[Web4lib] The data death spiral

[Richard Wiggins]

I believe that it was in the wonderful book Parkinson's Law there
appears an allegory about a board faced with two decisions:  one is
whether to build a nuclear reactor at a cost of millions, and the
other is whether to buy a new coffee pot for the board room.

The board will pass the reactor with very little debate, because no
one in the room understands the technology or the vast costs.  But
then the board will debate the coffee pot endlessly, because everyone
in the room understands buying coffee pots.

I've seens this over and over again in academe.  $10 million or $100
million decisions are made faster than $100,000 or $10,000 ones.

/rich

On 4 Nov 2005 15:09:36 -0000, dan at riverofdata.com <dan at riverofdata.com> wrote:
> My problem isn't so much with decisions being made with a note card full of data, or a blank card of data.  My problem is with data that is carefully hand selected to "prove the point" that the decision maker wishes to make.  Pick a topic, and that's how a great many people do it.  Just think of the arguments on either side (and NO, I'm NOT trying to discuss any of these, here or privately) of global warming, alternative fuel vehicles, whether the current price of gas is letting the oil companies make excessive profits, or dozens of other "hot topics".  Sure, those haven't had "the decision" made, and they're just examples.  I'm sure we've seen similar decisions made that are just as important within our work environments on carefully selected data, rather than all the data.
>
> dan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > Not only do I feel like I am living in that spiral, I have come to the
> > conclusion that all decisions are made, quite contrarily, _without data_.
> > And, when data is utilized, it is with some simplistic use of it, that lacks
> > any real understanding of synergistic interactions or emergent properties,
> > from chemistry to social psychology to economics to management.  Everyone is
> > making decisions based on what can fit onto a notecard.
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