July is Smart Irrigation Month, and every year our industry uses this month to celebrate technology.
We talk about smarter controllers, more advanced sensors, stronger analytics, automation, and increasingly, Artificial Intelligence. And all of that matters, but I think we need to be careful about the assumption that smarter technology means less management. I don’t believe that’s true.
In fact, from what I’m seeing, the opposite is happening. The smarter the technology becomes, the more important the management behind it becomes.
I recently wrote about the concept of Who Not How, and challenged the belief that organizations should stop asking how they can do more themselves, and instead start asking who can help them achieve better outcomes.
Now, I want to take that conversation one step further. Once we’ve identified the right “who,” are we being honest about what that role actually requires? Because technology may be evolving rapidly, but responsibility hasn’t disappeared – it’s simply changed.
Where Leadership Shows Up
For years, the industry has operated under a fairly simple formula: install better technology, train people how to use it, expect better outcomes.
On the surface, that makes perfect sense.
But if that formula consistently worked, we wouldn’t still be seeing systems operating below their potential, and see valuable data sitting unused. The issue is that operating a system and managing performance are two very different things.
An operations team plays a critical role. They respond to issues, maintain infrastructure, repair breaks, inspect sites, and keep day-to-day operations moving. Without them, none of this works.
But effective water management requires another layer.
Someone has to interpret the data. Someone has to identify patterns before they become problems. Someone has to connect weather, infrastructure, budgets, plant material, operational realities, and organizational expectations into decisions that improve performance.
And I think we’ve dramatically underestimated how difficult that role can be.
We’ve seen this challenge in every industry. The best salesperson doesn’t automatically become the best sales manager. The best technician doesn’t automatically become the best operations manager. Not because they lack talent, but because the role itself is fundamentally different.
Yet in irrigation, we often install increasingly sophisticated systems and assume existing teams can absorb that responsibility through a few days of training and some added expectations.
That’s not fair to the team.
And it’s not a serious strategy for long-term performance.
Updates From the Field
July is Smart Irrigation Month, so it felt like the perfect time to continue the conversation from the latest episode of my show, The Retaining Purpose Podcast.
I recently sat down with Fawzi Melhem, a water management expert who has spent more than 25 years helping organizations improve water performance across the Middle East.
What struck me most wasn’t how different our experiences were. It was how similar they were. Whether you’re managing landscapes in Arizona, Alberta, or Dubai, the biggest challenge usually isn’t the technology. It’s execution.
Who owns the system once it’s installed? Who reviews the data? Who continues learning? And who is ultimately accountable for performance?
Those are leadership questions, and they’re becoming more important every year. If you haven’t had a chance to listen, I think you’ll enjoy the conversation.
🎙️ Listen to Episode 27 of Retaining Purpose
Retaining Purpose isn’t just a podcast about irrigation. It’s about leadership, sustainability, business, and the people challenging conventional thinking in their industries.
If you’re doing meaningful work and have a story worth sharing, I’d love to hear from you. Apply to be a guest here.
Let’s Connect in Person
This fall, GRO will be hosting a series of invitation-based Lunch & Learn sessions throughout the Greater Phoenix region.
The goal is to bring together people from different industries, backgrounds, and perspectives who share a common belief that the current conversation around water management is not enough. Because real progress comes from people being willing to engage in difficult conversations, test new ideas, and challenge the status quo.
Come find us at:
- July 22-24: Lawn & Landscape: Landscape Technology Conference – Scottsdale, AZ
- Nov 18-20: World Workplace IFMA Conference – Anaheim, CA
Smart Irrigation Month should be about more than celebrating technology – it should challenge how we think about technology. The tools are getting smarter every year, which means the gap between installation and performance is becoming harder to ignore.
Technology creates opportunity, but people create results. And progress happens when the right people are willing to challenge what everyone else accepts as normal.
That’s the conversation we’re bringing to Arizona this fall.
And honestly, it’s a conversation we should be having everywhere.
Randy Valk
Founder/CEO
Grassroots Resource Optimization