6 ms·
> The problem with data driven decision making is that data is numeric, and the act of counting is necessarily an act of approximation, by which we erase the d
by geye1234 1mo ago
> The problem with data driven decision making is that data is numeric, and the act of counting is necessarily an act of approximation, by which we erase the difference between objects or events in order to bucket them into a category so that they can be counted.
Yes, this is exactly right. To put it another way: When we quantify something, we abstract away everything about that thing that is not quantifiable. So our thinking is only about a tiny aspect of that thing's existence.
- sseagull 1mo agoEveryone quotes Goodhart's law, but I think the McNamara fallacy is even more important nowadays. It should be read aloud to every CEO every day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNamara_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNamara_fallacy TLDR: Making a decision based on only qualitative data, and therefore ignoring qualitative information and observations, can lead to bad outcomes. Not everything that is important can be easily measured.
- waldarbeiter 1mo ago> Making a decision based on only qualitative data I suppose you meant quantitative and it's just a typo
- wvenable 1mo agoThese bad outcomes aren't coming. Maybe we as customers don't like it but it doesn't mean the companies are suffering for it. For example, McDonald's reported a full-year 2025 net income (profit) of $8.563 billion, an increase from the $8.223 billion reported in 2024.
- lkey 1mo agoSpirit of Capital Accumulation be praised! May 'annual profit' continue to be the only measure that has mattered, does matter, or will ever matter to those that bask in the radiance of perpetual earning growth!
- wvenable 1mo agoThe large multi-national corporation known as "McDonald's" should care about its family, friends, and personal fulfillment instead?
- valleyer 1mo agoYes. The people that make up that corporation should care about their fellow man (family, friends) and should take pride in making good things (personal fulfillment). We are allowed to pierce the corporate veil here.
- wvenable 1mo agoWho say's they don't? How does this compare to what you do for a living?
- johnnyanmac 1mo ago>Who say's they don't? Their workers, customers, and probably some local governments. They might even say it themselves at times. > How does this compare to what you do for a living? I make video games. There's always some sausage but I like to think I'm helping to bring joy and spark creativity, not simply make a billionaire richer. Given my lack of full time work, I'm at least sure these last few years I'm not doing the latter directly.
- dylan604 1mo agoReally think about it for a second; $8.5 billion in profit. That's an insane amount of money. How many companies with that kind of profit are actively dodging taxes from aggressive accounting, getting deals with local governments, or any other way? Not that the government would spend the extra tax revenue wisely. Instead, what if they took $1 billion of that to increase the pay of the lowest earning employees significantly while not increase the highest earners at all, or paying 100% of health care (medical, dental, vision, and mental), or any of the other things to help improve employee relationships. Then, start focusing on the external things that could be directly improved by taking less profit to improve things for those so much is taken. That's still $7.5 billion in profit.
- enquirewithin 1mo agoMeaningless. The correct question is: how much more or less would they make if they were applying some other philosophy? At least in the context of this conversation. And, an increase in profit of $340 million across 13,882 stores (in the US) is less impressive. And presumably that $8.563 billion is McDonalds corporate and the franchisees didn’t see all of that gain.
- wvenable 1mo agoThis is meaningless because it's entirely hypothetical. If McDonald's is only looking at quantitative data the "bad outcome" hasn't come for them. It seems quite successful in fact (especially in these tough economic times). Maybe if leads to a massive failure we can come back and revisit this but for now, based on facts, it's working just fine for them. People like to believe that enshitifying everything will eventually lead to failure because sucks for us. It does suck for us. But I'm not convinced that karma is coming for them.
- marcus_holmes 1mo agoSo if I make $0.10 of profit, all my decisions are validated? What if we knew that Maccas could have made $20 billion, but ignoring qualitative data reduced their profits to $8.563 billion. Do those decisions still look smart?
- cma 1mo agoStill doesn't look like it is hurting them, but to put it in perspective that's a 4% increase in profit, while 2025 inflation was around 2.5%. Closer to a 1.5% gain in real terms.
- xorcist 1mo ago> we abstract away everything about that thing that is not quantifiable It's worse, we simply abstract away everything else, including innumerable things that are quantifiable.
- impendia 1mo agoOnce I quit my internet service, and someone representing the internet provider called me and asked if I'd agree to participate in an exit survey. Sure, I said. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied were you with..." "Umm, can I just tell you why I cancelled my service, as if you and I were both human beings?" "I'm sorry, I have to follow this script exactly." So I apologized to the guy and hung up.