There’s a certain kind of confidence, let’s call it tech hubris, that makes us believe we can buy our way out of human problems. This is true whether you’re a high school principal fed up with TikTok in geometry class or a health system CEO tired of reading headlines about physician burnout.
Graham Dugoni, the founder and CEO of Yondr, has made a business out of puncturing this illusion. If you’re not familiar: Yondr makes simple locking pouches you stuff your phone into before a concert, comedy show, or final exam. The idea is basic: no phone, no distraction. Live music sounds better when you’re not recording the entire set through shaky hands. Classrooms run smoother when students can’t Snap under the desk.
Seems straightforward. Order a few thousand pouches, hand them out, problem solved. Right? Not even close.
In a recent interview, Dugoni put it plainly: “People think the product solves the problem. But the product is just part of a broader cultural change.” The pouch itself is about as complicated as a potholder. But convincing people to use it, and keep using it, is where the real work begins.
Schools can’t just drop a box of pouches in the principal’s office and hope kids voluntarily lock up their phones. There are hard questions to answer first. Why are we doing this? Are we tackling distraction? Cyberbullying? Anxiety? All of the above? How do we explain this to parents who might not be thrilled about being unreachable during the school day? How do we get teachers to enforce it?
And then there’s the human variable: teenagers are not exactly famous for blind compliance. You need a plan for what happens when a student tries to sneak in a second phone. Or when a parent calls the local news to complain their child is being “silenced.” Implementation, Dugoni says, is where the real magic, or misery, happens.
Sound familiar? It should. Because if you swap out “pouches” for “electronic health record,” or voice recognition, or ambient scribes, or AI anything, you have the same story playing out in healthcare.
Somewhere right now, a health system is cutting a check with a lot of zeroes to install a shiny new EHR. Or to roll out smart tablets for bedside charting. Or to sprinkle AI fairy dust over clinical workflows. And there’s a boardroom full of very smart people congratulating themselves on their forward-thinking investment.
Good for them. But that check isn’t buying transformation. It’s buying a tool.
The tool isn’t the transformation
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: technology doesn’t do anything by itself. Not in a school, not in a concert hall, not in an operating room. Just like Yondr’s pouch is just a fancy sleeve with a magnet, your EHR is just a piece of software. It can nudge, prompt, store, and remind, but only if humans use it the right way.
Which is precisely where so many well-meaning organizations stumble. They assume that once the servers are humming and the logins are working, the value shows up on its own. It doesn’t.
Implementation eats strategy for breakfast
Healthcare leaders should borrow a page from Dugoni’s playbook. Yondr doesn’t just ship boxes of pouches and wave goodbye. They train staff. They hold info sessions for parents. They give teachers scripts. They explain to students why they’re being asked to part ways with their digital lifelines for seven hours a day. They troubleshoot loopholes: burner phones, locker stashes, secret AirPods. They help schools stay consistent so kids don’t game the system. The real product isn’t the pouch; it’s the plan.
Physician executives, take note: your EHR vendor’s demo is not your product. The real product is the workflows you design or redesign. The nurses you train. The physicians you convince that yes, this thing will save them time, but first it might take longer while they learn it. If you don’t build the plan, the expensive tech will join the graveyard of underused gadgets and dusty dashboards.
Ask the right questions
Dugoni’s team asks schools: Why do you want the pouch?
Healthcare execs should do the same. Why do you want this technology upgrade? More clicks have never been the goal. Better documentation is not an end in itself. What real-world problems are you solving?
And how are you solving them? Have you mapped out which parts of the workflow change? Have you talked to the people who do the work? Who needs to be on board? Physicians, nurses, IT, finance, and don’t forget the patients. How will you roll this out? Slowly, incrementally, with feedback loops and champions, or all at once with a “good luck” email blast? (Hint: it’s the former, not the latter.)
It’s rarely the tech; it’s usually the humans
Yondr pouches don’t lock themselves. Students don’t volunteer to hand over their phones out of sheer moral discipline. Teachers don’t confiscate iPad Minis unless they feel supported. Similarly, your EHR doesn’t document itself. Your ambient scribe won’t automatically make a grumpy doc trust it. AI doesn’t fix burnout unless it solves real problems.
The tool works only if people want it to. Skip the people, and your investment stays in the box.
Next time you’re about to sign a check for shiny new healthcare tech, don’t forget to include money for the people side: training, workflow redesign, champions, super users. Snacks for 7AM go-live huddles. Extra help desk coverage. And yes, listening sessions for all the cranky clinicians who will point out the things you and your vendor “didn’t think of.”
The best tech implementations aren’t tech stories. They’re change management stories.
Closing the loop
So the next time you see someone dropping their phone into a Yondr pouch at a concert, remember: that little magnet didn’t do the hard work. The conversation, the norms, the rules, and the trust did. Healthcare doesn’t need more shiny things. It needs leaders willing to do the unglamorous work that makes shiny things actually deliver value. Implementation is where good ideas go to live … or die. Choose wisely.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to check my phone. I didn’t have a pouch handy.