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Ask for stories, not advice

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You’re better off with a story than the advice the story derived from.
Every bit of advice is a mere summary of the story that the advice derived from. I came across this advice — OK, it lacks a story — back in December as I looked for background on a new source for a report I wrote in December.

In a Forbes article by Clowdflower founder Lukas Biewald, “My board fired me, here’s what I learned,” Biewald tells why.

Ask for stories, not advice. Every piece of advice has a more memorable and interesting story behind it. In Silicon Valley, there’s no shortage of smart, successful people wanting to give you advice and, as a first time CEO, I didn’t have the experience yet to distinguish smart advice from empty advice.

… Read the rest “Ask for stories, not advice”

Stupid analytics gets them talking

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If data analysis somehow ends up supporting an unwise choice, should we blame the data? Of course not, no more than we should blame a stethoscope for a bad medical diagnosis or fingerprints for a bad courtroom verdict. Common sense says the only ones responsible are the humans involved.

AllAnalytics contributing editor James M. Connolly wrote last week in defense of common sense in a good blog post, “Analytics won’t cure stupidity.”

Let’s admit it, we know the limitations of data analysis. The obvious truth whispers to us in the quiet of our own little minds, and that truth can also find a voice in private business conversations over a beer or lunch.… Read the rest “Stupid analytics gets them talking”

People tell stories anyway

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People tell stories wherever they are, in every medium, day or night, in business or not. What can software do to help tell data stories?

Give them templates? Force suddenly mute would-be storytellers into a best practice?

Probaby not. You can imagine the stories about the stories. “I knew it’d be another god damn story” — “damn” being for the stale formula.

“People tell stories anyway,” says Donald Farmer, the Qlik vice president of innovation. What can software do? He says maybe the best thing is to just stay out of the way.