 |
Rob McCready |
Software Initiatives Lead to Tangible Results
Rob McCready
January 2009
Software systems engineer Rob McCready loves to work with new technologies and thrives on the challenge of developing useable software programs. While completing his master's degree in computer science at Boston University, McCready came to MITRE's Bedford, Mass., campus in 1998. He's found that his career has evolved from straightforward software development to a leadership role in developing new software initiatives.
"I really love the fact that my job covers a variety of domains, not only in the details of our technical work, but also with the exposure that we get to the other parts of a problem," he says. "In addition, I appreciate that MITRE is very encouraging of new, innovative—sometimes offbeat—ideas that emphasize finding workable solutions for our customers."
Specialized Software Is the Remedy
While he has contributed to many different software projects, McCready has led two major software initiatives at MITRE. The first one, StaffPlan, eliminated the differing Excel spreadsheets that resource managers, project leaders, and staff used to plan MITRE's Air Force work. "StaffPlan moved all of this data into a Web-based medium that allowed the resource managers, project leaders, and the staff to view and edit the same set of planning data," he explains. "It was really exciting work and definitely saved users' time.
"Plus, it was like getting a backstage pass to a play—seeing all the energy involved with keeping the machine running. Most of MITRE's technical staff never get the chance to see that."
More recently McCready has been working on "Project Laika" with MITRE's Center for Enterprise Modernization (which supports civil-agency customers). The project focuses on improving communications among doctors, nurses, and patients by increasing the accuracy and readability of electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs are software systems that store detailed patient data from a wide variety of sources. The MITRE-developed Laika software is free, open-source software that evaluates the import and export of EHR data, outlines areas where it meets existing standards, and identifies specific areas of improvement.
"My involvement on the project started a couple of years ago when I was assisting MITRE's Healthcare Mission Area with issues involving medical hardware interoperability," he says. "The idea of supporting healthcare information technology really piqued my interest.
"Later, after we started to collect data from these medical devices, we had to consider what to do with the data. We then found out that there was a huge problem with commingling EHRs from multiple sources, in part because there wasn't any software available to test the interoperability of the data. In response, we developed an open-source tool that could test the data coming out of and going into EHRs for interoperability." This software was released in March 2008 and is now being used by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, an independent, not-for-profit organization, to evaluate EHR processes.
Navigating Your Path
With its wide variety of customers and sponsors, there are many different opportunities for software engineers at MITRE both as developers and as project leaders. "I have really enjoyed my time at MITRE," says McCready. "When I started, I was strictly a software developer. Now I lead a couple of different software-related projects and am a resource manager. As my career has progressed, I have been given more and more responsibilities and the work has changed accordingly, but definitely for the better.
"Now I spend a good amount of my work week understanding the needs of users, managing a budget, working on public speaking and prose, and strategically planning what's next. All the while, MITRE has insisted that I still 'keep my engineering hands fresh.' This is great for me, since I love to tinker with software."
McCready also acknowledges that MITRE allows him quite a bit of leeway in managing the path he takes to execute his projects—something many software engineering companies do not allow. "I love the fact that most of my projects have given me with the freedom to choose the tools, processes, and details to get the job done," he says. "I've found that if you identify where you are—point A—then communicate to all your stakeholders where you want to go—point B—most of the time everything in between A and B is up to you."
Knowing that his work in EHRs has had a positive impact on healthcare IT gives McCready a strong sense of job satisfaction. "I've really enjoyed my time at MITRE and appreciate how solution-oriented my work is."
—by Kay M. Upham
Related Information
Articles and News
Technical Papers and Presentations
Websites
|
