Do the benefits outweigh the risks? As the economist Thomas Sowell points out, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. Every decision we make, every day, involves trade-offs. Another way to look at this is, given a choice of one path vs. the other, will the benefits of that choice outweigh the risks? Is there more …

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Painting the Bridge According to this article, the Golden Gate Bridge is painted continuously year-round. That is, rather than painting the entire bridge once per year (or every couple of years), “painting the Bridge is an ongoing task and a primary maintenance job.” This, of course, reminds me of data management. Data management is not a “once …

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Maintenance isn’t sexy I remember reading once long ago that one of the reasons our country’s infrastructure (e.g., bridges, roads) isn’t as well-maintained as it could be is because maintenance isn’t “sexy.” When it comes to choosing between maintaining and/or fixing the current infrastructure versus building new roads and bridges, new always wins out. Maintenance …

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“Will I still have a job when this is done? While working with a client on a new AMS implementation recently, the executive director told me she was surprised to hear her staff ask: “With all the improvements and automation that the new AMS brings, will I still have a job?” I’ve been at this …

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Evolution, not revolution I don’t recall where I first heard it many decades ago, but the phrase “evolution, not revolution” always struck me as one key to understanding how data management really works. (I heard the phrase in relation to something else but naturally I found a fit for data management!) It’s really quite simple: When it …

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