# Data is Dumb, not Difficult By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-11-02 There is a myth that data is difficult. Maybe at one point before we had supercomputers in our pockets, data was difficult. It took a long time to process, and it was costly to store. We are no longer in that situation. Yet, the myth propagates wildly within organizations. It's not that difficulty doesn't exist - it does. People struggle endlessly with data governance and making sense of it all. But, the data itself isn't difficult - it's the human condition. How we think and perceive the world individually and [[together]] is challenging. When you add mountains of data as evidence of truth, things get very difficult. Now we must align data to our opinions and beliefs versus traditional relationships, trust, and power dynamics. It's like multiplying your problem by 1,000 because the same data can be interpreted in many ways to support your perspective. But we believe data doesn't have this property when interpreted by humans, so we argue about data definitions when the real issue is the alignment of belief and purpose. Thus, we say data is difficult and ignore the human condition. Data will never align with belief and purpose. Data is dumb - it just exists. Humans provide the interpretation and give the data meaning based on their beliefs. The first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. Stop blaming data as the reason you can't move forward, be profitable, or achieve your objectives. Look deeper and analyze the situation. After all, [[analytics is not about data]]. #### Related Items [[Data]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Analytics]] [[Truth]] [[Purpose]] [[Philosophy]]