Don’t be a hoarder!

Don't be a hoarder!

The simple truth is that it's almost "free" to collect data. Or at least that's how it seems.

Set up a field in the database, send out an email and ask for the data, and voila, you're collecting new data.

The problem is that, in many (most?) cases, the data that we start out to collect doesn't get maintained over time, even with the best of intentions. And so, over time, we become data hoarders, keeping data that we really don't need.

I would guess that almost every one of my clients (now several hundred over 25 years) has one or more data points in their AMS that are no longer being used, or if they are being used, haven't been updated in many years. I'd bet the same is true for your organization.

When is the last time you looked at your database and cleaned out what you're no longer using? Is it time to do it again?

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

There is ALWAYS a Trade-off

August 19, 2020

There is ALWAYS a Trade-off I’ve written many times about trade-offs (you can read a […]

Little by little, a little becomes a lot

August 12, 2020

Little by little, a little becomes a lot “Little by little, a little becomes a […]

Why do we treat data management differently?

August 5, 2020

Why do we treat data management differently? A recent post on ASAE’s community read: “Looking […]

Don’t Forget Your Speakers!

July 29, 2020

Don’t Forget Your Speakers! A phenomenon I’ve noticed over the years is that my clients will […]

90% of your data is never touched a second time

July 22, 2020

90% of your data is never touched a second time I heard recently on a […]

Newton’s First Law

July 15, 2020

Newton’s First Law Part of Newton’s First Law states that “…an object in motion stays […]

No System is Perfect

July 7, 2020

No System is Perfect While it may sound trite, it bears repeating that no data management […]

Data Accretes

July 1, 2020

Data Accretes One of my very first jobs in the association world was managing the production […]

Don’t be so lazy…

June 24, 2020

Don’t be so lazy… One of the things that attracted me to the software world […]

Don’t try to do everything at go-live

June 17, 2020

Don’t Try to do Everything at Go-live When implementing a new AMS, there is a […]

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