Autonomous Transformation

CHAPTER 15From Data‐Driven to Reason‐Driven

The precepts of management taught in business and engineering schools are that the only good decision is a data‐based decision.

—Roger Martin

Data‐driven is an adjective that means “determined by or dependent on the collection or analysis of data.”

The earliest documented collection of data in the workplace began in the late nineteenth century, when Frederick Taylor and his team of experts used stopwatches to collect information about the time it took laborers to achieve tasks—the first application of the scientific method in the context of business.

With the integration of machines in the workplace, the rise of computing power, and significant increases in methods of collecting, storing, and processing data, the term data‐driven has become a mantra in leadership publications, management theory, and within and across organizations.

Data‐driven decisions can begin with observed patterns in data trending in an undesired direction, or they can begin with a hypothesis, a need, or a question, but they always end with a set of numbers that justify a decision.

In other words, data‐driven is an inherently mechanistic paradigm.

While consulting a large telecommunications company, I observed a data‐driven decision that began with a need. The customer service organization needed to reduce costs.

What ensued was a data‐driven process, breaking down and analyzing the costs of the customer service department. It was determined that the most basic ...