World's "tallest" mountain?

As -10° Fahrenheit wind buffeted my face, blowing tiny bits of ice in my eyes, I continued staring at the boots in front of me, keeping my head down to watch the narrow path of my headlamp. I shifted my pack between my shoulders every few seconds, focusing on my breath to forget about the nausea. It was 5am, and I was summiting Mt Kilimanjaro.

Surrounded by relatively flat plains of grazing elephants and giraffes, Mt Kilimanjaro juts out of the earth with unexpected severity that makes it look like a child’s drawing. Kili came onto my radar when I was 18 and living in Rwanda, where I interned for a microfinance coffee company. I heard stories about the nearby mountain, and I resolved to make the voyage for myself one day. That day came nearly 10 years later when my dad and I signed up for a trip to test our abilities against nature.

While there’s many routes to the peak, our group went six days up and two days down. Each day brought a new climate zone based on the altitude, giving me the distinct sense of exploring another planet. We greeted monkeys in the rainforest, climbed hand over foot in the moorland, and marveled at volcanic rubble in the alpine desert. It was truly the trip of a lifetime, and my dad and I were thrilled that we both summited.

After climbing Kili, I had an interesting conversation with a friend about how to define the “world’s tallest mountain.” At 19,341 feet high, Mt Kilimanjaro is known as the world’s tallest free-standing peak. Still, it remains nearly 10,000 feet shorter than Mt Everest. Then again, Mt Mauna Kea in Hawaii extends further than them both at over 33,000 feet from base to peak, but the range rarely gains recognition because nearly half of the base remains underwater.

So, how do we define “tallest”? It depends. If you’re looking for the longest hike from base to peak, Kili is your best bet. If you’re looking for the highest point above land, go with Mt Everest. And if you want to know the tallest mountain from base to peak, look no further than Mauna Kea. The answer is in the way you ask the question.

Do you see the metaphor I’m getting at? The answers you seek will depend on the metrics you use. Be specific. Whether you’re selecting new software, rolling out a new offering, or improving internal systems, think about the end-state and work backwards. Your dataset will determine your results, and it’s much easier to ask the right questions with the goal in mind.

Here’s a concrete example: a client recently asked for analytics help to understand their staffing needs for an internal help desk team as they rollout a new software. At face value, the new software causes 3x the number of tickets for the help desk team, meaning they should consider hiring 3x the number of respondents (this is the obvious “Everest is the tallest” answer). However, our team went a level deeper to understand the time required for the new tickets, issues related to training rather than staffing, and other confounding variables like seasonality. (Metaphorically, we measured height from the base instead of just looking at the peak). In other words, we helped them ask the right questions to get relevant answers that will save them time and money.

Interested in learning more? Message me on LinkedIn or reach out to InfoWorks here, and I’ll happily join a call with you and one of InfoWorks’ data analytics resources. Our subject matter experts will help you thoughtfully consider the best metrics for your needs, allowing you to access the right information at the right time. Don’t take heights at face value if your situation requires measurements below the sea.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great day!

Alexis