A friend of mine who is a diabetic uses a pump to manage the condition. He's constantly checking his insulin levels and very conscious of the status of the pump. I thought of him when checking out Adaptive Path's vision for a better diabetes management device. AP has a put a good deal of effort into both the idea and the case study they've created out of it. But the real insights come in the comments section from their blog. Here are a few:
"Angel Matos Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Excellent! I can only hope that one of the biggies in the ‘D’ world take your design concept and try to make it a reality. J&J via their One Touch division would be the most logical, or maybe Bayer - whose been marketing more aggressively as of date.And in the name of the millions of D-Folks in the world, I salute you, I thank you, and may God Bless, cause we need THIS type of an electronic ‘toy’ -SOON!"
"Greg Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Great concept. Conceptually it takes the best parts of the Minimed pump/CGMS system, and the Omnipod, and combines them in a superior interface.A few things to keep in mind, though — while improving the user experience is definitely an important and admirable goal, one of the reasons the current devices are so clunky is these medical devices have very different, and critical design requirements. Reliability and accuracy are absolutely THE most important goals. All the cool gee-wiz reassuring UI features in the world aren’t worth anything if they bring the system down."
"Timothy Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
As a pump-wearing Type I diabetic, I think this is a fantastic concept, and I hope to see something like this on the market in the future. However, there are clear limitations to the design in usability and safety. I’m personally uncomfortable with the controls for the device being physically separated from the device delivering the insulin.""Kris Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
God bless you all for taking up this challenge! Thank you for your creativity and thank you for trying"
The case study offers some insights into AP's process including renderings of the interface and device. You can read up on the whole process and all the feedback here. It's clear that AP received some critiques as they shared the concept and how it came together. That's the risk you take when going public with an idea like this. But they took the risk and took on a huge challenge. That's what will ultimately "stick" with the folks who gave their time to express opinions in both comments and no doubt e-mail as well as in person. Something to think about. How often are we willing to take on the big challenges and put our ideas in the public? I'm with Kris. Thank you for trying.
