How to be Data Driven not Data Derailed

In the rush to become Data Driven, have you become Data Derailed? I’ve seen the data revolution from both sides - as a data scientist with formal training in pure mathematics, but also as someone who uses the words “data driven professional” on my resume without really going into specifics about what that actually means. 

Although I’ve seen it from a few angles, one thing is certain - the ‘goldilocks zone’ is really important. 

On one end of the spectrum, you have Analysis Paralysis, where you’re over thinking and over analysing every aspect of a decision process, which means it often prevents you from arriving at a decision at all. On the other side, there’s Extinct by Instinct. This means you’re moving fast and breaking things, or doing “ready fire aim”. Like most things in life, the best solution is somewhere in the middle. But where does this fit in and what does it look like? 

The goldilocks zone, the friendly area in the middle where everything is just right, is all about intuition. 

Using your intuition means taking in everything you’ve learnt, experienced and heard about, and combining this with your critical thinking. But it’s important to note that intuition is different to instinct - to me, instinct is acting on a hunch and justifying it later, whereas intuition means being ‘data informed’ but also decisive. 

Being decisive is the key to being data driven - it’s great to research the best way to solve a problem, but that research is only useful if you use the data to inform a decision, and make the decision. 

In addition, it’s great to research every single aspect of the process if you have unlimited time, staff and money, but there’s not usually time for this. I’ve seen so many processes and projects delayed because leaders wanted to hide behind data, instead of being empowered and informed by it. 

Overall, I think the swing towards being data driven has been a positive change in every industry I’ve been involved in - from retail to construction, but I’ve seen so many people get derailed by data, and you should learn from their mistakes. 

Use data to help you make better decisions, but don’t use it as an excuse to not decide at all.

About the Author: Brooke Jamieson is Experience Lead at PlaceOS, a technology platform for creating digital experiences for buildings, workplaces, hospitals and more. Learn more about PlaceOS here and learn more about Brooke here.