Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Blog post themes over 20 years…

By Wes Trochlil | August 5, 2026

Blog post themes over 20 years… I’ve been writing blog posts for nearly 20 years now. WordPress tells me I’ve written over 1,200 posts. So I asked AI to analyze my 1,200+ posts and give me my top three themes. Here’s what it came up with: Data management and data quality – these posts emphasize that data management is […]

Lots of feedback is a GOOD thing!

By Wes Trochlil | July 29, 2026

Lots of feedback is a GOOD thing! A client in the middle of their AMS implementation said to me: “I’m getting a LOT of feedback from staff about what the system can and cannot do. Is that good or bad?” My response: “Feedback means they’re actually in the system and using it! That’s a good […]

Doing the reps…

By Wes Trochlil | July 22, 2026

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

By Wes Trochlil | July 15, 2026

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

By Wes Trochlil | July 8, 2026

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 […]

Older Posts

Nonprofit Seeks Database Manager

May 11, 2010

A friend of mine at the Partnership for Public Service forwarded me a job listing for a new database manager […]

Are you attending your users conference?

May 3, 2010

A recent notice for an AMS vendor’s annual users conference reminded me of how supremely important user conferences are. I’ve […]

Three Reasons Why You Need a Formal Tracking System – New Article Posted

April 20, 2010

A new article has been posted to my website. When issues are raised during a project, there are three challenges […]

It's like testing a new plane with passengers on board…

April 8, 2010

Would you fly in an airplane that had never been tested? Of course not. Yet every day, associations are using […]

Kudos to ASAE for Responding to Survey Results

April 6, 2010

In the past I’ve written about how much I hate taking surveys. (Read that here.) One of the reasons I […]

Avectra Appoints New CEO

March 26, 2010

Avectra has appointed Richard Davis as CEO of the company. You can read all the details here: http://www.avectra.com/Pages/AvectraAppointsNewCEO.aspx Changes at […]

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! – New Article Posted

March 23, 2010

A new article has been posted to my website. Sometimes, no action is better than some action. It’s times like […]

CDC Acquires Computility

March 19, 2010

CDC Software has purchased Computility, an AMS provider. You can read more about the acquisition here. CDC also recently purchased gomembers, […]

Some Data Conversion Tips

March 9, 2010

I was recently asked for some guidelines on data conversion, when moving from one database to another. Here are some […]

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