I'm hoping this is the correct thread

[DickyP]

The presumption is that all the members are either enthusiastic Access programmers, compelled Access programmers, or like me having been in the IT industry as a programmer and development manager for 30+ year use Access as a way of doing what they love now the haven't got targets to meet and bosses to placate.

We obviously then tend to think of all problems as IT problems, and I'm as bad as anyone. However, I'm a realist and still think that many tasks are as easily or even better done on paper.

What's the general opinion.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Hi @DickyP Welcome to AWF if I haven't said that yet. If you want to just chat with people, the WaterCooler is the prefered section. If you have something to say about a specific topic, then whether it is a comment or a question, use whatever section seems most appropriate.

In a work environment, you are correct, if you are at a high enough level to make decisions, I agree, not all problems need a software solution and so you should always be looking for the non-IT solution first. This is a little like what happens when a developer experienced on another platform starts to use Access. Rather than poke around and learn about properties and functions and events and all the things that Access does for you for free, they have a tendency to just jump in and write loads of unnecessary code rather than letting Access be Access and using what is already there.

But, most of the people we interact with here don't get to make high level decisions. Someone has already decided that this is an IT solution and they are simply trying to execute. Once in a while, we get sole proprietors who realize that they've outgrown Excel and they need something more flexible. Depending on what they are trying to do, we do recommend off-the-shelf solutions when we think there are some, but there really aren't many available. The IT world these days seems to think that everything is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MUST run in a browser and so they make huge applications that "do everything" but actually "do nothing" well. So, I like to encourage people willing to get their hands dirty to solve their own problem using Access.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

We obviously then tend to think of all problems as IT problems, and I'm as bad as anyone. However, I'm a realist and still think that many tasks are as easily or even better done on paper.

Your first sentence in the quote is answered by saying "If all you have is a hammer, everything gets treated like a nail." Fortunately, your second sentence shows that you might have more than one tool in your toolkit - which is a GOOD thing.

 

[DickyP]

we do recommend off-the-shelf solutions when we think there are some, but there really aren't many available.

Like when I was on a project to put IT systems into the Army and Navy hospitals in UK and we were mandated to buy 'off-the-shelf'. It was fun to see my Project Manager explain to the Directors of both Naval and Army Medical Services that (quote) "not only couldn't we buy off-the-shelf but nobody had even built the shelf yet!"

 

[GPGeorge]

Spoiler:

Hi @DickyP Welcome to AWF if I haven't said that yet. If you want to just chat with people, the WaterCooler is the prefered section. If you have something to say about a specific topic, then whether it is a comment or a question, use whatever section seems most appropriate.

In a work environment, you are correct, if you are at a high enough level to make decisions, I agree, not all problems need a software solution and so you should always be looking for the non-IT solution first.

This is a little like what happens when a developer experienced on another platform starts to use Access. Rather than poke around and learn about properties and functions and events and all the things that Access does for you for free, they have a tendency to just jump in and write loads of unnecessary code rather than letting Access be Access and using what is already there.

Spoiler:

But, most of the people we interact with here don't get to make high level decisions. Someone has already decided that this is an IT solution and they are simply trying to execute. Once in a while, we get sole proprietors who realize that they've outgrown Excel and they need something more flexible. Depending on what they are trying to do, we do recommend off-the-shelf solutions when we think there are some, but there really aren't many available. The IT world these days seems to think that everything is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MUST run in a browser and so they make huge applications that "do everything" but actually "do nothing" well. So, I like to encourage people willing to get their hands dirty to solve their own problem using Access.

I refer to that as "Application Bias", and it most commonly surfaces when Excel users start to use Access.

It can also be Access users acquiring new software skills as well.

 

[NauticalGent]

Rather than poke around and learn about properties and functions and events and all the things that Access does for you for free, they have a tendency to just jump in and write loads of unnecessary code rather than letting Access be Access and using what is already there.

Amen, amen and A-Men...

 

[NauticalGent]

"not only couldn't we buy off-the-shelf but nobody had even built the shelf yet!"

Brilliant...!

 

[GPGeorge]

Amen, amen and A-Men...

I have a term for that, too. I call it Code Wadding, on the analogy of a fifth-grader sticking wads of gum on the bottom of the desk, resulting in a sticky mess that someone else has to scrape off later.

 

[DickyP]

As a footnote to this, although at a tangent, proof that technology is wonderful. We have two cars, one 11 years old and the other bought in the last few months. The older one to reset the trip mileage I just press one knob for 2 seconds. Today I wanted to do the same for the new car: by the time I'd found the right menu and traversed it to the mileage settings and reset the trip mileage I had pressed 14 buttons!

 

[gemma-the-husky]

Personally I think anything that is "better" achieved on paper would most likely be trivial.

I do think businesses over rely on spreadsheets which while they may lend themselves to solutions aren't the best solution in many cases.

For example the couple of days I spent adding an accounts receivable database module to my (personally developed) accounts package has saved me a lot of time compared with the previous manual/spreadsheet version.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Today I wanted to do the same for the new car: by the time I'd found the right menu and traversed it to the mileage settings and reset the trip mileage I had pressed 14 buttons!

Kinda' like what MS did to Access in 2007