Data Driven or Not?

  • 4th Oct 2022
    •  • 
  • 2 min read

Here’s the thing with Data Driven Decision making:
Most people will say that they want it, but very few are prepared to back that up by going against their own intuition when the data contradicts it.

If your organization’s leadership doesn’t in practice follow a data driven approach, or if they do but then those supplying them data are overmanipulating it, then it’s okay to admit what’s true and work with what is. That might not have much to do with data at all.
It might be a more instinctual environment.
Or a power-based one.

We may not like to admit it, but we can’t change things that we don’t admit are real. So if you want to work toward a better organization, you’ll need to work with the one you have (or decide to leave it for a different one).

How can you find out what kind of organization you’ve got?
Well, like anything, you test.
Surface inconvenient data and watch what happens.
Adjust your behavior accordingly.
…Or your employment may be adjusted for you.
Either way, you’ll be able to stop pretending and get to work worth doing.

And as for contradicting our intuition with data, I’m guessing that may still be sticking in your craw. After all, there are reasons that might be a really bad idea. Reasons such as:

  • flawed testing methodology
  • flawed assumptions
  • valid assumptions & testing but that contradict our superseding basic human values

These are all good things to think about and discuss! The best time to do so is before claiming to be data-driven, or data anything.
Of course as the old proverb goes, the next best time is now.

I do a lot with data. Though I’d call myself more “data centric” than “data driven”, I’ll jump on board with whatever term has the most cultural momentum where I am. The first thing I do is try to determine the gap between that cultural momentum and the intellectual rigor.
Just what do people mean when they say they are Data Driven?
Are they really?
Should they be, or do we need more infrastructure first?

Contradicting prevailing assumptions with data and challenging the internal intuition of leadership are the best tests I know to determine the landscape.
We must always be creatively willing to work with what is.