Our Values
…Patients are People first: The word “Patient” derives from a verb meaning “to suffer”: patients are people who suffer. Patients are people, with many dimensions. They are not their condition or their disease, though the latter may play a huge role in their life. There are many implications to this. For example, we aim to treat patients especially with respect and empathy, not increasing their burden needlessly, not exposing them to additional risks. Health hacking can also mean helping people not to become patients (=prevention).
...Think with your hands: Try things out (make, code, measure, doodle…) and see what happens. Often it’s not what you thought: some problems are not existing outside our minds, while some real problems are there but remain unseen. Make stuff you can impact on your own: reuse, change, modify, re-purpose, re-cycle, build, disassemble, tweak … If you need a tech revolution to take place before you get into action, it may be too early; if you need to use scotch tape, it’s probably a good sign.
...Bring your own energy ...or at least “show up”: bring what you can, and mostly: who you are. Some days are up, and we can use the energy: this is a community self-propelled by people, their energy, motivation, curiosity, willingness to learn, explore. Some days are down. We value that too. Please “show up” and do what you can: you never know what happens and simply by being there you may be a catalyst to something else.
...Accept Curiosity: your curiosity and other people’s curiosity are core drivers, and they may or not be the same. These differences can make it possible to work in collaboration (= different people are interested by different things). It is OK to explore your curiosity, and try to give yourself some seconds before the “it’s impossible” or “I can’t do it” kick in. Sometimes it helps to switch to “What if...” and “It would be funny if…". We try to encourage that.
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...Ask questions: Please be kind with yourself (ask) and patient (try to answer if you can): what is obvious to you may open new world to someone else. And yes, there are stupid questions, but all human beings are at least part-time intelligent: so it’s OK to ask questions :)
...Take care of yourself and others: you have more creative ways to potentially hurt yourself than we can think of regulations to prevent you from doing so: try to think ahead and take care of yourself and others. (We work to explore health and we care :)
..Accept other people’s help: you don’t get “macho points” for knowing everything, and you may be preventing other people to share what they know with you and feeling good about themselves for helping you out.
...Be respectful to others…and to yourself: try to be mindful of the Golden Rule (= treating others as you would wish to be treated); if things don’t work out try to figure out if it is a misunderstanding, and find more flexible ways to address what is important to you (it's usually easier to change means than one’s own set of values and priorities).
...Carry your own weight and take on a load you can carry: contribute what you can. It’s great to have exciting and challenging visions, but feel free to start small, try to do what you say (and say what you do:) for yourself and others. Putting too much on your plate can lead to frustration and resentment for all parties concerned.
...Let yourself make some mistakes: Usually success has hundred parents and failure is a lonely child. Yet we tend to learn more from failures. If you never make a mistake, even a small one, chances are you are not learning or not as much as you could. If you can, try to make new, more original mistakes than your predecessors.
...Enjoy the process and … whatever works: whether yours or someone else’s success, try to enjoy it, however small. The fun here is in the process: achievement of a goal, project management, strict deliverables, KPIs, ROI, NPV, pitch... maybe a sign that the stuff you are working on is ready to graduate to another, bigger school.