Diligence

Backup test results, plus a great database resource

2008-02-09T07:41:00.000-06:00

Waking up an entirely new database is just a flat-out joy.

Building them is an exercise in accretion. Little by little they come to life, then start performing, and pretty soon they're dancing. I flat out love this phase.

Diligence™ is the best work I've ever done with a database. It builds off everything I've learned about making checklists for small business workflow for 35 years. Honestly, the database and I are both dancing right now.

I got some really valuable free help from a stranger this week. His name is Brian Dunning. Brian is a luminary in the FileMaker world. I've never met Brian, but I've been on his site a lot lately, which I'll link below.

Let me set the stage here to show how valuable I think databases can be when done right.

My rule for enterprise databases is to NOT import any old names you can download, rent, or whatever. Enterprise databases - for independent entrepreneurs - should be used just for real, true contacts that you've made or want to. Then your database should control all the resulting quotes and orders, as well as the vendors in your supply chain.

Also, just to set the stage, these are databases for tracking business data, not storing photos, and movies, and music. There are better platforms for those, in my opinion. I use these databases for organizing workflow in small enterprises.

At the end of Banner Graphics' run, after 25 years of commerce, we had about 15,000 individual records in our database. In the modern era, where data capture is easier, I have friends with good current businesses that are 5 years old or so, and have about 5,000 to 10,000 individual records in their files. So, from launch through the the formative years, file size for these databases is typically about 3-4 MB to about 10 MB.

For most small businesses of one person, or just a few people, this would represent a typical number of contacts and related business records.

So I was thinking about the right way to put a marketing piece together showing how simple and fast it is to back up your data in this size range - when you have it organized effectively.

Back to Brian Dunning and his free help. Brian's site lets you download files with many records. The data is computer generated, so it's not for real use, but having access to lots of free records for testing a solution was really valuable.

I first downloaded 500 records and stretched out Diligence™ with a big bunch of new records. Very helpful.

What I noticed when I was getting the 500 free records from Brian's site, was that he also offered downloads of 5,000 records an - get this - 350,000 individual records.

I am far, far out of the loop with database cool kids. I'm a startup guy. I had no idea that files could ever be this big. In case anyone wonders what the most individual records you can put into a FileMaker database, I now know. The answer is 64 quadrillion. Really.

So enquiring minds wanted to know. What does a Diligence™ database with 350,000 individual records feel like? How big a file is that?

I now know, thanks to Mr. Dunning and his free downloads.

A Diligence&trade file with 350,000 records is just under 260 MB.

The entire thing backed up to a memory stick in a USB hub in about 45 minutes. I know it would have been faster if I'd plugged the memory stick directly into the computer, but that's still impressive to me. The file took up only one quarter of the 1 GB memory stick (cost about $10).

What was even more impressive to me was the way a 5,000 record Diligence™ file backed up under these conditions.

The 5K record file was 5.7 MB. About the size typical of many independent entrepreneurs after 2-5 years

This backed up in 5 seconds.

New entrepreneurs are especially vulnerable to the problems that arise out of doing backups when their important stuff is spread all over.

For anyone who's backed up from all the widespread folders, and programs, and places we store business stuff in, you know the process can be a mess. Many people postpone backups because their system is so time consuming just locating it all.

I'm using the photo above to illustrate that memory stick backup test for the Diligence™ graphics.

This was a pretty cool backup test. A typical file for many established independent entrepreneurs of 5,000 records, at 5.7 MB, used about one half of one percent of the available memory in a cheap, $10 memory stick.

This would represent all the key business data of a small enterprise for let's say 3 to 5 years. All the contacts, all the orders, and quotes and vendors, and all the analysis you've done.

All this backed up in 5 seconds. I'm really thrilled with this.

This is the kind of business security that any independent entrepreneur can understand and appreciate.

Many thanks to Brian Dunning for the gift of all the free records that made these tests possible. Please visit Brian's site for a bunch of great information

A data converter to check my math

Diligence™ intro seminars

2008-02-06T14:50:00.000-06:00

I've been tying down marketing materials for Diligence™ and capturing screen shots. to build an online seminar to introduce Diligence™.

I have those largely in place now and have set the first seminar dates.

This is an introduction to the tool and how to use it effectively. I'm calling the seminar, 'Workflow Control With Diligence™' The seminar is presented online and on the phone, led by me.

The first seminar date is Monday, February 18. The following date is Thursday, Feb. 28. Two seminars per date. A morning session starts at 9 AM. An evening session starts at 6:30 PM. Times are CST

Right now it's about an hour for an introduction to the tool and time for questions. For anyone interested in the details of how Diligence™ works we'll take another hour or so to lift up the hood, and answer your specific questions.

I love the way the seminar is working out. I will post a link to the registration form below.

Hope to see you online for the seminar!

Register for a Diligence™ introductory seminar

What gets measured gets managed

2008-02-03T06:46:00.000-06:00

This was first posted on my SustainableWork site talking about independent entrepreneurship, yesterday 2/2/08. Going forward I'll use this Diligence™ site to talk about my new tool for workflow control.

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That headline is a quote from Medal of Freedom winner Dr. Peter Drucker.

I believe his statement is life-and-death true for startups and emerging enterprises, as well as the rest of the economy.

And it sounds so simple to execute. Measure the important stuff, then manage the important stuff.

However, for people I call independent entrepreneurs - venture capital folks often call them solo entrepreneurs - this can be painful to hear.

It's not so much as a 'Duh!' moment, as it is a Homer Simpson, 'Doh!' moment.

How can you measure anything when you can't find it? How can you ever trust your conclusions when you're not sure you've found it all? That's not management, that's sleepless nights stuff.

I have self-interest in this post.

I released the very first beta copy of Diligence™ last night. This is my new tool for organizing enterprise workflow I wrote about several posts back. Yikes, am I excited.

Here is the premise behind this tool…

Small enterprises of all kinds need to measure and manage their business accurately.

There is contact management software to add people to your digital rolodex.

There is accounting software to take care of your financials.

There are many, many details in between. All of it is critical to your being able to survive and grow as an enterprise.

And where do we, as startups and small businesses keep all of those details?

We all have our systems. This is good. But as we grow, we begin to patch our systems. Then we patch some more. Pretty soon our system is nothing but patches.

I've personally done this. To epic proportions. It's just what you do.

Some of our information is in text files, some is in eMail, some in spreadsheets, some in piles on the desk, some in file drawers, some in our notebooks, some in our contacts files, and on and on. As our businesses grow, the real number of storage locations is typically many more than these. It just happens over time.

Pretty soon, nothing is connecting to anything, and what is connecting is wrong and giving you fits.

That's why I'm calling this new tool 'enterprise workflow software'.

I've carried a story around with me about a certain class of very successful retail businesses that would first buy their software, then build the business around that. The idea was that you put the tools in place as soon as possible so that your enterprise has the capability of growing without crashing. You want to avoid dieing in the details of a patched up mess. Yet, that's an all-to-common path.

Doing your own business should be a lot easier.

That's why I've written this new tool I'm calling Diligence™

Whenever you're ready you can put your enterprise into this tool. Then, as Peter Drucker sorta says, you measure and you manage. Then repeat.

Diligence™ lets you capture all that random workflow data and organize it easily. The purpose of the tool is to make it efficient to store, search, use and measure your business information on demand.

This is intentionally NOT accounting software. There are many good options we all use for that.

I've built this tool for everything that comes before the accounting software kicks in.

Diligence™ is a powerful contacts manager (that's not nearly enough). It can also create and track orders and all the many associated details. Create quotes and bids and efficiently store critical business details. It manages your vendors and all their specific information. It gives you a place to efficiently organize all those small details that always end up being critical when you can't find them.

Most important of all, with a bow to Peter Drucker, the new tool lets you measure this stuff.

Organize. Measure. Learn. Manage better. Repeat.

I've had my biz running in this new tool for about 2 months now. Shaving off burrs, looking for breaks, making it simple, etc. It's certainly an early iteration, but I'm really loving it. This is the first embodiment of what I've learned building new businesses over the last 35 years.

It's in a tool that's as simple and easy-to-use as a big-button calculator.

So, I've been the alpha test and I'm a tough judge. The beta test started last night Feb. 1, '08.

I chose my beta very specifically because (1) she is doing her own independent entrepreneur startup and (2) she is an expert in business database software.

I'd love to tell you some early results, but this post would be too long. It's a great story. My favorite piece of the tool wasn't working, of course. But we didn't care because we were both so happy with the first results. I fixed my favorite part and got some great feedback.

I don't think I'm going to write much about this new tool any longer on this blog. I'd like to keep SustainableWork as focused on entrepreneurship support as much as possible.

I'm going to start writing specifically about Diligence™ on a blog linked to my day job, Business Diligence.

Whew. The beta is underway.

Wikipedia for Dr. Peter Drucker

My writing site, SustainableWork

An introduction to Diligence

2008-01-24T07:02:00.000-06:00

The first post for the new blog, Diligence. I like these moments...

I think I'll start by putting up the piece below that I did at SustainableWork last month. It's the reasons behind the Diligence Database and my plans for it.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Dancing with databases

"The primary asset of any business is its organization." -William Feather

I've enjoyed meeting many new small businesses this year. Watching the newest ones launch is just flat out exhilarating.

But I've learned something unexpected from existing small businesses. When you work in your own enterprise exclusively, you assume most of the rest of the world is facing the common types of issues you can read about in most business magazines.

Now that I can talk and work with any number of other small businesses, I'm finding many are coping with a very serious problem that doesn't get much press.

For many, their management lives, the bread-and-butter, back office management stuff, is in free fall.

At the very beginning of their enterprises, they could keep up with the flow of data. As that flow increased, they rigged a patch to keep up. They cobbled together different places to keep different kinds of data. Then another patch, then another, and so on.

As they became more successful, their ability to assimilate more details effectively decreased.

There is a true threshold here. Those that can find a way to organize themselves make it through. Those that can't, don't last long.

Coming from the silo that was our last startup, I assumed everyone was using databases to organize themselves. Now that I get to poke around in other silos, I find new and emerging businesses don't know enough about controlling their data with these powerful tools.

Small enterprise databases need an evangelist, and I'm volunteering.

Here's what I know about databases and how I've learned it.

Long ago, when we first started Banner Graphics, I thought we'd conquered the world of enterprise with our arrival. Customers loved us, orders were growing, yada, yada.

Then customers started loving us too much. Orders picked up in number, velocity and complexity. This was just Mary and I, with two very young kids.

We took a roll of our banner paper and cut a long length that we taped along the living room wall in our duplex.

On the far left side I drew a box for prospects who didn't know us and that we didn't know. On the far right, I drew a box for wildly enthusiastic repeat customers who recommended us to everyone (relevant to our banner biz) they knew.

I guess I've been filling in the empty space with new boxes ever since.

That exercise allowed us to identify the key individual steps required to process a sale, produce the products, deliver, and measure our results.

That sounds like a small, simple step. I'd agree, but I'd also suggest that those simple steps are most often the ones that get overlooked or poorly executed in the face of the increasing chaos that can be the daily life of a small, growing enterprise.

If you work for a large organization, the following will be relatively meaningless. If you have been in a small enterprise where you were required to fulfill most or all of every step of a process, the following example will have meaning.

By the time we hit our stride in the 80s and early 90s, Banner Graphics would be receiving 75 to 80 orders per day. These would come from many different customers. They would most always be shipped to multiple different locations. Every order would arrive in a different format. Many would require us to have specific purchase orders; others came in on the phone or fax; still others in the mail and eventually eMail. We would have to capture all that data.

Then we would have to organize the data so that we could quickly and efficiently print 75 or 80 different orders, all with specific colors, most with specific logos, every one with a custom message that had to be spelled exactly right.

Then we had to prepare 75 or 80 orders for shipment every day. If you haven't done this, it's harder than you think. It would mean producing our own custom shipping labels, or, very often, drop shipping under a customer's label. Tracking numbers had to be captured. Shipping confirmations, along with dates and tracking numbers had to be accurately sent to customers for every single order.

It was only then you could start the process of invoicing each order. 75 or 80 orders per day. Each invoice requiring perhaps 25 to 50 individual component pieces that had to be accurately inserted or the invoice would be rejected.

Then you watch - in aggregate - 75 or 80 orders per day fall into the paths of paid, overdue, long overdue and damn.

Do this with two people and a couple of small kids.

How did we do it and not drown in the details? A database.

I wrote our first database in a program called Hypercard. We were a mom-and-pop shop (literally), so I called that first program MacMom. Hypercard is no longer available, but I still have the screen shots and miss it dearly.

A database is simply a place to put all the boxes you draw on your banner paper.

My last startup, SmartSkim, faced similar data capture issues on a much larger and more complex scale.

What happened there? We were able to execute all those micro steps in such a way that we won multiple state and national new product awards, with giddy customers on 5 continents. When I mention this in the talks I give, I follow by injecting some fake 'Oooohs and Ahhhhhs'.

What's important is NOT that we won those awards. What's important is that we won those awards with 4 people. That's national and international sales to some of the largest and most complex business organizations on the planet, and all the indescribably obtuse paperwork that entailed. That meant designing and manufacturing custom, heavy equipment with zillions of parts. That meant inventory. That meant shipping using every method imaginable to every place you can think of, all with different requirements for documentation that had to be right every time. That meant custom installations in factories all over the world. That meant training and retraining, live and on the internet. That meant keeping a big, global population of stakeholders efficiently and transparently informed.

The information flow was like a fire hose on steroids.

What makes me the proudest? We did all that with 4 people. Mary, my wife, Dave, my biz partner, Dan, the best Inside Sales Manager I have ever had the privilege to know, and me. Four people, and a kick-ass database.

Some people would call the daily crush of variable data flow stressful and unpleasant. If you're not prepared, that doesn't begin to describe it. Dan called his experience enjoyable. He said it was like dancing with the database. I will never forget that line.

Which brings me back to the small businesses I've met this year through teaching or talks. In many cases, their back-office management stuff is in free fall because they are applying patches on patches to their initial methods for capturing and using their data.

I will here admit to the title of this post. I've been dancing with databases once again.

I know what a good structure for capturing data can do for these folks. I don't just know it. I know it in my marrow. I know it in my genes. I've learned it from the battles, won and lost, which have been my lifelong effort to efficiently identify and fill in all those boxes on the banner paper.

When I first started writing these posts, I wrote down the goal that was most important to me. I thought a big idea was appropriate so I said I'd like to help start a million new businesses. This year has been a lovely and encouraging beginning toward that goal.

But it has also showed some limits. A million is a big number, and I need to move faster. I've decided that creating a database for the rest of us is what's needed.

The small businesses I see that claim to be in free fall, are only falling down in information capture. Typically, the rest of their enterprise is flourishing. Customers love them. They are providing solutions to people who are happy to pay. They are creating jobs, better lives and more economic independence for our society. They just need to get a grip on the fire hose.

I'm writing the newest iteration of my enterprise control database. I think it can get me to my million number faster than anything else, based on what I'm learning.

To proof the solution, I've belly flopped my own new business into it and am sculpting the results accordingly. I didn't hold anything back from the test. All of it is there - marketing, sales, contact management, quoting, order generation, execution and shipping, purchasing and a killer dashboard. I really love this database. At this writing, I think I can share it with users over the web.

Clients and friends should get it by early next year. I'm giving my first public presentation about it in Madison in mid January.

I love naming things. It's so biblical. I'm riffing off the name of my day job and calling the new database Diligence. Version 1.0 is working like Banner Graphics in its heyday, and I'm just getting it tuned in.

When I say I'm dancing with databases, I really mean it. I see the solutions they can offer. I know the flat out joy that can come from the organization they can deliver. It's not that hard. You just have to capture the data and use it effectively.

I see a new class of databases that will become tools for a new class of independent entrepreneurs. These tools will turn their organizations from chaos to calm, allowing their good ideas and hard work to make the world a better place.

2008 is going to be a good year. I'm going to put these Diligence databases in service of my goal of 1 million new enterprises.

In my mind's eye, it's a lovely picture. Good people, good organizations, and, like Dan, changing the world while dancing with their databases.