This is somewhat related to philosophy #5, in that no matter what decision you make about technology (or any other decision you make in life!), you’re going to have to make trade-offs. In philosophy #5, I pointed out that “free” doesn’t mean “without cost.” In this case, the trade-off for free software was a cost of […]
Technology philosophy #6 – Everything comes with a tradeoff Read More »
The internet is awash in free software. I love it, of course. So much software, so little time! But just because software is free does not mean that it has no costs associated with it. Even the simplest of software will have some level of learning curve associated with. That means you’ve got to invest
Technology philosophy #5 – Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it has no cost Read More »
If you’re like me, when you have some type of internal challenge with managing information within our organization, you may first look to technology as a potential solution. For example, I have dozens of clients in the course of a year, so naturally, I have dozens of invoices I need to manage. I’ve got financial
Technology philosophy #4 – Outsource when you can Read More »
I first came across this line in the great Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. “Less, but better” was the design mantra of Dieter Rams from Braun. Braun, of course, designs all types of household appliances (I use a Braun electric razor myself!). And his design philosophy was that all things should be as simple
Because I’m a tremendous geek and love software, I’m always open to exploring new software programs that may somehow make my life easier. Over the course of nearly 25 years, I’ve probably tested more than four dozen different “task managers.” You know what I’m talking about: these simple programs that allow you to track your
Technology philosophy #2 – Just because you CAN automate it doesn’t mean you should Read More »
Last month in Dallas I had the opportunity to speak at the AMC Institute on Technology Issues Facing Association Management Companies. As part of the presentation, I offered my philosophy on technology, which I’ll share with you over the course of these next seven blog posts #1: Technology should make us more effective not just
Technology philosophy #1 – More effective, not just more efficient Read More »
During one session I attended at the ASAE Tech Conference, the issue arose of testing in the AMS during implementation. Testing is a key step during the implementation of a new AMS. After all, you either test the system before you launch it (with test case scenarios, discussed below) or you test it in real-time
Things I heard at ASAE Tech Conference V – Testing plans Read More »
I’m always struck by the confusion that these two terms can create. This becomes most evident during software demos, when vendors are presenting their software to my clients. Clients will ask about…
When I work with my clients on selecting a new association management system, one of the first steps we take is to review what data the organization needs to manage. When I have these discussions with association staff, the tendency is for staff to focus on HOW data is processed (input), as opposed to WHAT
A recent notice for an AMS vendor’s annual users conference reminded me of how supremely important user conferences are. I’ve written about users conferences that I’ve attended (see here) and why users groups are so important (see here and here and here). I feel so strongly about the value of users conferences that I always