Q: What is the difference between a “write” solution and a “read” solution?

Rick Schaffer: Well, a write solution focuses on how data is “written,” or created, you might say, as well as how that data is stored. Whereas a “read” solution focuses on how data is retrieved and utilized.

Q: Aren’t almost all software applications we think of both?

RS: True. However most are created and developed, even bought, from the “write” perspective, with the “read” functionality a secondary consideration. We flip that on its head at Simpler Systems.

Q: Should I be embarrassed if I’m already lost?

RS: I would be if I were you. [smiles] Let me back up and give you some history for context.

Q: Thank you.

RS: When modern computers came around in the seventies and eighties, we, collectively, had this great new technology and lots of “problems” we wanted to solve with it. So we set about solving those problems by creating thousands of applications that enabled us to create, collect, store, manipulate, share, and retrieve data.

Q: You just mean things like Excel, Outlook, database programs, email, financial software, and so on?

RS: Exactly. Along with a billion other applications. And almost all of that was about taking information we previously kept on paper and figuring out how to computerize it — how to write it digitally.

Q: We did a pretty good job of it, right?

RS: We did a great job. Such a good job that we essentially solved the write problem.

Q: And is there a down side to this?

RS: Well, there is, but it’s more about evolution than there being a down side — we needed to get here so we can now go there.

Q: And where is there?

RS: There is being able to get at all that information we’ve written — being able to read it, so to speak. Which really means being able to extract it and work with it in meaningful ways. Without being dependent on experts or clunky, inefficient systems, or jumping through hoops.

Q: Okay, so using the Government as an example...

RS: They have loads of information — megatons of digital data.

Q: They have solved the write problem?

RS: Essentially, yes. The trouble is the data is written all over the place. It’s in different systems, on different platforms, in different places — from data warehouses to you name it.

Q: Got it — so what you have, in terms of trying to work with all that data now, is a read problem?

RS: Precisely. Now you see the perspective from which we develop our technology. Our solution is about accessing the data, regardless of format or location, and then giving the user tools to work with that data in any way they see fit.

Q: Isn’t that basically what the data warehouse and business intelligence tools solve?

RS: That’s what they attempt to solve, but the data warehouse has never lived up to its promise, for a lot of reasons, and we believe that era is now over. All that complexity and cost is unnecessary now — just upload the data to the web!

Q: That cut and dried?

RS: Essentially, yes. I need another Q&A to adequately address the data warehouse issue, but in terms of read v. write you are correct that it could be considered part of an attempted read solution, emphasis on “attempted.” [smiles]

Q: Is there a practical value in understanding read vs. write, or is this an esoteric discussion for programmers and people with a little too much time on their hands?

RS: Hmm, might be all of the above. [laughs] No, there is a huge practical value in understanding it.

Q: Knowing an answer on Jeopardy?

RS: Knowing a question on Jeopardy. [smiles]

Q: You got me. [smiles]

RS: Actually, that’s not far off — the value can be exactly that: knowing how to ask the correct question. We are so conditioned to think in terms of write solutions, that we may completely miss the practical needs in front of us, ask the wrong questions, and overlook the right solution. R-I-G-H-T, that is.

Q: For example?

RS: Simple example: one of our clients had an issue where several departments needed to share access to certain information. And they were automatically thinking about how they could solve the problem with some new-fangled software solution — a write solution — because they didn’t know how to ask the correct questions. It’s as if we’ve always solved problems by hitting them with a hammer, so when a new problem arises our knee-jerk response is to reach for another hammer...

Q: When what we really might need is a nail-puller?

RS: Yes, you nailed it...so to speak. The client had all the data — they just couldn’t adequately get to it and share it — it was a read problem, not a write problem, you see what I mean?

Q: I do, yes. So, seeing the difference, you were able to solve it for them?

RS: Absolutely. Fairly easily, in fact. The last thing that’s needed, in a lot of instances, is yet another write system. It just piles more layers on, costs more money, and eats up more time and resources. And often doesn’t solve anything.

Q: Whereas you’re saying a read solution can not only be more effective, but simpler as well?

RS: Much simpler, yes. That’s why we call ourselves Simpler Systems.

Q: I set you up for that, didn’t I?

RS: Yes, thank you. [smiles] I owe you one.