My parents once bought me a fancy tricycle that I promptly took apart. They had to take the pieces back to the shop and get a more robust one.
Maybe that’s why I still don’t trust fancy solutions.
They often solve the wrong problem.
I build information systems for a living. The challenge is never with the system – it’s with the information.
Take systems on the market that do sustainability reporting. Once you get data into them they do a great job.
The pain is getting the data into the system in the first place.
That’s because the relevant data has to be extracted from a convoluted mass of messy information that looks different for each company.
You don’t always need to start by picking a new system.
Yes, you can always buy a bigger tractor to deal with your mountain of waste.
But a better way is to stop the waste building up in the first place – effectively reducing the pile you have to deal with.
Then all the technology you need is a spade.
Technology can scale a good process. It doesn’t compensate for a broken one.
Handcrafted insight 