Wes’s Wednesday Wisdom

“Many mickles make a muckle.” “Many mickles make a muckle.” – George Washington Apparently, this was an old Scottish saying (and a favorite of George Washington’s) that means “things add up.” Over time, many little things can become big things. This is absolutely true when it comes to managing data. Many little decisions and actions we take […]

It’s easy to collect; it’s harder to manage The beauty of today’s highly configurable AMS products is that they make it very easy to collect and store data. But configuring the system is actually the easy part. The “hard” part is ensuring there is a process in place to collect and manage the data and that

Tell them why you want the data Because data is so easy to collect these days, there’s a tendency to try to collect all kinds of data about our members and customers, in the hopes that “maybe we’ll use that data eventually.” One of the (many) problems with this approach is that our members and

Don’t get hung up on something minor I’m a problem solver. I love to solve problems. Which is great until it’s not. One trap for problem solvers like me is trying to solve a problem that really doesn’t need to be solved. I see this happen a lot in data management, especially as it pertains to

Be flexible, especially for unusual requests One of the great benefits of off-the-shelf association management software (AMS) products is that the products are “built for the masses,” meaning the functionality that most associations need (e.g., membership, events, committees, etc.) is already built into the system in some form or another. Because the products are meant to appeal to the

“Her eyes were bigger than her stomach.” When I was a child, my siblings used to joke about how one of our sisters, on the rare occasion when we ate at a restaurant (like McDonald’s!), was well known for ordering way more food than she could eat. Later in life I heard the phrase “Her eyes

Once you buy crap… “When you buy something cheap and bad, the best you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it. When you buy something expensive and good, the worst you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it.” – grandmother of Sasha Aickin, former CTO at Redfin. I love this

It could always be worse Because most of us don’t have the benefit (like I do) of seeing how other associations are managing their data, we tend to think our situation is much worse than it really is. So I like to collect stories of organizations that really ARE in bad shape. Here’s the latest example: A

It’s all about managing expectations I placed an order online on a Friday and the store I was ordering from told me my product would deliver the following Wednesday. I would have preferred to receive the product sooner, but Wednesday it is. On the next day, Saturday, FedEx sent me an email confirming the product