It’s Not About the Tech

Book Details

  • 83,000 words, 250–300 pages
  • 6×9, hardback and ePub
  • Online references and links
  • Target launch: June 2026

It’s Not About the Tech

From Potholes to Piglets — Real-Life Lessons in Health IT

Only 20% of the success of a healthcare technology project is about the technology. The other 80% is the psycho-socio-political skills of the team implementing it. After 30 years of practicing medicine and implementing electronic health records, I learned this the hard way.

This book is a portable mentor for the next generation of informaticists.


What You’ll Learn

This book teaches practical informatics through stories of success and failure from EHR work. The book comprises bite-sized case studies that illustrate self-development as a tactic for improving teamwork, change management, and leadership in complex healthcare environments.


Who It’s For

Aspiring physician and provider informaticists, CMIOs, CNIOs, pharmacists, nurses, IT analysts, trainers, and project managers. It is for anyone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology. AMIA estimates that 10,000 more skilled informaticists will be needed in the coming decade. This book is for them, and for the senior leaders who mentor them.


The Journey of an Informatics Leader

Seven sections that follow the arc of an informatics leadership career

Introduction — Who this book is for, how to read it for personal growth

Investigation — Curiosity and the surprising value of listening

Intrigue — Creativity and beginning to change minds

Influence — Nudges and grand gestures to foster change

Inosculation — Connecting healthcare and IT with unintuitive tactics

Thrive — Vital skills and maintaining personal morale

Future — Adapting as technology and healthcare rapidly evolve


What Makes It Different

Story-driven, not academic. Learn from real project failures and successes, not theory.

Inclusive across roles. Physicians, nurses, IT analysts all see themselves in the work.

Written from the frontlines. By a working CMIO with three decades of failures and successes.

Forward-looking. Closes with a candid section on generative AI and the next decade of informatics.


What People Are Saying

Endorsements coming soon.


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About the Author

CT Lin, MD is Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and CMIO at UCHealth – Colorado, an organization serving four million patients. He was trained at Harvard and Stanford and is board certified in internal medicine and clinical informatics. He has championed patient information transparency, invented EHR Sprints and led EHR and AI adoption in an organization that has achieved Most Wired level 10 and HIMSS stage 7. His blog reached 14,000 unique readers in 2025.