2011: The Role of Interpretation in Insight

Data > InsightA design thinking approach to understanding

data and what to do with it

Matt Mayfield - Oct 2011

Matt Mayfield

IIT Institute of DesignGraduate program in Design Research and PlanningEmphasis on methods to improve design thinking

Motorola Mobility (now a part of Google)Mobile Devices and Services management Emphasis on understanding the impact of mobility on daily life

Doblin Group (now a part of Monitor)Innovation Strategy consultingEmphasis on user-centered techniques for business innovation


Today

“Executives want better ways to communicate complex insights so they can quickly absorb the meaning of the data and take action.”

Big Data, Analytics and the Path From Insights to Value. MIT Sloan Management review, winter 2011.

Drowning in Data

Portable People Meter Nucleus Energy Manager


Aggregation to disaggregation

individual activity

bytes

terabytes

broad aggregation

‘bazillion’-bytes

petabytes



Sensors

Devices

Processes

Trends

Operations

individual activity

bytes

terabytes

broad aggregation


petabytes



Sensors

Devices

Processes

Trends

Operations

individual activity

bytes

terabytes

broad aggregation

Public

Personal

Organizational


petabytes


Data is dumb, we want insight

liposuction impacts property values? Google Trends, Aug 2011


Visualization will save us?

Aaron Koblin

Interpretation Affected by Bias


[bias] Anchoring

We are terribly bad at revisiting our initial assessment of a situation. The initial framing of the problem is hard to shake.

999-99-9999


[bias] Emotional tagging

We attach the emotions and feelings associated with remembered experiences to the new situation. This helps us decide if we should deal with the situation or not, and if so, what sorts of things we might do.


[bias] Attribution

We tend to take credit for positive outcomes but attribute negative outcomes to external factors. This inclination is exaggerated by our tendency to misperceive the causes of events.

Politician


[bias] Complexity

“It is very difficult, if not impossible, for an individual decision maker to see an entire complex system.”

G. Sargut and R. Gunther “Learning to Live With Complexity” The Harvard Business Review, September 2001.


[bias] Limited exposure

As our tools for finding information try and predict what we want, they begin to favor what we “like”. This is in conflict with our expectation that search results are objective and independent of our interests.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html





Interpretation is Social


[social] Storytelling to understand


[social] Socializing improves insight

The process of transferring knowledge requires both socialization (person to person) and externalization (person to group).

Ikujiro Nonaka, Noboru Konno, The concept of "Ba’: Building foundation for Knowledge Creation. California Management Review Vol 40, No.3 Spring 1998.


[social] Groupthink

Structural faults:• insulation of the group• lack of impartial leadership• lack of norms requiring

methodological procedures• homogeneity of members' social

backgrounds and ideology

Situational context:• highly stressful external threats• recent failures• excessive difficulties on the

decision-making task• moral dilemmas

Irving Janis, Victims of Groupthink, 1972

Kelly Blair, 2010, Wired Magazine


Requires different workspaces and tools for different collaboration stages.Cheskin/Herman Miller Study, “Collaboration in Practice.” 2001.

Requires an organization and reward system that promote team accomplishment rather than individualistic action.Anne Donnellon, Team Talk, Harvard Business School Press, 1996

“Shared leadership” in complement with “vertical leadership.”Craig L. Pearce, The Future of Leadership: Combining Vertical and Shared Leadership to Transform Knowledge Work.

[social] Gathering people is not enough

What can be done?


Increase diversity of thought

More perspectives and views are better

Deviant roles actually can help...

Temperatures

Radar

Jet Stream

Wind speeds

Heat Index

Radar/satellite

RPM Forecast

Dew Point

Watches/Warnings

Satellite

Visibility

Feels Like Temps


Make room for reflection


Seek out plausible alternatives

“The objective is not to get a more accurate picture of the world around us but to influence decision making inside the mind of the decision maker. The objective of good scenarios is better decisions not better predictions.”

Peter Schwartz, Co-Founder of Global Business Network, The Business, 22/23 September 2002


Support collaboration

“[Collaboration is] the process of creation: two or more individuals with complementary skills interacting to create a shared understanding that none had previously possessed or could have come to on their own.”

Michael Schrage, “No More Teams! Mastering the Dynamics of Creative Collaboration.” Doubleday, New York, 1995.


In an increasingly complex world, even routine tasks have become so complicated that mistakes are frequent.Written guides that prevent them from forgetting key steps in any complex procedure.

Checklists help decentralize power: they foster communication and teamwork instead of relying on individual prowess.

The Checklists Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, Atul Gawande.

Use tools and methods

Interpretation in Practice

Data - Tools - Environments


Steelcase Leadership Community“We are better leaders because of this space.” James Hacket, CEO, Steelcase Inc.

100 sq. ft. area, created in 1995 that gathers the top 25 Steelcase executives. Lots of informal meeting space, a large central workspace with a “dashboard,” shared private spaces on demand.

Results: increased communication among leadership team, made top executive faster in key processes and in implementing changes.

Data > InsightInsight is interpreted

Interpretation is affected by bias

Interpretation is socially improved

Tools and environments can help
