thrusting strength, a higher/lower calling, a haunting past and a future aspiration. All of these then are nicely woven into the period of that time, and some very strange and interesting themes. For instance, Mr.Barrow’s love for a young prostitute and Dr.Gallinger’s affection towards his mentally sicke wife.The structure is just too good to ignore and each character is a beauty!
Overall a must watch for anyone interested in a period drama, and do no mind the proceedings going a bit dark…a la noir!
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The Checklist Manifesto
‘The Checklist Manifesto: How to get things right’ is an excellent book by a practicing surgeon about his quest to get things right. The book outlines his painstaking efforts to pick up the best practices from various industries and champion the cause of checklists. He presents several interesting examples from aerospace, financial and other sectors where experience and expertise are complemented by procedures and checklists.
He also makes a solid case for heroism out of discipline instead of autocratic individual actions, as we tend to glorify the word. How can we learn from failures and how can we repeat success…these two questions form the main theme of the book, while making a case for individual talent and expertise, getting benefited by checklists.
The book also presents quite a few pointers on how simple and effective a checklist should be, around pause points. Must read for all those who believe in the words of process, procedures and checklists…and need a quick refresher on their importance.
While the book itself itself is not a step by step guide in creating checklists and implementing them, it provides several pointers in this direction. It also showcases the true intent behind the checklists, which is improving communication across the teams and make the individual voice count.
Excerpts
“They trust instead in one set of checklists to make sure that simple steps are not missed or skipped and in another set to make sure that everyone talks through and resolves all the hard and unexpected problems”
“The philosophy is that you push the power of decision making out to the periphery and away from the center. You give people the room to adapt, based on their experience and expertise. All you ask is that they talk to one another and take responsibility. That is what works.”
“Thinking of these essential requirements (of checklists)–simple, measurable, transmissible…”
“When you’re making a checklist, Boorman explained, you have a number of key decisions. You must define a clear pause point at which the checklist is supposed to be used (unless the moment is obvious, like when a warning light goes on or an engine fails). You must decide whether you want a DO-CONFIRM checklist or a READ-DO checklist.”
“It somehow feels beneath us to use a checklist, an embarrassment. It runs counter to deeply held beliefs about how the truly great among us–those we aspire to be–handle situations of high stakes and complexity. The truly great are daring. They improvise. They do not have protocols and checklists…. May be our idea of heroism needs updating.”
“Just ticking boxes is not the ultimate goal here. Embracing a culture of teamwork and discipline is.”
“Discipline is hard–harder than trustworthiness and skill and perhaps even than selflessness. We are by nature flawed and inconstant creatures. We can’t even keep from snacking between meals. We are not built for discipline. We are built for novelty and excitement, not for careful attention to detail. Discipline is something we have to work at.”
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Pictorial depiction of the book