Seth's Blog : An anecdote and a statistical analysis walk into a bar

The bar is dark and dingy, well-used, with a bit of danger in the air. The sort of bar that wouldn't be out of place in a Clint Eastwood movie. The anecdote has been through a lot. There's the drama with his family, sure, but also the fight he had with ...

An anecdote and a statistical analysis walk into a bar

The bar is dark and dingy, well-used, with a bit of danger in the air. The sort of bar that wouldn’t be out of place in a Clint Eastwood movie.

The anecdote has been through a lot. There’s the drama with his family, sure, but also the fight he had with his boss today. He needs this job, what with the payments coming due on the house, not to mention his gambling debts…

A guy walks up to the anecdote and taps him on the shoulder. A bad move at any time, but today, it’s particularly ill-advised. Putting down his beer, the anecdote turns, in a rage, about to punch the stranger in the face.

At the last moment, fist poised to strike out, the anecdote stops. This stranger–he seems somehow familiar. Could it be? Is it his long-lost brother?

The valid statistical analysis, the one that’s correct, useful but hard to believe if you haven’t been trained in statistics? He’s in the corner, being ignored.

The most effective statisticians are the ones who aren’t afraid to tell a story. Because anecdotes are the way we navigate the world.

  

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Seth's Blog : And your company will pay for it

You might be surprised at your company's reimbursement policy for education. Not only can you expense that book that will change the way you do your job, but you can probably take a course on the company's dime (and perhaps even get some time to work on ...

And your company will pay for it

You might be surprised at your company’s reimbursement policy for education.

Not only can you expense that book that will change the way you do your job, but you can probably take a course on the company’s dime (and perhaps even get some time to work on it).

It’s a great deal for the company. You get paid the same, but now you’re smarter, more engaged and more skilled.

And it’s a great deal for you. Because one day, when you leave the company, you’re going to take the smarter with you.

It’s interesting to consider why so few people take advantage of this extraordinary perk.

One reason is that you might not be aware of it (but now you are).

A second reason is that learning might remind you of school, and alas, school has created bad associations for some people who were hurt by the command and control mindset of industrial education.

The biggest reason I encounter, though, is that people are afraid. Afraid to ask the boss, afraid to assert their desire to learn something and afraid that after they’ve learned it, they won’t be able to live up to the increased expectations.

Even as I type this, I hope you can see how silly this is.

Relentlessly lowering expectations can work in the short run (hello George Costanza) but it’s hardly a strategy worthy of you and your next 10,000 days at work.

Enroll. Engage. Learn. And level up. Ask your boss and give it a try.

  

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Seth's Blog : The first database rule

If you participate in a database about people or their work, the first rule is simple: it should be as simple to fix an error as it is to make one. If you mischaracterize something, get a digit wrong, sort it wrong, include a typo, inadvertently leave ...

The first database rule

If you participate in a database about people or their work, the first rule is simple: it should be as simple to fix an error as it is to make one.

If you mischaracterize something, get a digit wrong, sort it wrong, include a typo, inadvertently leave something out, put someone on a list of privilege or denial… every one of these errors is expensive–to you and to the person you’ve misrepresented.

You make it worse, far worse, when you insist that the database can’t be changed.

It’s bad enough that we’ve reduced people and their work to digits. At least we can be agile in fixing our mistakes.

(And yes, I’m talking about the conceptual databases each of us carry around in our heads, not just the digital ones on our desks).

  

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