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| A New Year, A New Newsletter, A New You and Me | ||
| Oh boy, doesn't that sound like it's either: a) A high-powered, slick topic; or, b) Too touchy-feely for us. I really like this title, though. In any case, I was just thinking about the past year, which was spent with some of you on this list. When I announced the changes in this newsletter, I had mentioned that I'm changing it to better market my business. What I didn't say, as it's a constant thing for me, is that I'm also thinking about how to provide better services. I'm a firm believer of continuous improvement, as well as being a firm believer in the idea that the person that thinks they know everything is the person that doesn't know enough to know what they've gotten themselves into. One thing I'd noticed this past year, was that there were quite a few articles in different publications on customers taking more responsibility for their situations. That's not to say customers are irresponsible. What it does mean is that these projects are all coming from your budget money and no-one looks out for maximizing your money the way you do. As I'm taking a look back at the past year, I'd like all of you to look back, too. Look back at your LIMS project(s). What I'm doing is coming up with lists of things that went well and things that didn't. Sometimes, we only look at the things that went wrong. If we figure out why they went wrong, we MIGHT figure out how to make those failures into future successes. BUT, if we don't track our successes, we don't learn how to make them happen again. So, you fix what was wrong the last time, but the next time you do it, the things that were right before don't turn out as well. Some of you are saying, "You're just crazy! I don't have time to come up with lists and look back at the previous year!!!" I know how busy everyone is, but ask yourself these questions: "Did my LIMS cost me a big hunk of money?" "Did I spend a fortune on services for it?" If you answered "yes" to either or both of these questions, I'd just point out that anything you can do to maximize that money is potentially time well spent. As a consultant, the categories of my lists are a bit different, but as an actual user of the software, my suggestions for some of your lists might go like this: a. What were the good and bad aspects of my support from my vendor/consultants/other? b. How well did I interact/use my support facilities? c. How well were my services delivered to me? d. Did I make the fullest use of the services delivered to me? e. What types of product issues did I encounter in 2003? What can I learn from those experiences? Once again, I want to reiterate: 1. This is just a few suggested topics. 2. This should include both the positive and the negative points. Now, what do you do with this list? Well, if the issue relates to you and your co-workers or staff, you might consider distributing the key points, or possibility setting up a discussion forum around them. Maybe you should see what points the others on your team come up with. If these are external lists, see if you can set up some time to discuss what you and the external company/person can continue to do or to do differently in the future. Keep in mind that point the point of this is to work more efficiently and effectively with your software vendor, services provider, and any other external groups you use. So, consider making this discussion a "how can we work better together" discussion versus a "here's what I think you did wrong" discussion. We can all imagine that people usually react better to that type of approach. Of course, you can't make these external people participate. The money you spend on your LIMS and its services looks like a lot of money to your project, but might not be that significant to the provider. Some will be willing to work with you as they truly want to get ideas for improvement. Others won't bother returning your call or e-mail. Although you can't force them to participate, having the list might give you a little leverage the next time you select a LIMS or services, or at least the knowledge on what you're up against. I claim that knowing what you're up against can be helpful in and of itself when you're trying to plan the project. Meanwhile, I'm hoping for a 2004 filled with effective and efficient communications with everyone, all of the time. Well, I can hope, can't I? |
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| © GeoMetrick Enterprises 2004 | ||