They ignored your data
You did your job. Delivered amazing data.
Perfectly aligned with what the department leadership needed.
They took your data.
And ignored it.
Even worse, they made a decision in exactly the opposite direction of what the data indicated.
“So much for ‘data-driven decisions’” you mutter in frustration as you kick rocks down the sidewalk.
If this happens enough - and you care enough - it’s easy to get jaded, angry, or cynical about the role of data in your organization.
Hold on. Before you quit…hear this.
There’s a reason why this happens.
Incentives.
Incentives drive all of our decision-making. People make decisions based on what they want. And what they want is controlled by what they are incentivized to do.
They might have ignored your data because they knew:
they would get a promotion if they orchestrated a different course of action that would look good to their leadership
they would get a bonus this quarter by getting a short-term win.
they’ve seen other people get fired for taking a risk outside the norm.
they are stressed and overwhelmed in their personal life and don’t have the energy to take on the challenge that they data points toward.
and on and on.
Data-driven decisions are only part of the equation in making good decisions.
The human incentives are often a hidden feature/bug of the system
I’m here,
Sawyer
from The Data Shop