Data never says, “I’m sorry.”
Who’s in charge around here anyway?
“We’re data-driven.”
“We’re data-led.”
It feels like data’s making the decisions… not the humans.
“I don’t know what to tell you… we’re doing what the data told us we should do.” 🤷♂️
Things data won’t say:
“Oops, got that wrong. My bad.”
“No no no. You’re reading me all wrong.”
“I’m only giving you part of the picture even though it might look like the whole picture.”
“You’re measuring the wrong thing for what you’re trying to understand. This isn’t the data you’re looking for.”
“Oh, come on! Please stop manipulating me and cherry picking results to make your point look correct. Not cool, dude. Not cool.”
“Hey all, let’s keep our eye on the prize. The thing we’re measuring is what’s important, not the measurement itself.”
Data is not all knowing. It’s not even close to all the information available. Sometimes I feel folks miss the point of the data in the first place.
Data is a tool. One of many. It can help inform our thinking.
Being data-driven doesn’t absolve anyone from using their brain.
Data is a great tool to learn what users are doing, literally. They’re clicking a button.
Data is a great tool to learn how much that’s happening. 35% of all users in the app click that button.
The data isn’t telling you anything about WHY it’s happening, though.
Wishful thinking and magic won’t generate a “3% lift” for clicks on that button. Customers don’t care how important an improvement in that KPI might be to the company’s leadership.
The reasons users click, or don’t click, on that button has to be understood.
Without knowing why something is happening, anything that’s done with the goal to “have impact” is gambling.
Data is not the boss. Making results on a report go up or down isn’t the point.
Data is like runway lights at an airport. It informs the pilots on how they’re doing. It helps them know that they are on track. The runway lights aren’t the destination.
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P.S. I’d be remise to not mention how much Jared Spool’s articles, comments, and posts have had on how I think about metrics, research and data today. Here’s a great post for example, Why UX Outcomes Make Better Goals Than Business Outcomes and this tweet thread is fun too.
More of this! This is great and necessary.
THIS