HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions

CHAPTER 12

Making Better Decisions with Less Data

by Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson

Maria, an executive in financial services, stared at another calendar invite that would surely kill three hours of her day. Whenever a tough problem presented itself, her boss’s knee-jerk response was, “Collect more data!” Maria appreciated her boss’s analytical approach, but as the surveys, reports, and stats began to pile up, it was clear that the team was stuck in analysis paralysis. And despite the many meetings, task forces, brainstorming sessions, and workshops created to solve any given issue, the team tended to offer the same solutions—often ones that were recycled from prior problems.

As part of our research for our book, Stop Spending, Start Managing ...