The Hard-Working and Efficient People in the Laboratory Informatics Industry

Whenever I complain about the shortfalls of our industry, I realize it feels like a slap in the face to those individuals who are doing their best to do a great job – and of those trying so hard, a number of them succeeding in their efforts.

Personally, I give projects my all, regardless what others are doing. It’s my job to do that and I pride myself in doing it. I know I’ve met a number of others in our industry who feel the same way. There are plenty out there.

On the other hand, I also run across too many who feel that they should do the minimum possible in order to justify a charge to the customer. Some believe this to be a good way to stretch a project out so they can make more money on it. Others are just not knowledgeable-enough or merely don’t care-enough to do what’s expected or needed of them. When it’s an individual, it’s one more black mark on the tic-board against all of us. When it’s a larger company behaving this way, it’s almost proof to customers that we’re fairly universally a bunch of scoundrels or just terribly clueless.

It’s unfortunate, in a way, that customers put their trust in those of us providing software and services because it allows too many people to take advantage of customers by giving something substandard while touting it at “state of the art” or a “best practice.” It makes all the rest of us look bad. Also unfortunate is that people remember the negative. So when customers go on a bit about how they entirely distrust the slimy software vendors or dishonest consultants, they have true experiences to pull from to make that assessment.

Unless we, as an industry, stand together for good practices and better projects, and not just as individuals fighting the windmill all alone like some modern-day Don(a) Quixotes, what proof do we have to the customers that our industry is more good than bad?

Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/