What if the best work goes unnoticed by many? I've spent most of my career keeping buildings running smoothly, ensuring there are no flickering lights, no dripping faucets, no squeaky doors, and no peeling paint. Making everything run smoothly, so that it looks like I've done nothing at all.
But here's the catch: in my profession, when you do things right, people aren't sure you've done anything at all, especially when you don’t have a digital app to track your work.
I remember sitting in a meeting years ago, requesting an increase to our maintenance budget. The finance manager looked at me skeptically and said, "Eduardo, why do you need more money? The building looks great, there can’t be that much maintenance work to do around here." It’s a sting every maintenance leader knows. Our success is measured when we’re seen working frantically, then suddenly we are heroes. But the truth is, we’re successful when those emergencies aren’t happening. When we're doing the real work, the behind-the-scenes preventative maintenance tasks that keep everything running smoothly, and we become invisible.
Years of experience and binders full of manually logged tasks told me tune-ups were needed before we'd have to invest in new equipment. I wasn't suggesting an increase to my budget; I was proposing a savings. But there was a massive gap in the valuable data that was being captured due to outdated reporting. Without enough measurable data to justify what I knew to be a huge cost savings, the finance manager couldn't see the need for an increase. I needed a facility management tool to help me bridge that gap.
If you read last week’s article I touched on how important a CMMS is for protecting and transferring valuable building knowledge to the next generation of maintenance staff, but, here’s where that same CMMS came in for me, in an entirely different way.
A CMMS isn't just another software or administrative chore, it’s become my wingman at work. The more I used it, the more I began to see how it was providing my team with proof of value for the “unseen” work we’d done. We were able to record details of our maintenance tasks, like how many hours it took, any inventory used or purchased and whether a vendor was hired. Now, I’m able to give a report that clearly outlines all the steps taken, and records the maintenance work we’d done to keep the building operating efficiently. We were finally being seen as a valuable department, keeping costs down.
Here’s what my CMMS wingman did for our department, and what it could do for yours:
I don’t use a CMMS software to track our people, I use it to validate their work. It’s the digital record of the work, and the foresight that goes into keeping the doors open.
In the end, I’d rather be "invisible" because the facility is running perfectly than be a "hero" because I’m fixing a mess that could have been avoided. But now, thanks to the data, and my CMMS wingman, the team can be invisible and I still get the respect the team deserves.
About the Author:
Eduardo is dedicated to sharing his insights to maintenance professionals on the importance of digital precision. As a seasoned expert in facility management and 3rd generation maintenance man, he advocates for the use of purpose-built CMMS software to protect assets, ensure compliance, and future-proof the company's bottom line.