Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should I’ve worked in and with associations for well over 37 years now. And one of the things I’ve always loved and appreciated about association staffers is their willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done. But the problem is this “Yes, we can!” attitude can also […]

Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful “Your data doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful.” – (Borrowed with permission from Intellidata’s Slice newsletter.) In my experience, many associations hold themselves back from cleaning up their data, because they are overwhelmed with where to start, and they also think success can only be achieved […]

Don’t just clean data, clean reports and queries One of the reasons I exhort my clients to keep their data as clean as possible is because, over time, “dirty” data causes users to doubt the accuracy of all the data in the system. And when users doubt the data, they’ll start using their own systems […]

Don’t forget, your staff have day jobs… The vast majority of my work is finite project work (e.g., system selection or implementation). It’s literally my full time job. But for most of my clients, selecting and implementing a new AMS, or implementing a new website, or executing pretty much any other major technology project is […]

Beware the automated “How did we do?” trap! One of the downsides of technology is that automation can be so easy that we wind up annoying our members and customers rather than helping them. Case in point: I recently purchased tickets for a Broadway show via StubHub. The day after attending the show, I got […]