Using On Demand Software is like Having Kids

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 June 2006 10:28 Written by Steve Tuesday, 20 June 2006 10:28

When I had my first kid, I realized that I had to stop my life periodically to help him get through trying times. When he has a cold, I have to get up at night with him, hold him all day, and cancel anything scheduled. While not a relatively large percentage of my time, his needy times really knocks my wife and I out of our normal routine, and we have very little control over when it happens.

When I had my second kid, I quickly realized that she has her own periods of need, and they hardly ever coincide with the needy times for my first kid. So, we’re up all night with her and then the next week we’re at home with him, and then she starts getting up at 5 AM and he starts going to bed at 10 PM.

Because their needs are completely independent, they don’t overlap, and we end up being knocked out of our routine a lot more than we had expected based on our experience with one kid. And it always happens at an inconvenient time.

When you integrate web-based software services, their outages usaully don’t overlap. When your CRM is down, your email marketing service is up. When your event registration system is having a problem, your website is up, and vice versa. Your work becomes dependent on multiple systems, each with their own downtime–it isn’t a huge percentage of time, but it sure knocks you off your work routine. And it always happens right before a deadline.

As I start integrating more systems together into a cohesive system, I look at those exhausted parents with 4 kids I see at the park and I wonder what the hell I’m doing. The only saving grace is that if my CRM service is down, I don’t have to stay up all night nursing it back to health…

Fremont Solstice Parade

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 June 2006 07:06 Written by Steve Saturday, 17 June 2006 06:34

Strawberry Season

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