The big difference between 0 and nothing
There have been numerous instances in which 0 has been better than nothing.
- HR calling up a candidate to inform that he or she has been rejected instead of stalling and doing nothing.
- Informing your boss that you have not succeeded in completing a project instead of saying nothing
- Informing your mom or wife that you will not be coming home for dinner than saying nothing
In all the scenarios above the victim is left hanging because the message of nothing did not reach them on time and this principle is very much important in decision making as well.
Next time we draw up a dashboard or a report It is better to have 0 instead of blanks.
Whenever attributes like Country, Types of People, Category, Brand, Demographics etc goes completely missing in your dashboard/reports (Despite show no-data option in few tools) lets be mindful of putting a 0 to denote that those attributes exist and its a 0 instead of blanks
The need highlighted is for all our data visualization platforms to be able to visualize "nothing". No data is better than absent data and it seriously misguides decision makers of today who miss out and fall prey to survivor ship bias.
Credits and inspiration for the article: My Boss/Mentor: Mr Laurence Dean.