Why Better Still Matters — and What It Teaches Us About Coaching, Trust, and Improvement

In 2007, the surgeon and writer Atul Gawande

published a book called Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. It is not a book about technology. It is not even really a book about medicine. It is a book about what it means to improve in complex, high-stakes professions where the work matters deeply and the margin for error is slim.

Nearly two decades on, Better remains quietly radical — and surprisingly relevant to education.

Gawande’s central claim is deceptively simple: excellence is not achieved through brilliance alone, but through disciplined reflection, honest feedback, and systems that make improvement possible. Not dramatic leaps forward. Not heroic interventions. Just the steady pursuit of being better than yesterday.

That idea sits at the heart of what we are building with Starlight.

Progress, not perfection

One of the most important insights in Better is Gawande’s rejection of perfection as the goal. In medicine, perfection is impossible. The work is too complex, the variables too many, and the human cost too high. Instead, he argues, professionals must commit to continuous improvement — even when that improvement is small.

This matters in education.

Teaching is not a performance that can be perfected and frozen in time. It is dynamic, relational, and deeply human. Any system that pretends otherwise quickly becomes brittle, punitive, or performative.

Starlight is deliberately built around progress rather than judgement. It does not assume teachers need fixing. It assumes they are professionals who benefit from clear mirrors, thoughtful prompts, and space to reflect. The aim is not to label lessons as good or bad, but to surface one or two meaningful insights that can shape the next one.

Better, not best.

Making the invisible visible

Gawande shows that real improvement often begins when everyday practice is made visible. In Better, this includes things like infection rates, hand-washing habits, and small procedural deviations that were previously hidden or ignored. Once seen, they can be addressed.

Teaching has the same problem.

Much of what matters most in a lesson disappears the moment the bell rings. Teachers rarely get to hear themselves teach. Patterns of questioning, explanation, wait time, or student talk remain largely invisible. Feedback, when it comes, is often delayed, partial, or shaped by the presence of an observer.

Transcript-based lesson analysis changes that. Not by judging, but by revealing. A transcript is neutral evidence. It allows teachers to notice patterns in their own practice without the pressure of an audience. This is not surveillance; it is self-reflection, supported by coaching prompts that invite thinking rather than compliance.

As Gawande reminds us, professionals improve fastest when they can see themselves clearly and safely.

Systems matter more than individuals

A recurring theme in Better is that failure is rarely the result of incompetence. More often, it is the result of overloaded systems, missing feedback loops, and environments that make reflection difficult or risky.

Education is no different.

Teachers work in cognitively demanding conditions, under intense time pressure, with very limited opportunities for calm, structured reflection. Asking individuals to improve without changing the system around them is not serious improvement work — it is wishful thinking.

Starlight is a systems response. It reduces friction. It shortens the distance between practice and insight. It carries some of the cognitive load that would otherwise fall on already stretched professionals. Five minutes from lesson to reflection is not a technical feature; it is a statement of values.

Trust is the condition for improvement

Perhaps the most important lesson from Better is also the most uncomfortable: measurement only improves performance when it is trusted. The moment data feels unsafe, people withdraw, comply superficially, or game the system.

This is why Starlight is teacher-first by design.

Ownership, consent, anonymisation, and aggregation are not optional extras. They are structural choices. Leaders gain insight because teachers trust the process — not because they are compelled to participate in it. Coaching works only when it feels professional, private, and purposeful.

Gawande’s warning is clear: improvement dies the moment fear enters the room.

Coaching, not oversight

In Better, even the most experienced surgeons seek coaching. Not because they are weak, but because complex work demands feedback. Expertise without reflection plateaus.

Starlight exists to normalise that idea in education. Coaching is not remediation. It is what serious professionals do when they want to keep getting better. Quietly. Thoughtfully. Without spectacle.

Why this matters now

At a time when educational technology often promises certainty, scale, and control, Better reminds us of something more important: improvement is a human process. It requires humility, trust, and systems that respect professional judgement.

Starlight is not inspired by dashboards or performance metrics. It is inspired by the same question that runs through Gawande’s work:

How do we help good professionals get a little bit better, more often, without breaking trust?

That is the work. Everything else is noise.

Spark Insight with Starlight and get better today.

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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight—the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform—and Assistant Headteacher at St Augustine’s Catholic College. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.