Hi ,
Economic theory suggests that one of the most valuable things you can offer a person is choice.
$100 cash is worth more than a $100 item because the cash can be spent on
anything you choose.
And if asked, most people would say they prefer more choice rather than less.
Yet, as psychologist Barry Schwartz argued in his book The Paradox of Choice, having too much choice can also lead to anxiety and regret.
As human beings, we like the idea of choice, but the consequence is that it makes us less happy.
Here's the thing...
Over the past decade, there has been a shift in many organisations towards self-serve analytics, with businesses empowering their users (both technical and non-technical) with dashboard tools they can customise themselves.
Which sounds great until reality kicks in.
Data science and analytics are a profession, and building good dashboards is a skill - which people who don't belong to one of these professions frequently lack.
Workers should be empowered with the data and information needed to do their jobs, by all means. But making them source it themselves is rarely the way to go.
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Brian T O'Neill about how data scientists can create data products people actually want to use. You can check out our conversation at the link below: Episode 44: Designing Data Products People Actually Want to
Use
Talk again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes.
