When I work with my clients on projects that involve measuring member engagement, business intelligence, or data analysis, my advice is always the same: start small.

Any one of these types of projects can be overwhelming, which is why it's important to start small. This will allow you to focus and will provide opportunities to adjust as you go.

For example, consider measuring member engagement. Depending on your association and the breadth of things your members do with your organization, you might have 20, 30, or even 50 different engagement points that you could measure. But should you try to measure all of them right away? Absolutely not.

Start by identifying the five to seven "most important" engagement points and measure those. By taking a small slice instead of the whole pie, you'll make it more manageable, and you're more likely to actually follow through on doing it. (Put another way, the more points you try to measure, the more likely you are to get frustrated and abandon the project.)

And even if you could measure all 50 engagement points, would it really make you more successful than only measuring 10? Remember, it's about success, not perfection.

So start small.