Here’s a great article on why employees are losing motivation that a coworker sent me. A good read :)

Lately I have had a lot of things to think about.

First of all, I’ve been thinking about my career. When I first joined Microsoft, I thought it would make sense to change teams every 2~3 years or so to diversify my experience. And I did just that when I joined the Health Solutions Group (HSG) after spending over two and a half years in Office. So the question is, now that I have worked with the HSG for about three years, do I change teams again?

I have concluded that I would not. The problems that I am working on right now is very different from the problems that I worked on two or three years ago. And more importantly they’re very interesting and exciting problems. I also recognize that there’s a ton of potential in the health space. So I think that I can really develop myself further without growing complacent by staying in HSG.

Speaking of the problems that I am working on, I am thinking about ways to improve the care of ambulatory patients with chronic diseases. The problem is that people with diseases such as diabetes, CHF, CAD, etc. take up significant resources in hospitals. But with proper care management and preventive measures, there’s a lot of potential to reduce costs and also improve the overall quality of life of those patients. Hospitals are already starting to do that. But with software innovation, it is possible to proactively identify and triage patients with chronic diseases and enable case managers and the patients themselves to manage the conditions in a more automatic and systematic way. The more we can push patients away from acute care to guided disease management or self prevention, the better.

Aside from work, I have been reading a lot more. Typically I read a lot of novels toward the end of the year and then switch to non-fiction in the beginning of a new year. This year I started reading up on investing. Although I do not have much to share, I have made some non-trival changes to my (lack of) investment strategies. It took more work than I anticipated to implement the changes, but I feel good about making more informed decisions. I hope to be able to write about positive learnings from that venture.

I have also started planning trips with friends. After my trip to Turkey last year, I decided to travel at least once a year and I most certainly intend to make good on that commitment. There are a lot of places to go to, and organizing trips for any sizeable group of people is not an easy thing to do. But I think the headache is definitely worth it.

There’s a lot more that I think about, of course. But I must admit that all I really do is think about that special someone :)

I was running hard at the Pro Club when an employee walked up to me. At first I thought my towel dropped to the floor. Sometimes that happens. But after intently listening to her walkie, she casually told me that the entire gym was being evacuated. I looked around and indeed found that everybody was leaving. And only then did I notice that the alarms were ringing.

I thought I might as well continue my work out by running out the gym. But there was no real sense of urgency. So instead I ran back to my locker and collected my belongings. I am glad that I did.

When I finally got outside, there were people who literally just ran out of the shower. Everybody was just standing outside of the building, presumably waiting for instructions. I also saw two firetrucks coming into the parking lot. It was time to make an exit; I promptly found my car and left.

I wonder if I’ll get to experience that again.