Are you data driven, or data informed?

If you're neck deep in data right now trying to sort out what's important, this distinction is worth remembering.

No matter what data or graph you are looking at, it’s biased in at least two ways:

(1) Even if it was expertly and correctly done, the person who framed the query biased it. Add additional bias for framing the presentation and analysis of the data. (This is why in scientific studies, it is essential that the statistician is blind to the experimental conditions.)

(2) Most data brought into these discussions is quantitative only. It's harder to graph and compare qualitative data from a bunch of well-run user interviews. Yet, assuming those interviews were well-run, that qualitative is real. Quantitative data may show you what is happening, but it won't explain why.

With this in mind, don't lose the forest for the trees when you are bringing data and analysis into your decisions. Data augments and informs perspective. It doesn't replace it.

Informed or driven: which are you?