Daylight savings and business rules
This past Sunday, most of the US observed Daylight Savings Time and moved our clocks one hour ahead. Daylight Savings Time (DST) is a case-study in how bad business rules never go away. Consider:
- DST was implemented first during WWI and then implemented as federal law in 1966. A classic case of "We've always done it this way."
- You should always seek to simplify business rules. But DST is not simple. With the exception of internet-connected clocks, you have to manually reset all of your clocks. In the US this is calculated to cost $2 BILLION annually.
- DST manages TO the exception, another business rule no-no. One intent of the law was to provide more daylight because of the high cost of energy (specifically high oil prices). Oil prices (and energy costs in general) are dramatically lower than they were when these laws were enacted.
Daylight Savings Time is a waste of time (no pun intended) and money and provides little to no value.
How many of your business rules do the same?
![]()
Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives
Try not to OFFEND your members…
Try not to OFFEND your members… I recently received an email from an association where I’ve […]
How will you use that data?
How will you use that data? One of the beauties of technology today is how easy […]
Pennywise and pound foolish
Pennywise and pound foolish One definition of the phrase “pennywise and pound foolish” is to […]
How you respond matters
How you respond matters Very recently I wrote that I measure customer service by how […]
Your one non-renewable resource
Your one non-renewable resource For any project, the three primary resources are time, money, and […]
No system is perfect
No system is perfect When working with my clients on the selection of a new […]
Ask your members to update their info
Ask your members to update their info One of the greatest data management challenges any association […]
Customer vs. staff
Customer vs. staff In a properly designed AMS, when the customer goes online to your […]
Measuring customer service
Measuring customer service When I work with clients on AMS selection, one question that often […]
Iterate or innovate?
Iterate or innovate? When moving to a new association management system, there is often an implicit […]
