What wins in a fight: Consistency or out-performance?

Monday's project was to improve performance at a consumer experience company.

In other words…

It was half-term so we took a couple of hours out of the day to go ten-pin bowling.

We played two games, and I noticed during the first game that the total score for all players was shown at the bottom of the screen.

And I liked that idea as it added a team element to a competitive activity.

So for the second game, we were all working to beat the team score from the first game.

The mindset switch to maximising our score did change the way I thought about the game (FYI, I'm not that good at bowling) because I was now thinking about maximising my score, rather than where I was relative to the other players.

The key to maximising the score is through strikes (hitting down all ten pins in one go) and spares (doing so in two goes) as this doubles your subsequent score. This means that going from good (8 or 9 pins) to great (all 10) is much more than a 10% or 20% improvement.

But one occasion I hit a spare, followed by a single pin, so my score was only increased by one - effectively negating the advantage achieved by the spare.

Your organisation can almost certainly deliver a great data project. And it will lead to some benefits.

But can it deliver two in a row? Or more?

And can it do increasingly well over time so you get the multiplier effect?

Or do you deliver the project; close it down; and go back to your old ways?

If you would like to chat about sustainable data management at your organisation , then my diary is open here.

Have a wonderful week,
Charles

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