8.1 The "Just Do It" Philosophy

The best way to implement Asset Management is to "just do it." There is no need to worry about getting it wrong. Asset Management is a way of thinking about managing assets in a more efficient and customer-centric way but it is not about the one right way to do this. There are as many acceptable approaches as there are utilities that engage in Asset Management, as long as the 5 core concepts form the basis of the program. Asset Management is also self-educating and self-correcting. You will learn how to do Asset Management better by doing Asset Management. The more you implement, the more you will learn. Also, if you've implemented one part of the program in a way that doesn't meet your needs or doesn't accomplish what you want, you can change it. It is completely expected that your program will look different in five years than it does when you begin. Asset Management is meant to be cyclical and no one expects a utility to have a "perfect" Asset Management program right away. In fact, perfection is not the goal. The goal is to manage your utility in a better way today and tomorrow than you did yesterday.

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Asset Management is firmly rooted in common sense and good business practices. Whatever you do in Asset Management should seem like the right way for you to do business. You should be able to start working on some of the components of Asset Management right away without a lot of preparation or resources. In fact, you may very well find that you are already using some Asset Management principles and techniques in the way you already do business. You should start the activities at a level that is comfortable to the utility operators, management, and elected officials. The level of sophistication can increase over time as the utility grows more comfortable with Asset Management in general and some of the specific practices. Starting out simple and working towards higher levels as the utility's internal expertise and resources allow will keep the implementation from seeming too daunting. For instance, a utility can complete an asset inventory in a simple spreadsheet, or even on paper if there are very few assets, and then decide to move towards a specialized software program designed for asset inventories and work orders a few years down the road.

The most important thing is to "just do it" because your volume of work will never go away, your assets will only increase, and things aren't going to get better on their own. Just start and be flexible enough to adjust and adapt as you move along and accept that data quality may not be high initially, but will improve over time.

Just do it. Any little bit you do, you'll see great a amount of benefit. --Jim Smith, Louisville, KY

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