Rule 3: Instrument and use the data

So, here’s a little puzzle for you: you have a piece of rope that just fits around the earth at the equator. You now add 1 meter long sticks all around the equator and put the rope on top of these sticks. How much longer do you need to make the rope? Of course, you remember from one of your science classes that the circumference of the earth at the equator is a bit over 40,000 kilometers. So, maybe something like a meter for every kilometer? If that was your first thought, you’re really far off. The right answer is 6.28 meters! Surprised?

It turns out that humans are notoriously bad at answering these kinds of questions. One of my favorite illustrations of this is that people who start working out tend to gain rather than lose weight. Why is that? It’s because they tend to significantly overestimate the number of calories they burn by training and then eat too much to compensate for the estimated rather than the actual number of calories. Instead of relying on our guesses and estimates, we should rely on accurate and timely data.

The third rule for thriving in a digital world is to instrument the processes and activities you use to accomplish the outcomes you quantitatively defined in rule 2 (based on your purpose as clarified in rule 1) and to then use the data for ensuring you hit the intended outcomes. If not (or not optimally), you can of course correct or change the processes and activities.