Don’t confuse stories with facts

As humans we have an insatiable desire to explain untoward events so we can get on with solutions.

We leap to conclusions because we don’t like being uncertain.

Sales are down because of X.

The patient got an infection because of Y.

But there’s a huge problem with this. X and Y are often stories that we use to explain the facts. So, we end up solving for the symptom and not the cause.

To get the correct answer almost always requires more facts.

Sales being down are a fact. There is a lot of data behind this fact to accurately diagnose why.

Don’t solve stories, solve facts.

Or else you’ll be solving a different story next month when this ‘solution’ fails.