2025-04-02 Data Informed, not Data Driven
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I really dislike the phrase "data driven". I want **people** "driving" - I want them making the key decisions that move things forwards.

And I want those people to be **informed** by data - where they can be, and where it makes sense.
But the most meaningful decisions involve unknowns, and ultimately someone needs to make a call.
And equipping them with data is valuable, but ultimately it's down to them, and I want to use a term that reflects that.

I want data to **inform** actions, not to drive them.

(In my more cynical moments I think some folks use "data driven" as a kind of `accountability sink <https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/accountability-sinks>`_ - "It's not my fault, the data said so")

See Also
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.. raw:: html

    <blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:2b2lqipf3vklnfslluzsqiso/app.bsky.feed.post/3llwvz6vwh32u" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreibapb5opid3ob6tcgzglyxzhyzlucgxxydszdgoecmaqrf7ce3g2i" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode="system"><p lang="en-US">Always seek data; never act on data alone.

    Because not looking at the data is just ignorance, but believing that all important things are in the data, or that the data are measuring what you think they&#x27;re measuring, is also folly.</p>&mdash; Jason Cohen (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2b2lqipf3vklnfslluzsqiso?ref_src=embed">@asmartbear.com</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2b2lqipf3vklnfslluzsqiso/post/3llwvz6vwh32u?ref_src=embed">3 April 2025 at 23:07</a></blockquote><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>