Sometimes you just have to try it and see what happens The single greatest key to happiness in data management (and life!) is to seek success and not perfection. A corollary to that could be “Try it and see what happens.” Part of my work with clients is helping them make decisions about business rules and business …

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Training and testing I’ve written before that the best form of training follows this process: Tell them what you’re going to do, tell them what you’re doing, tell them what you did. When working with your software company to report bugs or other issues, you should follow a similar process: Tell them what you were …

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How to save a “failing” project It is not unusual for me to receive a call from an association that sounds something like this: “We implemented a new AMS in the past year, everyone on staff hates the new system, and this whole project is failing. What can we do to save it?” While every project …

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How to avoid the “IT black hole” Going all the way back to my days as an association staffer (more than 30 years ago) I’ve encountered what I call the “IT black hole.” The IT black hole is where technology issues go to die. Perhaps you’ve experienced this. You report an issue to your technology staff …

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The “People” are important! I’ve written a lot about people, process, and technology over the years. This is the three-legged stool of success for any technology project (and these days, for any project at all!). My writing has focused mostly on process and technology because process and technology are usually easier to change. But I …

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