Category: General

  • The Mid-Year Review

    The Mid-Year Review

    A New Year always includes a flood of articles on planning and assessing for the year gone by and the one ahead. However, annual planning is not enough. That is why a mid-year review and adjustments are valuable. In particular, we need to adjust during the journey rather than wait until the end. They should also be much less investment than year-end as your course is set. It just might need some modification.

    Where Are We

    The middle of the year is a good point to see how you are doing. You should be about halfway through your goals or progress set in January. If you are ahead of schedule, then keep forging on. When you are off-track, then review options for getting back on track or even adjusting goals. Six months is a lot of time for a correction to “bake in” and turn a loss into a win. The modern business world moves fast. Your mid-year review may point to goals that need to change. A new product idea may appear to be a better direction to take, or the window of opportunity may have passed for a flagship goal of the year. Do not throw good resources after bad. If it is time to call it quits, then do so and move on.

    What Works, What Needs Change

    Another benefit of assessing progress at this point is that you should have a solid track record of success or challenges so far. Your adjustments made in January have now been in place long enough to evaluate them. The processes and tasks that have not paid off can be replaced with options that will hopefully serve you better. You might also be able to double down on the things that have worked well. Consider things like A-B testing and that you might know have a clear direction with either A or B. At this point, the evaluation period can end. There is no need to keep checking the score once a winner has been decided.

    Looking Ahead

    It never hurts to start to position yourself for the next race or objective. You can wait until November or December to start planning for the next year, or you can start today. There are often things you can do to help inform decisions to be made down the road. First, consider what sort of options you want to assess for the next year. Then keep an eye out for articles or other ways to get a jump start on assessing whether an option is worthwhile or if it is better to pass. When you put something on your mental radar and let it sit, you can often end up with a lot of material for that decision almost for free. You will find that you pay more attention to passing articles and discussions than you would otherwise.

    Adjust and Execute After A Mid-Year Review

    Once you have assessed where you are and where you want to be, it is time to make adjustments. These can be as little and simple as changing metrics or reporting up to scrapping a plan and going back to the drawing board. Do not be afraid to make big changes at this point. There is nothing to be gained by dragging out a losing cause. No one likes bad news. However, when you take the big step of re-assessing your goals and plans, you can properly set expectations for the remainder of the year. We all have seen situations where the goal line is adjusted multiple times in minor ways. These “corrections” can lead to frustration and wasted resources. A mid-year review is a perfect occasion to take a larger step and make a more significant course correction.

    The good news in all of this is that you have enough time to make these changes and still evaluate them at year-end. Our mid-year review and adjustments provide an opportunity to cut losses and start forward on a path to success six months sooner. However, that does require us to take a hard look at where we are and how we got here with an eye towards improvement. As with annual planning and review, look to change as a path to improvement rather than merely accepting failure.

  • Managing Upgrades and Software Versions

    Managing Upgrades and Software Versions

    Managing upgrades is something we all face. That. is true whether you are running your software in your house, at a small business, or for an enterprise. There are versions released regularly as often as quarterly, and sometimes we get the new version “free,” sometimes not. There are many things to consider when crafting a version roadmap for your software. Here are some things to help with that. These suggestions and warnings come from a broad experience with software and highlight some paths that can make your life easier.

    Managing Upgrades Through Major Versions

    The “old school” approach to managing upgrades was often made via major versions. Software companies would release a major version every year or so. Then you would take the time to get up to date. That approach quickly morphed into a leapfrog approach for many companies. The disruption of performing upgrades and costs of installs were enough that the benefits were often not worth the effort. There were also licensing constraints that made an “every other version” approach much more effective in time and cost.

    That approach is an excellent model for planning a version roadmap. There is always a cost to embracing/installing a new version. Often it works better for us to take on more changes less frequently rather than smaller changes more frequently. This approach also gives plenty of time for changes to “bake in” to the organization. Thus, allowing processes to evolve to embrace new features.

    Managing Upgrades Through Features

    Software used to promise needed features with every release. However, we have moved to a world where features are driven more by internal needs than marketing bullet points. Many organizations are content with staying on a version for years. These organizations prefer stability, and an upgrade tends to be large and feature-rich. That sometimes includes a push to move off of a version that is no longer supported.

    The risk with the above approach is running out of time before a release is unsupported. Likewise, the resources and upgrade paths can be limited. Less frequent upgrades can lead to much more complex paths and can put data at risk. Some applications go through “watershed” upgrades that require a significant data migration effort. Those typically require the users to be on a specific version before the migration is done rather than skipping through multiple versions.

    Obstacles and Road Signs

    The approaches listed are both valid, and either may be a perfect fit for your organization. We have already touched on some things to look out for. However, it is good to have a list to walk through in planning out your approach.

    • Be aware of watershed releases – When you have a release that will effectively be incompatible with prior versions, that can often be a “need to upgrade” marker.
    • Store Version media or packages – There are combinations of software required for a version that can become difficult to replace. Vendors move forward or may even cease to exist. Thus, it can be critical to access prior versions of software and even operating system tools when you delay your upgrades.
    • Know Your Features – I have found that it is rarely a good idea to take an upgrade just because it is available. While there is risk involved, there is also the factor of utilization. It is important to know what your software can do, and blindly upgrading can miss out on valuable features. Invest the time for reviewing release notes and training updates when available. This investment can pay for itself quickly and inform you of whether future upgrades are valuable or not for your needs.

    The Cloud Factor

    Software as a service and the Cloud can make these types of issues seem a thing of the past. However, even SAAS products have versions and upgrades. You might be in a situation where you can hold off on a version upgrade for a while, but that is rare. Even in those cases where you have a “choice,” it often is presented as a preview you can embrace sooner rather than later. While you lack choice, there are still actions you can take (and should) as part of your upgrade strategy.

    • Take advantage of backup options where possible.
    • Use and verify export options where possible. It is your data, make sure you have access to it outside of the SAAS product.
    • Keep current on planned upgrades, enhancements, and outages.
    • Plan for some time to test and verify updates.
    • Embrace the latest features as suitable to your needs.
    • Avoid company critical periods of work that coincide with a maintenance period or upgrade.

    The good and bad part of a SAAS product is that you are not responsible for the workings of that product. A lot of the management and administration tasks are taken out of your hands. Nevertheless, the steps above can help you mitigate risk at the cost of taking some of that management back on yourself. It is worth that trade-off. You will be happy to have a way to take your data elsewhere when a product becomes unusable, or a provider closes shop.

  • Ask And You Can Find The Tool

    Ask And You Can Find The Tool

    A recent discussion with an associate reminded me how often we ignore some great solutions for our problems. The Internet provides us with an easy way to evaluate literally dozens of options for many of our common problems. It is worth the investment to find the tool that suits our needs. Even better, we can learn that our problems are more common than we think. Even a niche problem will often have a number of potential solutions a good search away. While we can all stumble around and find some great gems, sometimes a plan is helpful.

    Avoid Distractions

    Apple showed that less can be more. Likewise, there is a lot of research related to having a large number of options. That makes sense. We can all relate to analysis paralysis, but it does occasionally sneak up anyway. A problem we want to be solved seems to make us even more susceptible to this problem. It creates a sort of “kind in a candy store” situation. We focus on a problem, find some solutions and suddenly we can be almost giddy. If you doubt it, then take a look at search results for any passion of yours. Maybe check out some new cars, beach homes, or enticing coffee flavors. When we get what we want we are more than happy to enjoy the shopping experience and getting lost in what-ifs. The Internet provides us too many options so we need to reduce that list quickly.

    Have A Plan

    One of the essential reasons for an RFP is to define what an organization needs. We see this in problem-solving all the time. A well-defined problem is easier to solve than one that is vague. Take similar steps to start your search to find the tool desired. Think about what you want and create a list of priority features along with some nice-to-haves. You can do this in a matter of minutes, and it does not need to be complete. Start your search focused on solutions that provide the requirements you listed. It is not uncommon to learn about features that most providers include or new options you did not know you required. Feel free to adjust your list as needed.

    Be Heartless In Reducing Options

    The final goal is to get your list to five options or less. That five number is on the outside. Most lists should be down to three at this point, if possible. That may seem like a difficult task. However, I have found in most situations you can find the products available and reduce the scope of “viable options” to a few within a few days at most. Also, it only takes days when there are dozens of options and they are complex solutions. Most applications whether a task tracking solution, an e-commerce platform, or a coding utility, can be swept through in a matter of hours. You can often find what you need to know with surface reviews and related searches. They will either meet your requirements or not. Price alone can often reduce your list quickly.

    Due Diligence

    The final step is to evaluate your shortlist of options. This step is time-consuming and essential in making the best decision. It often includes installing a trial version or using a demo period to get to see the solution in action. You might even watch vendor presentations and spend time discussing how a solution is the best for your needs. The process may seem like something that requires too much time. Nevertheless, spending time to find the tool or effective solution can often save you hours, days, or even months in the long run.