On this episode Lauren is joined by Michael Dortch; who now writes at DortchOnIt.com. Lauren and Michael discuss the importance of data and how it is all around. They also dive into how a data-oriented person is someone who is interested in how the facts line up, and figuring out how to make better decisions based on that information.

Key Takeaways

1. Data is just the observation of how facts stack up. Anyone who is interested in making good decisions should be interested in data.
2. The beginning of good decision-making is curiosity. Curiosity about the world around us leads us to dig in and find the relevant facts and data.
3. It’s important to know the limits of your knowledge. Every decision involves unknown variables and unintended consequences.

Quotes

“We’re all data to somebody, right? So, there’s is almost no way to separate life from data. Everything we do in life is driven by data, some of it’s subconsciously and some of it consciously. So, in a sense, I’ve been paying attention to data ever since I understood that there was a world around me.”

“Donald Rumsfeld, when he was secretary of defense, used to talk about known-knowns, known-unknowns, and unknown-unknowns. Technology is really good at known-knowns, and it’s pretty good at known-unknowns, but that chasm dealing with the unknown-unknowns.”

Learn more: https://www.talend.com/blog/