Why database software often disappoints
and what you can do about it
This is not a moralising article about why your database software disappoints because you did everything wrong. No, your software disappoints because you did everything right! And the good news is there may be a simple solution for you.
On the other hand, if your database software does not disappoint, if your internal users are delighted with it, it does everything they need, and has negligable maintenance costs, this may not be the article for you. My sincere congratulations – you have bucked the trend and are doing an excellent job!
For everybody else still reading...
Why database software often disappoints
You started your new software project. You put together a team with all the skills needed to deliver it. You did your research to understand what the users needed. The first release was a little late and a little over budget but within tolerances. The customer-facing product works great! But your internal users are complaining about the database management tool. They're frustrated. They think it sucks.
How did this happen? Did you do something wrong? Is it the Developers' fault for delivering shoddy software?
No. It's no-one's fault. You basically did everything right.
You focused your attention, your research and your effort on the end-user product. And this is the right place to focus. It's your commercial differentiator. It's your revenue stream. It's your whole business. Did you have the spare finance, manpower and management time to lavish the same attention on internal tooling? Hell no!
Maybe the developers should have turned out better tooling anyway. Isn't that their job? No wait, that's not right. They're technical experts and they produced a technically sound solution. You didn't expect them to deliver a perfect end-user product without research and design investment. They're not going to do any better on internal tooling without the same attention. Even less so if they're facing pressure to deliver a bit more a bit faster.
The truth is, when you focus more on your commercial end-user product than on internal tooling, the internal tooling is going to suffer by comparison.
So what's the solution?
You need a database content management solution that gives the same care and attention to database content users that you've given to your commercial users. And that's exactly what we've done at Sodium Skies, with our Simple Data System. Your internal database users are our commercial end users, so they are the focus of our management and development effort.
If database content management that _really works_ for your users sounds interesting, why don't you check out our product page and perhaps get in touch for a demo or to talk about solutions.