When I work with enterprise clients, I often ask permission to sit in on some meetings as a silent observer to see how they use data and analytics during their work.
Another interesting post, thanks Donald. Perhaps the solution involves less speaking and more written reflection. In my experience, people tend to be more considered and deliberate when they express their ideas in writing rather than through conversation. It might be beneficial to share the dashboard before the meeting, allowing everyone to arrive with their thoughts already articulated in writing. Additionally, sharing these insights prior to the meeting could enhance discussions and productivity.
Another fine post, Donald. Agree completely. I think the “data-driven decision-making” fad has been a huge distraction for a lot of people.
Data are the shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave — weightless loosely-correlated byproducts of the real drama unfolding outside the cave in the push/pull, cause/effect, give/take of customers and products and channels and employees and competitors and regulators and supply chains. Data are AT BEST the information scent of something real that’s interesting (ht Peter Pirolli, Information Foraging Theory).
And remember, data are not a lever: you cannot grab hold of an ROI statistic and move it upward, however much you might like to have that result. If you want higher ROI, you need to interact with real things in the real world, to adjust how they relate to each other through policy and process, such that… if you are right and/or lucky… the ROI statistic later begins moving in the desired direction.
All the drama and all the levers of change are outside the cave of data-shadows.
Indeed! There are no customers in your customer database. Not one. Just a vague shadow of metadata about something much more complex in the real world.
Another interesting post, thanks Donald. Perhaps the solution involves less speaking and more written reflection. In my experience, people tend to be more considered and deliberate when they express their ideas in writing rather than through conversation. It might be beneficial to share the dashboard before the meeting, allowing everyone to arrive with their thoughts already articulated in writing. Additionally, sharing these insights prior to the meeting could enhance discussions and productivity.
Another fine post, Donald. Agree completely. I think the “data-driven decision-making” fad has been a huge distraction for a lot of people.
Data are the shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave — weightless loosely-correlated byproducts of the real drama unfolding outside the cave in the push/pull, cause/effect, give/take of customers and products and channels and employees and competitors and regulators and supply chains. Data are AT BEST the information scent of something real that’s interesting (ht Peter Pirolli, Information Foraging Theory).
And remember, data are not a lever: you cannot grab hold of an ROI statistic and move it upward, however much you might like to have that result. If you want higher ROI, you need to interact with real things in the real world, to adjust how they relate to each other through policy and process, such that… if you are right and/or lucky… the ROI statistic later begins moving in the desired direction.
All the drama and all the levers of change are outside the cave of data-shadows.
Indeed! There are no customers in your customer database. Not one. Just a vague shadow of metadata about something much more complex in the real world.