Seth Godin’s at it again, blogging about our favorite subject: decisions. His post Tuesday talked about the avalanche of data we now have at our disposal to assist in our decision-making, and how in many cases, because the data are counter-intuitive, they are ignored.
The real problem is the balance between intuition and data, and how they play in the process.
Data-heavy decisions become problematic when we infer relationships among sets of data that may not be there, or when we over-extrapolate current trends (as happened in the financial sector recently).
An over-reliance on intuition in a decision is just as bad. Bias traps aplenty lie in wait to lead decisions astray, or as Seth points out, good data simply get ignored because they are counter-intuitive.
What is the recipe for a great decision? One where data and intuition are considered appropriately within a clear decision-making process.