What slogan will inherit the “data driven” throne?
A clue: it's probably not going to be "story driven"
For years now, the data industry has defined itself with its snappy little slogan, “data driven.” It sounds smart, scientific, and businesslike, all of which sells technology.
Like any slogan, “data driven” is an encapsulated story: the use of data to guide decisions. It’s a strong rejection of what came before: intuition or “gut.” Now we use cold, hard, passionless technology to help us think along machine-like paths.
You probably know the faults already. As much as we value rational decisions, we also value passion and gut instinct. For every business how-to guide for working like a machine, there’s at least one about letting your human nature guide you.
Compare that to how political memes trade off. During the ‘60s and into the ’70s, American progressivism reigned. Then things flipped, and flipped again and again as ideologies fought it out.
So it goes in business. One narrative dominates, then an opposing one, and back and forth it goes. That’s thanks to all the multiple, competing narratives running in our heads all the time. Today, the dominant business narrative is scientific decision making.
My favorite rival to “data driven” is “story driven.” It’ll probably always be too soft for supposedly hard-nosed business, but it’s closer to how we think. We use data to support stories. When we describe a house, for example, we tell about its appearance and history. Not even a real estate agent would refer to it as “that house with the 80 cubic yard concrete foundation.”
Keep your eye on “data driven” and its rivals. Eventually, scientific decision making will lose its marketing luster. We’ll take it for granted the way we take cost-based accounting for granted. Does anyone talk about that anymore?
What will take the place of “data driven”?