Daniel Haight: Better decision making through stronger analytics
Whether using it to solve big problems or deal with everyday annoyances, analytics has become a useful tool for organizations. However, Daniel Haight is cautioning municipalities to be careful with using it.
Haight, president and co-founder of Darkhorse Analytics, shared his thoughts on the challenges surrounding evidence-based decision making with members of the Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association (OMAA). After delivering the opening keynote address to delegates at the 2019 OMAA Spring Conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Haight sat down with Municipal World CEO and publisher Susan Gardner to further discuss how organizations can harness the power of analytics to achieve better decisions.
Addressing Reasons for Analytics Failures
Haight said research suggests more than 80 percent of analytics projects fail. However, the reason why is rarely because someone’s math was wrong.
His advice to local government leaders was not to fall in love with technology. What is of greater importance is finding “rational thinkers” who are skeptical of their own results.
With Analytics, Small Steps Come First
His second suggestion was to start with smaller projects first. Instead of tackling that multi-million-dollar obstacle, Haight said it is better to solve something smaller first and build momentum toward what he calls an evidence-based or digital culture.
“My sense is, in the public sector, we tend toward the extreme of too much privacy, whereas the private sector tends too much to the extreme of too much openness,” he said. “Finding the right balance is going to be an ongoing battle.” MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in the article: OMAA focuses on municipal innovation and engagement. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.
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