Consumed by work. Again.

My work life has been like a surfer waiting for a temperamental wave. And I am not the surfer here. By some magical coincidence, this is also the most exciting time for any one working in the marketing and media industry. That, in itself is a very humbling experience because now you finally know what you thought you knew but you were wrong. And we know what humbling experiences can do to a person’s temperament. One thing led to another and I landed at finally thinking about this monster called data. As I usually end up doing – over-thinking and under-doing – I thought that a lot of data may actually not be good for us. As much as we like to analyse, the extent of quantitative data used in any analysis should be limited, and strictly, to a certain place. Why? Because it will make success a guarantee which we know is a phenomenon that doesn’t exist. By making extremely informed decisions using techniques like predictive modeling and meta-physical complexification of simplification we are ensuring that we reduce risk. When we reduce risk, we reduce that chance of failure. And when we reduce the chance of failure, we lose the opportunities to learn. And when we stop learning, we know what happens. One look at the Indian National Congress party is proof enough. In fact, data was possibly the reason why the party failed to do what no one was expecting them to do anyway! They hired great statisticians and strategists but took their hand off the pulse of the common man.

It is not to say that data is taking the intuition out of decision making and in the age of relentless data trail, the generation of data is an irreversible eventuality but it is the universal access of every possible data point that will make it worthwhile for people to compete. We hear of walled gardens on the internet. Companies are trying to create their own universe of content and retaining users within the confines of what they can offer. This allows them to make more advertising dollars be demonstrating greater value. Of course they try and offer all possible content that a user may demand but this is fundamentally against the concept of choice and free will (at least of what I know about these concepts which is obviously limited). These algorithms are influencing a user’s opinion of their own choice. Facebook is the best example. Since your life gets defined by what happens in the newsfeed your view of the world becomes the view of your newsfeed. There is nothing more dangerous than that. Not even Godzilla.

My other worry is that at even if you read across a wide spectrum of content, most of the mention of big/small/fast/everything in between data is for the good of business. Mentions of the use of data for social good, education and governance are far and few. Agreed that economic uncertainties demand a special focus on ROI but the long term value of collecting all data from primary schools in India across attendance, teacher absenteeism, nutrition and infrastructure can go a long way in the overhaul of the education system. Crosstab is the strongest word in the English dictionary today!

I was introduced into the world of marketing when experienced clients took leaps of faith and landed from one rock to another without wetting their pants (in the stream). It was exciting then to see your decisions succeed despite data. It was disappointing to fail but responsibility was collective. I wonder how it will feel when you see something coming. What is the joy in doing anything by ensuring you always set it up to succeed?

To an extremely critical person like me who is forever looking to spot the spots in the laundry and the fly in the soup, thinking of solutions doesn’t come easy. So as much as I would want to solve this and make the world a better place, the numbers are working against me!!! Maybe I will have a good laugh at myself when I read this many years later and wonder why I ever thought like this. Maybe I can run a predictive model on that? No, not me.