Wes’s Wednesday Wisdom

Don’t forget Parkinson’s Law “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” – Cyril Parkinson Many of us are familiar with Parkinson’s Law, especially as it applies to meetings. (If you schedule a meeting for an hour, guess how long it will take to cover the agenda?) But Parkinson’s Law also […]

Just Respond Growing up my father used to tell my many siblings and me that if we showed up to work on time and sober, we’d probably do just fine. I always thought he was joking until I entered the workforce and discovered he was right! You can really stand out if you just show

People fear uncertainty, not change If you’ve ever worked on any big project that was likely to bring about significant change (and what project doesn’t??), you’ve probably heard someone say something like “Our staff is really afraid of change.” But the truth is, people aren’t afraid of change, they’re afraid of uncertainty. How do I

“Working with you is like going to therapy.” I was working with a client last week and at the end of our conversation she said “Working with you is like going to therapy!” (This is not the first time I’ve heard this from a client.) What she meant is that she did a lot of

The best ideas are stolen I don’t remember where I first heard it, but someone said (or wrote) “The best ideas are stolen.” And so I’ve stolen that thought for myself! (I would give credit if I could, but I simply don’t remember.) Another of my favorite stolen ideas is this: “There are those who backup

It’s all about expectations One of the most critical contributors to the success of a new AMS implementation (or any new system) is managing expectations. I define managing expectations as helping staff and users understand what the system will, and critically, what it will not, do. When I start an AMS selection project with a

Either you test, or your members will If I was forced to choose the single most important activity during a system implementation, I would choose testing. The point of testing is to ensure the system does what you expect it to do in normal, day-to-day use. Can you process and renew members? Can members and

But are you really willing to change? When any organization is making a change in data management systems, one of the most important considerations during implementation is what business processes need to be changed. Or put another way, when we change the software, are we also willing to change how we do the things we do? It is

Two Tips for Data Conversion I’ve written a lot about data conversion over the years (click here for a list) but when I’m asked by my clients for advice on their data conversion, two tips always rise to the top: Convert the absolute minimum amount of data possible. Look at all the data you have and

Who should “own” the database? One of the most common questions I get from my clients is “Who should have responsibility for the database?” That is typically followed by “Should it be the membership department, or IT, or somewhere else?” Back in the day, I would recommend that whoever was “closest” to the data should manage it. For