Building Successful Information Systems

Chapter 3

What Constitutes the Right Data?

Data is everything. However, we cannot collect and analyze everything. The sad thing is that so many companies try. We used to call it “analysis paralysis,” today we call it “big data,” but it doesn’t matter what you call it: it’s all the same. People believe that if they collect one more piece of data, they will find that magic bit of information that will cause everything to make perfect sense.

However, this is not the case.

Shutting Down the Internet

Back in the early 1990s, I served as an advisor to the U.S. Senate on technology issues. As we approached 2000, the Y2K problem made news around the world and many people were concerned that a major catastrophe was on the horizon. I was ...