I’m getting ready to launch a new workers’ compensation calculator and I could use your help. 1 I still need a few volunteers to help me test a permanent disability, life pension, and total permanent disability COLA commutation calculator. Right now I need a few applicant attorneys, defense attorneys, and claims examiners.
You’re probably just here to download the latest workers’ compensation case about the Cost of Living Adjustment and State Average Weekly Wage increases. 12 I’m not going to hold you in suspense – here’s the download link:
[Download not found]
Obviously, you need to read the entire decision for yourself. Here’s my oversimplification of the case:
Whenever the injured worker is due life pension payments for injuries on or after 1/1/2003, you calculate those benefits, whenever they are due, by increasing them according to the yearly increases in the state average weekly wage starting on 1/1/2004.
Still having trouble understanding the impact of this case? Well, you could try my XYZZXSJO2 calculator to tell you what the life pension rate should be during a given year. (Remember, this just tells you the rate – it is not a commutation calculator. These are still in the works).
A company once told me someone had offered to build permanent disability calculators for their website in three months for $7,500. One said six months and $20,000. Recently, another suggested it would take them a year and $40,000. My response is usually some variation on “You’ve got to take that deal. You’re wasting your time talking to me.”
It’s no big secret that building a great product takes a lot of work. The important thing to remember is that just because something is easy-to-use, that doesn’t mean its easy-to-make. 1
Difficult-to-make iPhone
Let’s take the iPhone for example. Everyone will concede its an easy phone to use. However, it was released more than two years ago on 6/29/2007. 2 In that time the other players – BlackBerry, LG, Nokia, and Palm have all been trying to catch up. If this easy-to-use phone were easy-to-build everyone would have their own version.
Look, there’s no special magic to building a website like this. Really, anyone can do it. All you have to do is learn the calculations inside-and-out, deconstruct the math involved in the various calculations, learn some client and server side programming languages, learn a content management system, make it all work together, keep current on changes in the law, start all over again each time the law changes, and earn the respect of the workers’ compensation community. Once done, you’ll have your very own workers’ compensation calculator website!
To return to the lesson of the iPhone, building a touch screen phone that can play music and surf the web is totally doable. Doing it right is another matter entirely.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from a beta tester, Jeff Duarte, who was having trouble with one of my calculators. He said that he didn’t really understand how to use a particular calculator. My response was:
The problem is not you, its me. :) If I designed my calculator better you wouldn’t have any questions.
Seriously – sorry Jeff, its my bad. My goal is to make these calculators so easy and intuitive to use that no workers’ compensation professional would have any trouble figuring out how to use them. If you don’t figure out how to use it just by looking at it, I designed it wrong. 1 Getting feedback is a very important and instructive process for me. It lets me figure out what works for people and what doesn’t.
The good news is that Jeff”s suggestions have given me an idea on how to make two calculators easier to use and for two entirely new features!
A few weeks ago I launched a Social Security Number verification tool powered by Verify!®. Since its launch its become a very popular tool. One of the coolest things about having these calculators is finding out all of the new ways people think of to use them. These new and unintended uses are almost always far more interesting than the original pedestrian reasons for which a tool was created.
I thought of this one during a deposition last week when a deponent couldn’t recall when they first came to the United States. I just fired up the cell phone web browser, went to the calculator page, and asked the follow up question. [↩]
I have several new calculators in the works and could use a few guinea pigs to help test them. A few days ago I sent an e-mail to a select few of this website’s users asking them to participate. As a result of their testing and feedback, I’ve made a few changes to these new calculators.
However, I’d also appreciate the help of anyone interested in testing. If you are willing to provide feedback and want to try out these new calculators, please send me an e-mail.
To this, I make the following statements/suggestions:
This website does not utilize secure connections. There, I’ve said it. If this is a concern for you, no one will blame you for not using this tool.
This SSN look up tool does not ask for any other information besides the social security number. By itself, the social security number probably isn’t particularly useful to anyone.
The commenter’s concerns about keyloggers and viruses are valid. However, such things would be able to access your information no matter how secure I make this website.
Its generally a good idea to be very careful about what information you send out onto the internet. If you’re not sure something is safe, it probably is not.
I’ve just built another new workers’ compensation calculator. Actually, it is a look up tool that will help workers’ compensation professionals file documents with EAMS.1
While I think the recent Verify!® social security number validator may be more intriguing for defense attorneys and claims examiners, I think this new EAMS tool will probably be more useful to Applicant attorneys.
