Today I learned about a military term that has come into the culture: VUCA, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. That certainly describes our current times.
All of this VUCA makes me concentrate on what is stable and slow to change. Its easy to get distracted by that which changes quickly and shines in the light. Its harder to be grateful for what changes slowly. Its harder to see what those things might even be.
In the face of AI and the way it will transform all industries (if not now, very soon), its important to remember what AI can not yet do well. Maybe it will learn how to create a facsimile of these traits in the future as it becomes more “human” (trained on human data with all its flaws might mean it has embedded within it those traits we find undeniably human). However, these skills seem like the ones that can help us navigate the VUCA that is life today.
Be Curious
AI can ask follow-up questions for clarification, but it does not (yet) ask questions for its own curiosity. It asks when it has been directed to do something. It does not sit idle and wonder what the world is like beyond the walls of the chat window.
Humans and high-order animals have curiosity. We seek information and naturally have questions about our world — why is the sky blue? why does the wind blow? why do waves crash onto the shore?
In our operations, Oomph prides itself on Discovery. This is our chance to ask the big questions — why does your business work the way it does? why are those your goals? who is your audience you have vs. the audience you want?
In life and work, curiosity is one of our best traits. This means trying new tools, changing our processes and habits for improved outcomes, and exploring something new just to see what it can do. Even with all the VUCA in the world, approaching uncertainty with curiosity keeps us open and engaged with what we can learn next.
Use Judgement
Another important human trait is judgement, and this continues to be invaluable as humans are needed to evaluate AI outputs.
AI is very good at creating dozens, if not hundreds of outputs. In fact, probabilistic (not deterministic) output is the strength and sometimes weakness of AI — you almost never get the same answer twice.
Our human expertise is needed to curate these outputs. We need to discard what is average and unremarkable to find the outputs that are surprising and valuable. We need to use our judgement and experience to find the ideas that are applicable to the client, the project, and the moment. Given the same 100 outputs, the right ones might be a different selection depending on the problem we want to solve and the industry in which it will be applied.
Exude Empathy
In the world of design and creating software for humans, empathy is what drives the decisions we need to make. In the flow of vibe coding, our judgments will drive technical and architectural decisions while empathy drives interface design and product feature decisions. Humans are still the ones who need to find the problems that are worth solving.
The language on the page, the helpfulness of the tooltip, and the order in which the form elements appear are some examples of how empathy drives interactions. Empathy helps team members identify confusion and redundancy.
Further, until we are designing for AI Agents and robots as our product’s primary users, we are designing for humans. This means we need to continue to ask humans for feedback, monitor human behavior on our sites and in our apps, and understand why they make the decisions they make. All of this continues to make empathy an important human trait to cultivate.
Make Connections
Mike Bechtel, Chief Futurist at Deloitte Consulting, gave a talk at SXSW this year about how the future favors polymaths instead of specialists. His argument boils down to this: AI is a specialist at almost anything but what humans have shown over time is that the greatest inventions and insights come from disparate teams putting their expertise together or individuals making new connections between disciplines.
Novel ideas are mash-ups of existing ideas more than brand-new ideas that have never been thought of. And these mash-ups come from curious humans who have broad experience, not deep specialization. They are the ones who can identify and bring the specialists together if need be, but most of all, they can make the connections and see the bigger picture to create new approaches.
Support Culture
No matter how smart AI gets, it doesn’t “read the room.” It doesn’t build relationships between others, react to group dynamics, or pick up on body language. In an ambiguous human way, it does not sense when something “feels off.”
In group settings, humans command culture. AI won’t directly help you build trust with a client. It won’t read the faces in the room or over Zoom and pause for questions. It won’t sense that people are not engaging and reacting, and therefore you need to change a tactic while speaking. AI is interested in the facts and not the feelings.
Broad team culture and the culture that exists between individuals is built and nurtured by the humans within them. AI might help you craft a good sales pitch, internal memo, or provide ice breaker ideas, but in the end, humans deliver it. Mentoring, supporting culture, collaborating, and building trust continue to be human endeavors.
Break Patterns
AI is very good at replicating patterns and what has already been created. AI is very good at using its vast amount of data to emphasize best practices with patterns that are the most prevalent and potentially the most successful. But it won’t necessarily find ways to break existing patterns to create new and disruptive ones.
Asking great questions (being curious), applying our experience and judgement, and doing it all with empathy for the humans we support leads to creative, pattern-breaking solutions that AI has not seen before. Best practices don’t stay the best forever. Changes in technology and our interface with it create new best practices.
The easiest answer (the common denominator that AI may reach for) is not always the best solution. There is a time and a place to repeat common patterns for efficiency, but then there are times when we need to create new patterns. Humans will continue to be the ones who can make that judgement.
Be Human
AI will continue to evolve. It may get better at some of the attributes I mention — or at best, it may get better at looking like it has empathy, supports culture, and mashes existing patterns together to create new ones. But for humans, these traits come more naturally. They don’t have to be trained or prompted to use these traits.
Of all these traits, curiosity may be the most important and impactful one. AI has become our answer-engine, making it less necessary to know it all. But we need to continue to be curious, to wonder about “what if?” AI shouldn’t tell us what to ask, but it should support us in asking deeper questions and finding disparate ideas that could create a new approach.
We no longer need to learn everything. All the answers to what is already known can be provided. It is up to humans to continue with curiosity into what we do not yet know.
Digital accessibility can be difficult to stay ahead of. The laws have been evolving and now the European Union (EU) has entered the arena with their own version of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
If your business sells products, services, and/or software to European consumers, this law will apply to you.
The good news:
- The EU enacted this legislation to make it easier for businesses to comply across its various member states.
- Just like the ADA, many EU member states have specified the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as their basis for measuring conformance.
The bad news:
- Each member country can define its regulations and its penalties. One infraction within the EU could accumulate fines from multiple countries.
Keep reading for a breakdown of how the Act works and what your business needs to prepare.
What is the European Accessibility Act?
In 2019, the EU formally adopted the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The primary goal is to create a common set of accessibility guidelines for EU member states and unify the diverging accessibility requirements in member countries. The EU member states had two years to translate the act into their national laws and four years to apply them. The deadline of June 28, 2025 is now looming.
The EAA covers a wide array of products and services, but for those that own and maintain digital platforms, the most applicable items are:
- Computers and operating systems
- Banking services and bill payments
- E-books
- Online video games
- Websites and mobile services, including e-commerce, bidding (auction) services, accommodations booking, online courses and training, and media streaming services
Who Needs to Comply?
The EAA requires that all products and services sold within the EU be accessible to people with disabilities. The EAA applies directly to public sector bodies, ensuring that government services are accessible. But it goes further as well. In short, private organizations that regularly conduct business with or provide services to public-facing government sites should also comply.
Examples of American-based businesses that would need to comply:
- Ecommerce platforms with customers who may reside in Europe. Ecommerce is typically worldwide, so this category is particularly important
- Companies that provide healthcare support via Telehealth services if offered to travelers from Europe. Drug manufacturers who offer products available to a European audience and are required to post treatment guidelines and side effects
- Hospitality platforms that attract European tourists. This includes hotels, cruise lines, tour guides and groups, and destinations such as theme parks and other amenities
- Universities and colleges who attract foreign students from Europe and elsewhere
- Banking and financial institutions who have European customers
There are limited exemptions. Micro-enterprises are exempt, and they are defined as small service providers with fewer than 10 employees and/or less than €2 million in annual turnover or annual balance sheet total.
What is required?
Information about the service
Service providers are required to explain how a service meets digital accessibility requirements. We recommend providing an accessibility statement that outlines the organization’s ongoing commitment to accessibility. It should include:
- A broad overview of the service in plain (non-technical) language
- Detailed guidelines and explanations on using the service
- An explanation of how the service aligns with the digital accessibility standards listed in Annex I of the European Accessibility Act
Compatibility and assistive technologies
Service providers must ensure compatibility with various assistive technologies that individuals with disabilities might use. This includes screen readers, alternative input devices, keyboard-only navigation, and other tools. This is no different than ADA compliance in the United States.
Accessibility of digital platforms
Websites, online applications, and mobile device-based services must be accessible. These platforms should be designed and developed in a way that makes them perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust (POUR) for users with disabilities. Again, this is no different than ADA compliance in the United States.
Accessible support services
Communication channels for support services related to the provided services must also be accessible. This includes help desks, customer support, training materials, self-serve complaint and problem reporting, user journey flows, and other resources. Individuals with disabilities should be able to seek accessible assistance and information.
What are the metrics for compliance?
The EAA is a directive, not a standard, which means it does not promote a specific accessibility standard. Each member country can define its regulations for standards and conformance and define their penalties for non-compliance. Each country in which your service is determined to be non-compliant can apply a fine, which means that one infraction could accumulate fines from multiple countries.
Just like the Americans with Disabilities Act, most EU member states are implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA as their standard, which is great news for organizations that already invest in accessibility conformance.
If a member country chooses to use the stricter EN 301 549, which still uses WCAG as its baseline, there are additional standards for PDF documents, the use of biometrics, and technology like kiosks and payment terminals. These standards go beyond the current guidelines for business in the United States.
Accessibility overlays (3rd Party Widgets)
It should be noted that the EAA specifically recommends against accessibility overlay products and services — a third-party service that promises to make a website accessible without any additional work. Oomph has said for a long time that plug-ins will not fix your accessibility problem, and the EAA agrees, stating:
“Claims that a website can be made fully compliant without manual intervention are not realistic, since no automated tool can cover all the WCAG 2.1 level A and AA criteria. It is even less realistic to expect to detect automatically the additional EN 301549 criteria.”
The goals for your business
North American organizations that implemented processes to address accessibility conformance are well-positioned to comply with the EAA by June 28, 2025. In most cases, those organizations will have to do very little to comply.
If your organization has waited to take accessibility seriously, the EAA is yet another reason to pursue conformance. The deadline is real, the fines could be significant, and the clock is ticking.
Need a consultation?
Oomph advises clients on accessibility conformance and best practices from health and wellness to higher education and government. If you have questions about how your business should prepare to comply, please reach out to our team of experts.
Additional Reading
Deque is a fantastic resource for well-researched and plain English articles about accessibility: European Accessibility Act (EAA): Top 20 Key Questions Answered. We suggest starting with that article and then exploring related articles for more.
THE CHALLENGE
The Challenge
For caregivers, clinicians, and individuals impacted by dementia, finding reliable, up-to-date resources is often difficult. Many existing platforms were outdated, hard to navigate, and cluttered with static information that failed to reflect the latest research and best practices.
To address this, a team at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) secured grant funding to create a new, centralized digital resource for dementia care. This website would serve as a go-to hub for caregivers, healthcare professionals, and those living with dementia, making essential guidance, local support services, and educational tools more accessible and easier to use.
UCSF partnered with Oomph to develop a modern, scalable platform designed to improve content discovery, simplify search, and support long-term content growth.
OUR APPROACH
To ensure the new dementia care site was intuitive, structured, and easy to maintain, Oomph worked closely with UCSF to:
1. Build a Flexible and Organized Content System
With hundreds of resources ranging from clinical guides to local service listings, content needed to be structured for easy access. We:
- Developed a content model that allows UCSF to continuously expand and update information.
- Designed audience-specific pathways so caregivers, clinicians, and individuals with dementia can quickly find relevant content.
- Built an admin system that simplifies content management for UCSF’s team.
2. Optimize Search and Resource Navigation
Given the depth of content, finding the right resources quickly was a priority. We:
- Built a location-based filtering system to help users find local dementia support services.
- Designed an intuitive search experience that prioritizes the most relevant resources.
- Created structured content relationships so users can easily explore related topics.
3. Introduce Video and Multimedia Features
To make the site more engaging, UCSF wanted to integrate video content as a core educational tool. We:
- Developed a featured video content block that highlights key dementia care topics.
- Ensured seamless integration of video alongside traditional text-based resources.
- Designed a flexible content structure that allows UCSF to scale its multimedia offerings over time.
THE RESULTS
A Smarter, More Accessible Dementia Care Resource
The new dementia care platform is a comprehensive digital tool designed to improve how caregivers and clinicians access critical information.
- One centralized hub for dementia care resources, all timely and up-to-date.
- Fast, intuitive navigation that allows users to find resources based on role and location.
- Optimized multimedia experience that integrates video education alongside traditional content.
- A scalable platform that UCSF can continue to expand as research and best practices evolve.
By focusing on content organization, searchability, and usability, Oomph delivered a digital hub that will support dementia care communities for years to come.
Helping Healthcare Organizations Build Digital Resources That Matter
For healthcare providers, research institutions, and public health organizations, a well-designed digital platform can be the difference between confusion and clarity, isolation and support. Let’s connect to see how we can help.
THE CHALLENGE
The Challenge
Oncology nurses play a critical role in patient care, but navigating scattered, disconnected digital resources, research, and education made it harder for them to access the right information at the right time in the right place.
The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), a professional organization with 200 chapters and over 35,000 members, maintained three separate websites for a variety of functions including clinical tools, research data, educational materials, and membership. The fragmented system made it difficult for:
- Nurses to quickly find information in fast-paced clinical settings.
- Healthcare institutions to manage memberships and resources for their staff.
- ONS administrators to maintain and update content efficiently.
ONS partnered with Oomph to unify these platforms into a single, intuitive digital hub, making essential oncology resources easier to find, use, and manage.
OUR APPROACH
Leveraging our deep expertise in healthcare content strategy and digital engineering, Oomph worked closely with ONS to streamline content, improve search functionality, and enhance the overall user experience.
Creating a Flexible, Scalable Content System
ONS had a vast library of interconnected clinical, educational, and research materials but lacked an effective way to organize them. We:
- Consolidated over 40 content types into just 23, ensuring a more structured, maintainable system.
- Built a flexible content model in Drupal that allows the ONS team to easily update and customize pages.
- Designed an intuitive content architecture that prioritizes clinical tools, continuing education, and membership resources.
Optimizing Interactive Oncology Tools
Two core resources—the Biomarker Database and Symptom Interventions tool—are essential to oncology nurses’ daily workflows. Oomph redesigned these tools to:
- Enhance filtering capabilities, enabling nurses to quickly access relevant biomarker and treatment information.
- Improve navigation and searchability, making evidence-based recommendations easier to find.
- Ensure mobile responsiveness, so nurses can access resources from any device, wherever they are.
Implementing Smarter Search for Faster Access
Nurses often rely on quick search queries to find patient care guidance. To enhance search accuracy and speed, Oomph replaced ONS’ legacy Solr search with Algolia’s instant search technology, delivering:
- Four custom search experiences, each tailored to different content types.
- Real-time, intent-based search results to match the needs of busy clinicians.
- Faster load times and improved accessibility across all search-enabled pages.
Aligning Design With the ONS Brand Evolution
ONS had recently completed a rebrand, but its digital presence hadn’t fully evolved to match. Oomph helped translate the new brand identity into a cohesive web experience by:
- Refining UI components to align with ONS’ refreshed visual identity.
- Experimenting with modern layout structures to create a clean, professional look.
- Ensuring accessibility compliance.
THE RESULTS
A Unified, High-Impact Digital Resource
The new ons.org is a centralized, efficient, and scalable platform that makes it easier for oncology nurses, institutions, and administrators to access and manage critical healthcare resources.
- One streamlined platform for nurses, institutions, and administrators.
- Optimized content structure that simplifies navigation and enhances usability.
- Advanced search functionality that delivers real-time, high-accuracy results.
- Scalable and flexible design that supports future content growth and evolving member needs.
For oncology nurses, this platform is more than just a website—it’s a trusted clinical resource that supports better patient care, continuing education, and professional growth.
Empowering Healthcare Organizations With Digital Solutions That Work
In healthcare, access to information can directly impact patient outcomes. If your digital platform is fragmented, slow, or difficult to maintain, let’s discuss.