WSJ has an article on The Secret to Fighting Infections. What got my attention is the following statement.

PETER PRONOVOST: The main barriers are the lack of collaboration and a culture that is resistant to change. There is also a lack of systems integration.

Hospitals and Data Centers have much in common from a building perspective. Location is critical. Power back-up is a given. The buildings are very expensive, but what is in them is just as expensive. They are a bunch of really smart people using the building, and with the smart people come egos that are not necessarily very collaborative. Then you add on the risk avoidance. In hospitals, malpractice/legal types of issues. In Data Centers, those who make mistakes are many times the first to be fired as fingers of blame point. Administrators who are looking to cut costs.

Here is the example of the hospital problems.

Nurses and pharmacists work for the hospital, which typically has clear lines of authority and procedures for dealing with failure to follow accepted practices. But physicians are often self-employed, have little training in teamwork and, perhaps like all of us, are often overconfident about the quality of care they provide, believing things will go right rather than wrong. Nurses are often reluctant to question them, and hospitals don't pressure physicians about teamwork for fear of jeopardizing the business they bring to the hospital.

Facility Ops and Sys admins are like the nurses and pharmacists with clear lines of authority and processes. Developers and business unit are owners are like the Physicians.

The WSJ article focuses on safety and fighting infections in the hospital.