The CogBlog^™: LIMS and Lab Informatics Insights

Your vendor sent a blank use case template with no instructions. Here's what goes in each of the 15 sections, the mistakes that surface at go-live, and a free template to get started.

RACI matrices tend to fail the same way: TBD, Nobody, Everyone, and Informed after it broke. Here's why, and what actually holds one together on a LIMS project.

Thirty plus years ago I was mixing reagents on a bench, not writing code. The path from there to specializing in one platform, WinLIMS, ran straight through being its customer first.

A step-by-step LIMS vendor selection process from 30 years on both sides of the table: requirements, shortlists, scripted demos, TCO, and red flags.

More than twenty-five years of watching labs pick LIMS vendors taught me one thing: the demo is never what decides it. What decides it is which criteria matter most, and how rigorously each vendor gets scored against them.

Most labs assume the vendor's implementation team will carry the project to a successful go-live. Here's why that assumption is usually the single biggest risk to a LIMS project.

Your vendor sent a blank use case template with no instructions. Here's what goes in each of the 15 sections, the mistakes that surface at go-live, and a free template to get started.

RACI matrices tend to fail the same way: TBD, Nobody, Everyone, and Informed after it broke. Here's why, and what actually holds one together on a LIMS project.

There's a moment in every marathon where I seriously question my judgment. Around mile 18, the legs get heavy and the math gets brutal. After 30 years in LIMS, I've stopped thinking that feeling is a coincidence.

Every LIMS project I've been part of has a kickoff date. Fewer of them have an honest answer to a harder question: was the organization actually ready to start on that date?

More than twenty-five years of watching labs pick LIMS vendors taught me one thing: the demo is never what decides it. What decides it is which criteria matter most, and how rigorously each vendor gets scored against them.

Part 11 compliance is frequently misunderstood: either over-engineered into paralysis or under-implemented until an audit surfaces the gaps. Here's a grounded take.

Every LIMS vendor is telling you AI changes everything. After 30 years in this industry, I've learned to ask a different question: which parts are real, and what happens if you get it wrong?

Every LIMS vendor is telling you AI changes everything. After 30 years in this industry, I've learned to ask a different question: which parts are real, and what happens if you get it wrong?

Thirty plus years ago I was mixing reagents on a bench, not writing code. The path from there to specializing in one platform, WinLIMS, ran straight through being its customer first.