Welcome to the Human Side of Data

I have worked in the data business for 40 years. In that time I have watched numbers move markets, elect leaders, reshape companies and quietly change the way people live. The math can look precise. The human side rarely is.

This blog is my place to explore that gap. I’ll take a applied philosophical approach. I will look at how the public uses data in everyday life, how behaviors shift when people see a chart or a score, and how opinions are formed from headlines, rankings and “facts” that may or may not deserve our trust.

Over the years I have learned that good data work rests on three things:

 • Knowledge, so we understand what is being measured.

 • Experience, so we see how those measurements play out in the real world.

 • Imagination, so we can notice what might be missing and what could be better.

You will find short pieces built from real projects, experiments and problems I have seen up close. I will share situations where the numbers looked solid but the outcome failed, and moments when a simple question mattered more than a complex model.

My goal is simple: make this useful for people who create data and for people who live with the results. We will tell some stories, have some fun and, I hope, help you make your next decision with data a little clearer and a little wiser.