Every Little Thing
By David J. Saxton, President, The Computer Manager
Seven thousand, nine hundred and twenty. That's how many times I've exited Debt$Net—at a minimum. Probably much more. And, as all D$N users know, when we exit, we see a friendly reminder that says: "Thank you for using Debt$Net – Remember to Backup your files" Most users don't even notice that message or know why it's there. I do.
My company was one of the first Debt$Net users. I think I was company number 43, back in September of 1993. The first version of Debt$Net I used was written in DOS. My employees had a choice of a black computer screen with orange letters and numbers, or green letters and numbers. I used the DOS version and accessed everything with "F" keys. F4 accessed the debtor inquiry/change screen, F8 brought up the notes, F9 was quit, and so on.
Back then we didn't have automated backups. We had to use removable floppy disks and keep the disks in a fireproof safe. I was so happy when tape backup systems were created because by then I was using 14 individual 3.5-inch removable disks to back up Debt$Net every night. Not to mention that it took about two minutes per disk to write the data, so I had to look forward to 30 minutes of swapping out disks each night before I went home. But I'm not complaining. Backups were critical. They still are today. Since it wasn't an automated process, it was nice to have a reminder every time you exited Debt$Net. I'm just guessing, but I bet that's why Tony or Gary put that little reminder there. They were looking out for us, as always. As we all know, in today's modern world backups happen much more often. In fact, on my system, they happen every fifteen minutes. Near real time. Today's users never think of their backups unless they need them, of course. Which hopefully isn't too often.
Now, back to the kind and loving reminder: "Thank you for using Debt$Net – Remember to Backup your files" Does anyone notice anything about the reminder? Unless you stop and look closely, probably not. But if you take another look, there are grammatical errors. What's wrong?
There are three things. First, "backup" should be "back up" because it's being used as a verb. Second, there are capitalization issues. Third, while the dash isn't technically wrong, a period would make the message cleaner and easier to read.
So, knowing the rules, if we follow them, we get: "Thank you for using Debt$Net.
Remember to back up your files." And that's how I've had the message updated. We will roll this out to anyone who's interested in the update.
Some might be thinking, "Okay, great, but that doesn't really help me save money or make more money. What's the big deal?" Having exited D$N nearly eight thousand times and seeing that message each time without ever bringing it up, I would agree. As a collection agency owner, I have much more pressing things to do than worry about the grammar of a backup reminder.
However, as the owner of TCM, I look at things through a different lens. The concept is called "1,000 Little Things." And here it is in a nutshell. There isn't one BIG thing you do in business that makes it successful. There's no “secret” to being successful. Over the nearly forty years I've been in this industry; I've learned that long-term success only happens when you do 1,000 little things a little better. Maybe it's returning a phone call a little faster. Maybe it's improving a piece of documentation. Maybe it's fixing a typo, making a screen easier to use, following through on a commitment, or correcting a backup reminder that most people never noticed in the first place. None of those things seem significant by themselves, but when you commit to improving every single little thing you encounter over a long period of time, they begin to compound.
Some may think little things are insignificant, but I've found that if you pay attention to all of the details, and you commit to doing each one a little better every day, every week, every month, every year, year after year, that's what creates a successful company.
It sounds simple, but it's not. It requires fanatical commitment, determination, and a relentless drive to make sure every little thing is done the best it can possibly be. So, now that I'm the owner of The Computer Manager, I'm going to make sure that every single little detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is done the best way it possibly can. The example in this article isn't the first thing like this that I've addressed, and it won't be the last. I'll get to all of them eventually, and the result will be a highly polished, refined, professional, friendly, and leading-edge software company with the best ARM system of record on the planet.
Oh, one last thing. When you click on the Exit menu in Debt$Net, the menu option of Exit Debt$net is also wrong:
I'm fixing that next. Have a great month!
-David