Biweeklycast

56: Spreadsheet mentality


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Dima and Slava discuss the spreadsheet mentality and the general difficulties of making data-driven decisions while not loosing the forest for the trees.

  • Theme corner: Dima's season of decoupling


Spreadsheet mentality (sometimes called "spreadsheet thinking") refers to an overly mechanistic or reductionist approach to decision-making and management that relies too heavily on quantitative metrics while ignoring qualitative factors and nuance.

  • Improving a number while loosing track of why we started this in the first place.
  • Measure = quantify, at least for the purposes of this discussion
  • Cult of data-driven decisions
  • Biweekly 52: Needs Analysis
  • The “Traffic Light” Approach to Problem Solving


Quotes on the topic

"What gets measured, gets managed.” – attributed to Peter Drucker or W. Edwards Deming

"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." – W. Edwards Deming

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” – Goodheart’s Law

“Tell me how you will measure me, and then I will tell you how I will behave. If you measure me in an illogical way, don’t complain about illogical behaviour.” – Eliyahu Goldratt

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