Story of the week 46

My alarm rings at 6 a.m., as it does every Thursday, heralding a typical start to what, I hope, will be a wonderful day. At least today, nothing suggested otherwise: Positive thinking is so critical, just in case things don't go as planned! Full of enthusiasm and with a pot of coffee in hand, I descend the stairs to my basement office a little later. Today, the app release can finally be tested on the production devices. This test is the final confirmation for my client that her monstrous Excel spreadsheet is obsolete. The new era of more user-friendly and intuitive patient documentation is dawning.

The road to today has been bumpy. Telekom's Mobile Device Management (MDM) system presented an unexpected challenge. The correct certificates were key. Only thanks to a lot of patience and good collaboration with the client was I able to overcome this challenge, so that the final checkmark on the handover checklist is finally ticked: The app works on the client's reference tablet. I have a clear goal in mind for today.

Delighted at the prospect of reaching this milestone, I begin compiling my checklist for the workday. Besides deployment, I need to connect the application to the administration website, integrate the backend, including data storage, set up a test user, and link it to the reference device – I'm on the home stretch.

The test user is logged in; the user dashboard opens. The assigned patients are visible. I can select them. Perfect. Just to be safe, a few more clicks to enter a participation goal, and perhaps a test documentation on the sample prescription. Not much can really go wrong, but thoroughness is essential! And the rule is: anything that isn't tested won't work. In reality, quite a lot can go wrong. And it does. Most unpleasantly, when I click the save button, nothing happens. Exactly – nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. Except that the little animation spins, symbolizing some supposed activity.

To be on the safe side, I click the save button again. I stare at the tablet in disbelief, repeatedly pressing save. At first, I'm patient, but soon I'm frantically hammering the button. Of course, my frantic tapping on the touchscreen doesn't change anything. I take a deep breath. Today's going to be a good day. I analytically examine every possible source of error and conclude: I haven't the faintest idea what's going on. I don't even have a clue where the problem could lie. The last changes since it worked on my test device give me no indication.

I dedicate the next six hours to a frantic search, not alone, of course, but with my colleague. But together, we're twice as baffled. We develop theories, validate them, only to have to discard them later. Hour after hour passes, and with the bewilderment comes despair. The theories become increasingly absurd. We grasp at straws, no matter how ludicrous the approach sounds. Instead of relief, the workday ends. My daughter knocks on the door – dinner's ready, I should come. A break is a good idea.

Completely distracted, I mechanically chew my food. My mind is still on the issue. A 20-meter walk and 15 steps up aren't enough to leave the problem in the basement. I mentally rehearse everything step by step and develop a new approach. Brutal and efficient: remove everything from the app. Add it back one piece at a time and check when the issue occurs. This will take forever, but it's as necessary as I'm clueless.

This idea is the only way forward. I pull out my phone and text my colleague. Less than 15 minutes have passed. The only reply is a smug grin – the issue is solved, and I didn't need to think so radically. I waver between relief, anger, and curiosity. The latter wins. It was right in front of us: the latest feature added—of course, what else?—but I still didn't understand it.

My mind was racing. I couldn't be happier that my colleague had figured it out. But I want to understand it. A short and simple explanation later, it was like scales falling from my eyes. I should have thought of that myself. With a touch of irony and a hint of gallows humour, I wrote: “Why did you wait until I was at dinner to figure it out? You could have thought of that sooner.” I deserved the perfect reply: “I just wanted to see if you could figure it out on your own.” I had a good laugh. And so, by a roundabout way, it turned out to be a wonderful day. Thanks to a helpful, kind colleague. And because I believed in it when I woke up… didn't I?!