Garbage in, garbage out

How often do you experience an outcome of something not aligned with what you desire it to be??Maybe it is a conversation with a colleague or a partner - that did not land well or caused a conflict, a test result - not as you expected, or a system-produced report - showing data that is not making sense to you.?

You may be familiar with the phrase 'garbage in, garbage out.'?

Let's unpack this for a moment.

The first use of the phrase has been dated to November 1957 in a newspaper article [1] about US Army mathematicians and their work with early computers. An Army Specialist explained that 'new electronic brains' do not think for themselves and that 'sloppily' data points entered into the system will inevitably lead to incorrect outputs from the system.?

If you are not interested in technology, stay with me as this concept is relevant in other aspects of our life or jump to the sections below.

Technology: this story above is from more than 60 years ago. Technology is a fast-growing industry, and the advancements over the last years have been significant. The tech world keeps surprising us.

So, is the 'garbage in, garbage out' statement still true??

Unless an exception to this rule is intentionally planned, designed, and implemented - the 'garbage in, garbage out' concept is still true. Nonsense input produces nonsense output. And, if anything, with more powerful computers today, which produce large amounts of data faster, the experience of 'garbage in, garbage out' can happen faster and more often.?

Photo by?fauxels?from?Pexels

The technical dependency between inputs and outputs is often overlooked.?Today's fancy and powerful technology is hiding this principle from the user experience and management planning. Many organizations implement new systems and tend to underestimate this concept in their change management efforts.?

The dependency between inputs and outputs also exists outside of technology.

Look around, where else can we see 'garbage in, garbage out?'?

A few things that come my mind are:

Our skills: Does it matter how we participate when we attend professional development courses, sessions, or even get a degree? Our attention, time, actions - anything we put into studying and practicing new skills will impact what we get out of our newly received certificate.?

Our health: Does it matter what we eat and drink, how much we sleep, whether we exercise or not? What we put into our bodies and how we treat our minds will impact how we feel - immediately and over time.?

Our relationships: Does it matter how we spend time with our loved ones, for example, our older and younger family members? Do we show we care? Are we pausing to be present for them when they need us? What we put into the relationships will impact what we get out of these relationships.

The list can go on and on...?

Can we expect to be an expert, have good health, or have a strong relationship if we do not continuously invest in these aspects of our life??

Here is a food analogy - I am bringing a memory from 30 years ago when I learned that my parents' friend chose his favorite restaurants by asking to see and checking their kitchen before sitting down for a meal... Once the kitchen met his criterion, he kept the restaurant on his favorites list and was generous with his gratitude. On the other side, I remember my friends who, at some point, worked in certain food manufacturing facilities, would stop eating whatever that facility (or similar facilities) produced... Go figure what they experienced there...?

So, ingredients matter. As Antonio Mellino, 2 Michelin starred Italian Chef says "in the kitchen two things need to come together - good ingredients and a chef who is careful with those ingredients." Many chefs also recommend cooking with a good quality wine - such that we would drink ourselves.?

The ingredients we put into a dish will impact how delicious it is going to be.?

Photo by?Pietro Jeng?from?Pexels

In summary - just to highlight a few examples:

• A masterful chef may not create a delicious dish with poor-quality ingredients.?
• Students will not embody new skills from the best educational program without taking specific actions to study and practice.?
• A powerful technology will not give the user community the anticipated benefits without quality input from the users using the system.

So, let's proceed with a more proactive approach - 'Quality in, Quality out' concept.?Shall we?

If we think about technology - it means that as long as the data going into a system is good - the result processed by the system will be reliable (assuming that the system performs as designed).?When implementing a new system or using an existing system and aiming to maximize decision-making based on data, consider bringing awareness to this input-output dependency concept. What users enter into the system is essential for creating the reality and future to rely on data for quality decision-making. Support your user community with necessary actions to make this happen.??

If we think about other aspects in our life - the skills we gain, our health, our relationships - consider: what we put into these elements will impact the result.?

How are you approaching these aspects of your life??

Photo by?Markus Spiske?on?Unsplash

[1] https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50687334/the-times/