Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Improvement is never linear

By Wes Trochlil | June 10, 2026

Improvement is never linear One of the many lessons one learns over a lifetime is that improvement, regardless of what you’re trying to improve, is never linear. That is, you’ll always have days where you’re better, and days where you don’t improve, or maybe even fall back. And so it is with data management. Even if you […]

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture!

By Wes Trochlil | June 3, 2026

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture! Whenever I start on a big home clean up or renovation project, I like to take a “before” picture, so that I can see the progress that was made when the project is complete. (Ironically, even though I’m the son of an award-winning amateur photographer, I often forget […]

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish?

By Wes Trochlil | May 27, 2026

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish? Two quick customer service stories to illustrate a point: First story: I’ve used the same email provider for more than 20 years. But for technical reasons, recently I needed to switch providers, so I canceled my service with them a few weeks in advance of my renewal. […]

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you

By Wes Trochlil | May 20, 2026

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

By Wes Trochlil | May 13, 2026

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 […]

Older Posts

How far we've come…

August 9, 2007

In the storage room of my house is a box from a printer that reads "Data Processing Forms." The picture […]

It just keeps happening…

August 8, 2007

A colleague of mine tells me that his hard drive on his laptop has crashed, and it’s unlikely he’ll be […]

"We" vs. "They"

August 7, 2007

I was on the phone today with a hotel, confirming my reservations. The reservations agent asked me for my name […]

Everyone's experience is the same (Or, It's just as bad everywhere else)

August 3, 2007

After nearly 20 years of working with associations on their databases, I’ve come to one conclusion: No one loves their […]

What's bugging associations?

August 2, 2007

I recently conducted an unscientific poll of my clients and contacts, asking them one simple question: What database issue are […]

Desktop Search

August 1, 2007

I've been a long-time user of X1 Technologies desktop search (more here). There used to be a free version of […]

Free Articles (Shameless Plug)

July 31, 2007

Don’t forget, in addition to all of these brilliant blog posts, you can find a bevy of free articles on […]

Management by Data in the Wall Street Journal

July 30, 2007

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article (subscription required) a few days ago talking about the trend in "management […]

Dashboards or Charts?

July 27, 2007

On his Membership Marketing Blog, Tony Rossell has a post about membership dashboards. He provides a link to a chart […]

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