[Joe8Bit]

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take:

> In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process.

I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying the "design process" is just a giant, strictly qualitative "appeal to authority" fallacy and anyone who doesn't "get it" is some kind of naive rube?

[Hasu]

> I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying the "design process" is just a giant, strictly qualitative "appeal to authority" fallacy and anyone who doesn't "get it" is some kind of naive rube?

I don't think you're quite understanding the context when this happens and why it's a sign of a weak manager.

The team is discussing a new design. A disagreement comes up: what should the text on this button say? Both sides seem to have good arguments, but the manager doesn't know how to pick between them. What to do?

"Do we have any data on this? Maybe we should run an A/B test?"

But no A/B test is needed: this is text on a button that doesn't have a meaningful conversion rate, it's just about clarity. The data we gather will not be useful. The problem is the manager didn't want to be seen as picking sides or playing favorites, or just doesn't understand what's happening, so they moved their own responsibility to an "objective, external measurement" to avoid making a decision.

Generally, "data-driven" is a buzzword that means "we manipulate statistics to do what we wanted to do anyway".

[ajuc]

It's the old joke about tossing a coin so you can realize what you root for, just in real life.

[gleenn]

Not having data is not the equivalent of only talking in opinions. I will tell you rhat gathering data can and usually is tedious in many things. If I have to measure every single thing to make any argument, I'm quitting. Looking and thinking in data isn't a bad idea, but if it's just used as a crutch in an argument, then what I think the OP is arguing is that their manager is using it as a tool to make decisions but likely only the decisions they disagree with. As an engineer, I know many times that changes I make are going to work better, sans some fancy chart. If they're not, I think they'll show up on a graph one way or another and I think it's also healthy to be told my assumptions are wrong sometimes and I will happily revert my code. But I've never seen any org make purely data driven decisions as it is truly difficult to do, and whoever is saying things like that probably is selectively using that argument to get their way.

[cthor]

The odds of "the data" being gathered in a rigorous enough manner to have any truth value is exceedingly low. It's mostly a tactic to avoid accountability, much like consultants and committees.

[nsteel]

Although I do design things, I'm not a manager so maybe this is just outside my job description, but how do you "hang" during a design process? What does it mean? Leave it for bit and see? Honest question.

[Hasu]

It means being able to participate in the conversation, understand what is being proposed, and make useful decisions in the moment.