If you’ve ever registered for a large conference (e.g., an association’s annual conference), you’ve probably seen this question on the registration form. And you know what? I hate this question. As a data person, what this question says to me is, “Even if you’ve attended this meeting in the past, we don’t know who you
“Is this your first time attending?” Read More »
I’ve written about this before (here and here), but it’s so pervasive in my meetings with clients and vendors that I feel compelled to write again! When someone asks you a question, before you answer it, do two things: Wait until the person asking the question is completely finished before answering. Paraphrase the question and
Seek first to understand – Redux Read More »
For website developers, a simple question: When you force me to create a new login for your website and ask me for a password, why do you HIDE the password field so that I can’t see what I’m actually typing? I’m getting older, and my fingers don’t always work like they should, so sometimes I
Why are you hiding my password from me?!? Read More »
Long ago, I defined business intelligence as a business process using data to make decisions. The key to the definition is “make decisions.” That is, to take action. As consultant David Maister has said, we all know what to do, we just don’t do it. In other words, we don’t take ACTION. A good idea
We all make mistakes in our work. As the old saying goes, it’s not the mistakes you make, it’s how you deal with them after the fact that matters. Last week, I received an email from Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield (my health insurance provider) telling me that my insurance policy had been canceled. There was no
How NOT to apologize… Read More »
At the end of this past year I made donations to four charitable organizations. While the donations were not the size of “name a building after me” donations, they were much larger than $20. Three of the donations were made online via the org’s website; the fourth was delivered in person. With the online donations,
Are you (really) thanking your donors? Read More »
Opt outs that require you to enter the email address at which I no longer want to receive your emails. If YOU sent me the email, why can’t your opt-out system detect WHICH email you sent the email to, and the opt me out automatically? I’ve got at least four email addresses. When I click
Pet Peeve of the Day Read More »
I’ve served as a volunteer for ASAE for many, many years. (My first volunteer effort was writing an article for their print(!) membership section newsletter back in 1994.) Over the years I’ve written many articles, spoken dozens if not hundreds of times, and served on three separate committees, once as chair. And over those years
I’ve written many times about the importance of training. (I’ve even done a teleseminar on it!) And far too often, training from AMS vendors ranges from mediocre to really bad. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to sit through some very good AMS training from Aptify this week, while working with a client
How Training Should be Done Read More »
I’m conducting a search for a new AMS on behalf of one of my clients. We requested responses, including pricing, from five vendors. Of the five vendors responses, THREE of them had mathematical errors in their proposals. Ironically, the only area of the entire proposal that I can judge for absolute accuracy is the math!
Attention vendors! Check your work! – A lesson we can all learn Read More »