Chapter 3: You Can’t Trust the Data

The first two Chapters have provided some background. This one dives into the problem. It focuses on three statistics that should scare the life out of you. First is 20%, the best estimate of the percent of revenue companies waste due to bad data. Of course there is huge variation around that number. But still, WOW!

The WOW aside, you’re probably more worried about whether bad data affects you personally. After all, data arrives via some marvelous new technology. Seems like it ought to be fool-proof.

Which leads me to my second number, which is 3%. Over the last several years I had the opportunity to help lead the most comprehensive study of the quality of data as it is actually used, in health clinics, in tech companies, in government agencies. All sorts of data — data about patients, customers, billing, and so forth. The results are staggering! Bad data, really bad data, is the norm. The headline result is that only 3% of the datasets looked at meet basic quality standards. It is a scary statistic indeed. So let me say it again: Bad data, really bad data is the norm. You can look it up at hbr.org.

Finally, is 16%. That’s the fraction of managers in a recent survey by Harvard Business Review who reported that they fully trust the data. When I first read this survey, I thought, “How depressing?” How are we ever going to get anywhere with data if managers don’t trust it?”

Then I saw this number in a different light. If only 3% of the data is good, then why does anyone trust it! Most of those 16% must be woefully mis-informed.

HERE’S WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU. If you’ve ever wondered whether you should trust the data, the simple answer to the question: NEVER! Data quality is not a situation where “innocent til proven guilty” holds. Unless you have strong evidence to the contrary, you should not trust the data.

HERE’S A SECOND REASON THIS MATTERS TO YOU. Take another moment to digest those numbers: 3% — 16% — and 20%. Scary indeed. But don’t bemoan them — find an opportunity for yourself and seize it. I’ll lay out some specific ways to do so in the remaining Chapters. Plenty of people have done so. They’ve made themselves more valuable. And had a lot of fun in the process!

Missed the previous chapter? Click here for Chapter 2: What in the World is Data Quality?