In Data we Trust…..

Well maybe not so much as we used to.  More data from different sources means it’s easier to manipulate to present your view of reality of what you reality should be…  In previous posts, I have discussed the benefit of data and the ability to quantify just about anything.  Of course data doesn’t lie but people do or more importantly can misrepresent the truth through data.  As we see a widening gap between data specialists and those who rely on them for evidence to derive decisions, it becomes more difficult to level the playing field.  In addition, the need for real time decision-making and the never-ending variety of data are exacerbating this issue.  Data Manipulation is a key issue organization and business makers will need to overcome in our data driven culture.  Organizations are increasingly dependent on data from consumers, signals from operations, and market based cues to give them all the insight required to optimize decision-making.  However data can be skewed, redundant and often paint a picture that is myopic and not holistic . 

Besides Data Manipulators, their are a few other data archetypes which we see emerging including

The Data Hoarder- These folks try and consume any and all pieces of data.  Sometimes there is a means to the madness other times its simply collection for collection sake which is counterproductive

The Data Believer – these are folks that believe that all the organization and the world’s problems can be solved through a better understanding of data.  Sometime they are correct most of the times they are not

The Data Evangelist – these folks push data programs through at all levels of the organization.  They preach Data without a real understanding of the organizations capacity to use data, security implications associated with greater use of data, or even necessary skillsets to organize and share data

The Data Deniers  (also known as the Data debunker)– The name says it all. These folks have a fundamental mistrust of data and how it is presented. They believe management is lead by an inherent touch or gut reaction to events that cannot be represented through higher levels of data analysis.  Perhaps they are doing most of the processing in their heads

The Data Collector – at some point in time someone basically said we are not quite sure what to measure so lets simply collect everything causing confusions especially if data is not collected, stored and archived properly

The Data Party Crasher – Data collection and storage brings about challenges associated with security.  There is a difference between data at rest and data in flight.  The increasing nature of digital information results in more data transfer from one place to another, which brings about risks.  The data party crasher tries to apply restriction on who can access and share data via specific devices and going through often onerous protocols.  With a surge of security vectors occurring almost daily, we can understand their logic but if it hampers innovation, it could harm the company in the long run.  

As our zeal to collect more and more data as a competitive differentiator grows, I think there are and are going to be many other data “archetypes”, can you name a few….