I am, admittedly, an incredibly impatient person. It’s one of the reasons I LOVE the internet; instant gratification. I can get the answer to that question about a movie, or immediately order something I want (from Amazon, natch), without ever having to leave my home (and often without even having to get out of the […]
Everything takes longer than you think it will (especially hiring!) Read More »
Very often I’m asked by my clients: “Why can’t I get a report out of my database comparing year-to-year data on membership?” And the simple fact is, transactional databases do not make good data warehouses. Transactional databases, by their nature, are dealing with dynamic data. This means the data is changing frequently. Whether it’s something
Why transactional databases don't make good data warehouses Read More »
During the implementation phase of a new association management system, one of the most critical phases is the testing phase. In this phase, the association develops testing scenarios that staff can run through the AMS, to see if processes make sense, and if we’re getting the results we expect. This is especially critical for any
Either you'll test it, or your customers will Read More »
We all make mistakes in our work. As the old saying goes, it’s not the mistakes you make, it’s how you deal with them after the fact that matters. Last week, I received an email from Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield (my health insurance provider) telling me that my insurance policy had been canceled. There was no
How NOT to apologize… Read More »
I was once on a tour of a plant where conveyor belts were being manufactured. I noticed that one of the machines had several people standing around it, and the machine did not seem to be working well (if at all). I asked the tour guide what was going on, and she replied “Oh, we
Did you expect them to just KNOW how to do it? Read More »
The economist and political writer Thomas Sowell once wrote: “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.” What Sowell means, of course, is that every decision we make in life involves a trade-off. Choosing to ride the bus, for example, involves giving up some freedom of choosing your own route as the driver. In exchange, the bus
All choices involve trade-offs Read More »
I reported recently on the merger of YourMembership and Affiniscape. The new company name is YourMembership, and not surprisingly, YourMembership has announced that all Affiniscape customers will be moved to the YourMembership platform. You can learn all the details here. There’s also an interesting open letter from Rick Rutherford, co-founder of Affiniscape, that you can read
Update on YourMembership and Affiniscape Read More »
I’ve posted two new articles on my website. The first is Your “Marriage” with your AMS Vendor, which outlines how your relationship with your AMS vendor is a lot like marriage, and provides some tips on how to keep that relationship thriving. The second article asks What’s Your “Bus Factor”? In this article I discuss the
TWO New Articles Posted Read More »
At the end of this past year I made donations to four charitable organizations. While the donations were not the size of “name a building after me” donations, they were much larger than $20. Three of the donations were made online via the org’s website; the fourth was delivered in person. With the online donations,
Are you (really) thanking your donors? Read More »
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out TMA Resources’ video series, Best Practices in Association Technology, featuring some of the brightest minds in the association market. (I say that because I’m one of the brilliant minds featured!) Each clip is 3-4 minutes long and provides technology tips to help associations better serve their members
Best Practices in Association Technology from TMA Resources Read More »