My oldest son (age 16) is interested in rebuilding our wooden swing-set, which is over 12 years old and in serious disrepair. At dinner recently, he sat down with a pencil and paper and started quizzing his siblings about what they would like to see on the swing-set. After creating a list of 10 to […]
When drawing a picture is better than using words Read More »
Recently I met my daughter at the bus stop after school and walked her home. As we approached my house, we picked up the mail in the mailbox, which contained a fairly large Yellow Pages phone book, with a big ad for a plumber on the back of the yellow pages. My daughter looked at the phone book,
Sometimes context is required Read More »
Some 25 years ago, I published a printed directory for the association I worked for which ultimately won an ASAE Gold Circle award. I learned two things from that experience: Putting together a 400 page printed directory is incredibly tedious work. There was an old aphorism in the directory printing world that said “A printed directory
AMS vendors often point out that, when considering the selection of a new AMS, the association needs to look at the big picture and consider things from a strategic level. This is true. But very often, it’s the little things, the nickels and dimes, that most directly affect user adoption. And it’s the nickels and
Very often, it's the nickels and dimes that matter Read More »
This phrase is often used in the political arena. It means that the best way to root out corruption is to expose everything, to be completely transparent. I was reminded of this phrase recently when meeting with a client and their AMS vendor. We were meeting to discuss how to improve relations between the two
Sunlight is the best disinfectant Read More »
Here’s an interesting article from IBM on the rise of the Chief Data Officer position within Fortune 500 companies. This position is becoming more important because of the massive growth of “Big Data.” This is of special interest because I’m also seeing an interest in these types of positions in associations. I did an interview
The rise of the "Chief Data Officer" Read More »
Chris Dugmore is the Director, Data Integrity, for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. When I first met Chris I was intrigued by his title, so I asked him to sit down with me for a short interview to talk about how his position came about and how other associations might have
What's a Director of Data Integrity? – Interview with Chris Dugmore Read More »
As a sort of corollary to my recent post on seeking to understand, I marvel at how often people fail to ask clarifying questions, or seek to gain more information. Too often, whether it’s in a sales meeting, a strategic planning meeting, or any other type of meeting, people receive and accept information at face
If you're wondering, just ask Read More »
Association Laboratory has released their most recent environmental scan of the association industry. Go here and read it as soon as you’re done reading this post. What you’ll discover is that the greatest concern among associations’ members is managing the amount of information they receive. Your members are inundated with information, from your association and
It's all about information management Read More »
Interesting article here on ZDNet about the rise of the “chief data officer” in the corporate world. As the article points out, CIOs are already overloaded with responsibilities, and now “many CIOs are also expected, explicitly or implicitly, to manage data and information…The problem is that the backgrounds of many, if not most, of today’s
Chief Data Officer? Read More »