Doing the reps… I’m helping a client with the implementation of a new AMS. During a recent call, their internal project manager said “I’m still not as familiar with the system as I’d like to be. I need to get in there more often and play around.” I responded: “That’s exactly right. I suggest you […]

Add one, remove one In the world of home-organizing, there’s the “one in, one out” rule. Simply put, for every new item that enters your home, one similar item must leave, helping to maintain a constant level of possessions and prevent clutter accumulation. This would be a great rule for database managers when considering adding new fields […]

Spring cleaning, all year long I talk frequently about “weeding the garden,” the idea that proactively managing your data, consistently, over time, is a better practice than trying to clean up the data in one big effort once every couple of years. But beyond the data itself, weeding the garden should also include making sure all […]

Don’t fall into the arrival fallacy trap The arrival fallacy is the false belief that reaching a specific milestone or achieving an external goal will automatically bring lasting happiness and fulfillment. I see this a lot when associations are seeking a new AMS. The thinking is “If we just get the right AMS, all of our data management […]

“The first time it lies to me is the last time I’ll use it.” Over the years, I’ve often chuckled under my breath when a client would tell me: “The system is giving me different answers to the same query. I think it’s making thing up!” In almost every case, what the client perceived to be […]