[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.