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Be good-argument-driven, not data-driven - Richard Marmorstein

twitchard.github.io · 2,001 words · saved by 2 readers

’ve ranted previously about taking empirical research about software engineering practices with a grain of salt. Let’s dust off the old salt shaker and season up a related idea: the notion that software organizations ought to be “data-driven”, i.e. that all teams and projects should define metrics to evaluate their success; decisions should be generally be given some data-based justification; without data we can’t be objective; if we rely merely on reason and intuition, bias will creep in. Science! Truth! The American Way! There’s nothing wrong with a fondness for data. The trouble begins when you begin to favor bad arguments that involve data over good arguments that don’t, or insist that metrics be introduced in realms where data can’t realistically be the foundation of a good argument. Sometimes data-based arguments are perfectly acceptable. Let’s have a diagram! Let’s have some prose, too: Are all factors that drive your metric well-understood? Some things you can measure and ~comp

Be good-argument-driven, not data-driven by Richard Marmorstein - August 26, 2022 ← Home ’ve ranted previously about taking empirical research about software engineering practices with a grain of salt. Let’s dust off the old salt shaker and season up a related idea: the notion that software organizations ought to be “data-driven”, i.e. that all teams and projects should define metrics to evaluate their success; decisions should be generally be given some data-based justification; without data we can’t be objective; if we rely merely on reason and intuition, bias will creep in. Science! Truth!

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