Be Good-Argument-Driven, Not Data-Driven

data can be used as an accountability shield, deflecting responsibility for a judgment call. People are more comfortable making decisions based on hard data in part because they can fall back on that data if the decision turns out to be wrong.

Yet many of us who have tried to use data to inform decisions in organizations have experienced a different reality. One where we are constantly confused by how metrics are defined, bicker over how to interpret various analyses, and struggle to apply the insights into action.