# Anonymous Analytics By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-02-13 Reports are increasingly passe. Digital formatting might play a part as to why. A digital report is not as weighty (physically and rhetorically) as a hardcopy report. Another contributing reason could be that context is decreasingly valued. Given the amount of context-free information we consume through texts and tweets, the context built within a report is superfluous. When reports are generated, decreasingly as it is, there are two ways analysts typically contribute. Traditionally, an analyst produces the product. The analyst generates the report, and the analyst’s name or company name is affixed. If a person has a question, the person responsible for the report is identifiable and can be contacted. An alternative approach is anonymous analytics. Under anonymous analytics, one generates a report for somebody else. The other person or organization affixes their name to the product. If there is a question, a person will reach out to the person responsible for the generated report but not the person responsible for generating the report. The issue with anonymous analytics is that the person taking credit for the report will know less than the person who created it. Since reports are passe, this is seldom an issue. People rarely ask for more context in a report that already contains more context than any other form of modern discourse. As currently practiced, chatbots can easily do the work of anonymous analytics. The company can create reports they don’t understand and provide them to customers who don’t care. Given that economic theory suggests that competitive markets drive organizations to efficiency, one might wonder why they would pay money for reports that aren’t functioning to inform decision-making. There are several reasons. First, this is what organizations are “supposed to do.” Organizations are conservative. If there is an expectation that “good managers” have reports generated, reports will be generated. Second, having a report can add comfort when facing an uncertain future. Having a report is like having a security blanket. Fears are assuaged. Lastly, the report serves a rhetorical or symbolic function. The report is a point around which attention and action can pivot. In this regard, reports are like flags, a rallying point for the team. Again, digital reports are inferior in this respect, as they are abstract symbolically. Anonymous analytics producing digital reports is a peculiar perspective from which to observe and understand organizational dynamics. From this perspective, what organizations do is understandable, even if it doesn’t make sense. #### Related Items [[Reporting]] [[Analytics]] [[Organization]] [[Norms]] [[Responsibility]] [[Anonymity]]