What exactly is implied? Are we talking about data-driven, or about data-informed decision-making here? And, when a team says that they want “a better definition” of some goals, incentives, and/or initiatives, shouldn’t they be more explicit in voicing their concerns and questions? “A better definition” or “a better understanding” sound just as misleading to those who are expected to provide this very “better definition” and “better understanding”, and I know only one remedy: concrete questions, and concrete answers, and all done in writing. “ the following questions pop up in my mind immediately: “What was wrong with the autonomy before? How exactly it didn’t work well for the business and for the people? How more autonomy is going to ensure better outcomes, and what is actually implied by “more autonomy”? The same goes about the word combo “data-driven decision-making”. The audience leaves the gathering with their questions unanswered, and - if there are too many gatherings which run in such fashion - the demon can eventually provoke some massive explosions (I wrote on that here).Īnd, as I see this, hypothetically, as a bullet in a PowerPoint presentation: “More autonomy will be given to ensure the best possible outcomes… etc. As a result, the Lack of Communication demon gets more food. However, the format of the presentation - and the time constraints - allow little room for the audience to give enough thinking to formulating their questions, and - in some cases - presenters might not be ready to answer the questions right away as well. And, you can literally feel how the audience elicits the question mark fluids (fellow empaths, high five).
Many of us have been witnesses to such scenes: after a PowerPoint presentation (which is indeed an easier format for the presenter) at an org’s meeting presenters call for questions. This is easy for the presenter, but difficult for the audience. In our view you get very little information, you get bullet points. Somebody gets up in front of the room and presents with a PowerPoint presentation, some type of slide show. The traditional kind of corporate meeting starts with a presentation. Someone at Amazon - or Jeff Bezos himself - is cited as having said the following: I’m gonna need some help from Amazon now, and this wouldn’t be about ordering consumer goods from them. Today, I want to go simple, and draw a connection between the tech’s industry love affair with numbers & data and … a failed relationship with Communication. In fact, I’ve done an in-depth cause & effect analysis for some of the cases and the root causes, and I intend to share this narrative with the readers some day. Maybe, this happens due to the fact that some of the root cases are… very, very uncomfortable to deal with. Well, perhaps, one could reason, it’s more comfortable for tech folks to keep citing “lack of communication” as a valid excuse for bottlenecks, as compared to unearthing the root causes. What I haven’t seen much of is the resolve and tenacity to dig to the root causes of the said “lack of communication” which literally plagues the industry, with the goal of fixing it. Losing a major customer or an account? “Oops, there’s certainly been some lack of communication.“ A delayed or a failed release? “Ahh, we’ve done everything right, there must have been some lack of communication somewhere”. I’ve been in the industry long enough, and I remember people citing lack of communication as a routine excuse for any and all mishaps. However, at the same time there’s an ever-present woe that is experienced by many companies, established corporations, and start-ups alike, and that woe is called … Lack of Communication.
Data and quantification are everywhere, and since data and the tools for data processing are easily accessible, most organizations choose to rely on numbers and on data as their primary tool for communication and decision-making.
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