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

"Are we the worst you’ve ever seen?"

March 24, 2014

This is not an uncommon question for me to hear from my new clients. As we start digging into how […]

What's a Director of Data Integrity? – Interview with Chris Dugmore

March 20, 2014

Chris Dugmore is the Director, Data Integrity, for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. When I first […]

New Article Posted – The Seven Deadly Sins of Database Management

March 18, 2014

I’ve posted a new article on my website. In Christianity there is a commonly known list of “seven deadly sins,” which […]

If you're wondering, just ask

March 13, 2014

As a sort of corollary to my recent post on seeking to understand, I marvel at how often people fail […]

Seek first to understand

March 12, 2014

I sit in a lot of meetings with my clients. These could be meetings where I’m interviewing them, or they […]

Observations at AUDC – Part 4

March 11, 2014

And a final note on the AUDC. This 10th annual event is its last, in this iteration. With the acuisition […]

Observations at AUDC – Part 3

March 10, 2014

Over the course of 2 ½ days at the AUDC, more than 60 sessions were presented, ranging from how to […]

Observations at AUDC – Part 2

March 7, 2014

Abila hosted two sessions on the first day of AUDC, one focused on the netFORUM Pro roadmap, the other on […]

Observations at AUDC – Part 1

March 6, 2014

I had the opportunity to attend the 10th Annual Avectra Users and Developers Conference in Orlando earlier this week. In […]

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