Talking with a client recently, she expressed frustration about one particular project around data. As she put it, "It feels like no matter what we do, we're never able to get all the data we want from our members."

My response? "You're right. You never will. And that's OK."

Because the reality is, you'll never have 100% correct data. (Or if you do, it will only be 100% correct for a VERY short period of time!)

The old cliche is that data management is a journey, not a destination. Nothing could be truer. With data management, we're never "done." Data is always changing.

What we should always focus on is improving how we manage data, and improving the data we already have. We should make sure the data we have collected is staying up to date, is being put to good use, and is as accurate as we can reasonably expect. And that the manner in which we collect that data is the best it can be.

Keep improving what you're doing, wherever you can.

Remember: Success, not perfection.