Wes's Weekly Wisdom Archives

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you I’ve been working in and with AMS products for 36 years (27 years of consulting, nine years as an association staffer). And I can say with great confidence that the systems available today are much better than they were 36 years ago! (Shocking, I know.) But […]

Using AI beyond content generation Recent surveys by ASAE and others suggest nearly 90% of associations are using AI for some type of content generation (e.g., creating blog posts, newsletter articles, “canned” responses to inquiries, etc.). That is great, but when it comes to data management, there are so many more opportunities for leveraging AI. Here are some ideas […]

If you’re training, PLEASE do this… If you’re doing any kind of software training, or you have outside trainers coming in to do training, I beg of you, please do the following: When you start the training, provide the learners with a complete overview of what you’re going to cover. Do not just say “Now […]

Don’t confuse motion with improvement I wrote recently how action can produce information. But an important corollary to that idea is that action alone does not necessarily mean improvement. For example, how much time do we spend preparing board materials that the board never looks at, and even if they do look at it, won’t […]

Perfection is expensive (in fact, it’s not possible!) “Perfection is expensive. The last 5 percent of quality almost always costs a disproportionate amount of time and money.” – James Clear “Seek success, not perfection.” – Alan Weiss When I give presentations on data management, I almost always mention this concept. Too often we’re caught up in the […]

AI is a journey, not a destination Lately I’ve noticed a lot of associations talking about AI like it’s a moon shot. “We need an AI project.” “We’re rolling out AI in Q4.” That language suggests AI is something you implement once and then check off the list. It isn’t. AI is a journey, and […]

Action produces information “Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing.” – Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase This is the great thing about data and why I’ve been in this business so long. […]

Why a single source of truth is so beneficial… The holy grail of data management is the “single source of truth.” As I like to characterize it, when someone asks “Where is the data about X?” everyone knows the answer and everyone gives the SAME answer. One of the most common challenges I hear from my […]

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should I’ve worked in and with associations for well over 37 years now. And one of the things I’ve always loved and appreciated about association staffers is their willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done. But the problem is this “Yes, we can!” attitude can also […]

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful “Your data doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful.” – (Borrowed with permission from Intellidata’s Slice newsletter.) In my experience, many associations hold themselves back from cleaning up their data, because they are overwhelmed with where to start, and they also think success can only be achieved […]

Don’t just clean data, clean reports and queries One of the reasons I exhort my clients to keep their data as clean as possible is because, over time, “dirty” data causes users to doubt the accuracy of all the data in the system. And when users doubt the data, they’ll start using their own systems […]

Don’t forget, your staff have day jobs… The vast majority of my work is finite project work (e.g., system selection or implementation). It’s literally my full time job. But for most of my clients, selecting and implementing a new AMS, or implementing a new website, or executing pretty much any other major technology project is […]

Beware the automated “How did we do?” trap! One of the downsides of technology is that automation can be so easy that we wind up annoying our members and customers rather than helping them. Case in point: I recently purchased tickets for a Broadway show via StubHub. The day after attending the show, I got […]

Hindsight is 20/20 I’m currently working with a client that is moving from their legacy AMS to a new system. Their legacy system is a completely custom build that has been used for nearly 30 years. As a result, the system contains a very large amount of data and data fields that the association no longer […]

Cheaper now; costlier later. Most of my clients are very cost-conscious, understandably. After all, who among us has an unlimited budget? But over the years, I’ve run into many situations that I would describe as “Cheaper now, costlier later.” Here are just a few examples: Developing software internally rather than purchasing off-the-shelf software or using […]

The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality One of the more common requests I hear from my clients is “We want a unified online shopping experience. We want our members to be able to renew their membership, register for an event, buy a booth, buy sponsorship items, buy products, buy anything, all in the same e-commerce […]

Don’t forget to celebrate! Truth be told, I’m not a big celebrator. (Maybe it’s because I grew up with eight siblings and birthdays were so common!) But we really should celebrate wins when we can, especially if they are big wins, like the go-live of a new AMS, a new website, or some other major […]

Three thoughts on duplicate records Duplicate records are a reality in any database of any size, so as database managers, we always have to deal with them (or should deal with them!). So here are three thoughts on managing duplicate records: Duplicate records will always exist. Always. Unless you’re managing only a tiny number of records, you […]

Please don’t do this… I’ve noticed a trend among online retailers that I want to warn associations away from. That trend is emailing me incessantly (as in, daily) shortly after I purchase something from the retailer. We’re coming upon Christmas so I’ve made purchases from retailers that I don’t usually shop with (think clothing and housewares for […]

AI is perpetually patient My friend and colleague Noel Shatananda of fusionSpan was providing me some tips about using AI. During that discussion, he pointed out that one of the keys to using AI tools like ChatGPT successfully is to continue to ask it questions to refine its work. As he put it, “AI is perpetually patient.” […]