Garbage In …. Garbage Out
I recently spent some time at one of my favorite local coffee shops in South Austin. While waiting for the barista to prepare my morning cup of Joe ( it must be in a ceramic mug because coffee tastes so much better in a mug than in a paper cup) my eye fell upon a small chalkboard displayed on the counter top.
It seems that every week the store manager writes a little fact to grab your attention while you wait for your hot or cold brew to be prepared. It’s a moment to get you to stop and think.
That day the statement on the chalkboard written in steady and clear prose read “the amount of energy used in the US to run our HVAC is equal to the total energy used annually on the entire continent of Africa”
Now I know it gets super hot in central Texas in the summer, but something just about that statement didn’t seem to sit well with me. My curiosity was peaked. I know that we consume and waste a lot of energy in the US. That’s a given. However, that’s not what bothered me.
I’ve traveled the world, including East Africa and can attest that it’s not the dark backward agglomeration of failed countries that we’ve been fed for years. It is not the “Dark Continent” of the 1950’s, 1960’ and 1970’s. That’s not to say that there are pockets – large pockets of severe poverty and famine. But on the whole, African countries, like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zaire and others are not barren deserts occupying space on the huge continent. They are thriving pseudo modern economies. People own cars, people own air conditioners, people own smartphones, TVs, Kitchen appliances. All of the items that we all own as well.
Obviously the point of the blackboard was to get visitors to the coffee shop to think about our energy consumption and how we treat our natural resources.
It got me to thinking though about how we accept information blindly. Especially businesses that bow at the alter of business intelligence. Shouldn’t we all employ more critical thinking rather than accept items at face value? Especially from sources we don’t know or haven’t vetted?
We are bombarded with similar truisms all the time. Watch or listen to any pundit on TV and they invariably will state with certainty that “the facts are …” or “the fact of the matter is” as if they did individual and vetted research into the facts of the matter. Rather, they are just spewing something that they read elsewhere and did not confirm or vet or maybe taking certain facts our to context and giving them a broader interpretation than they deserve.
This use of unsubstantiated or even false information is not isolated to public discourse. It has permeated the business intelligence companies use to determine strategy and make key decisions.
The purpose of data collection and analysis is to be able to reach correct conclusions and make smart decisions. As the data gathering of Business Intelligence (BI) and Competitive Intelligence (CI) becomes more automated and systematized, the more critical it is to use the skills of critical thinking, perspective and common sense. If something doesn’t seem just right – then question the intelligence, vet and substantiate from another source if possible. Don’t just simply accept that all data presents the whole truth.
As the saying goes – “Garbage In Garbage Out”.