Data and Creativity

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I and my team had to make a presentation to the accounting team of an organization we were trying to sale our software to. We were working into a room of Accountants and statisticians and by default our presentation would generally be made of graphs and data analysis and how our product was going to help improve that data.

Half way into creating our presentation, our team leader who is more of an artist than anything else decided to put the data based presentation to rest and pick up a picture based model that focused on the solutions our products provided making use of a minimalistic design backed by sensual music when necessary.

The presentation was a success and everyone in the room loved it. The managing director even hinted that he would love to sit under our presentation one more time simply because it was fun.

The question now is what did our data miss? our analysis stated that this was a group of Accountants who would want to see numbers but you see this data was based only on their profession without considering the possibility of very conflicting personalities. That is the problem with data, it always misses something. One can be fairly certain that there were statisticians who loved music in that room, those who loved art, those who were simply bored by all the big data and those who are here simply because it was their job.

Most times data in itself is meaningless and in some cases very misleading. Data more often than not doesn't tell us what to do. Most times the answer to that "what does the data say question" is usually "so little".

Apple is one of those companies whose success is based on more of individual creativity and ingenuity than big data analysis, it wasn't about what the data says the people want for Steve Jobs but about creating what they couldn't imagine but learn to love easily.

Am not trying to undermine the value of big data as our future will be pivoted by a data rich present, am trying to point engineers, creators, designers and architect away from a world of analytics to a more creative one. So how best can data be approached to boost creativity and bring about more powerful use of available information?.

How should You Approach Data

It's pretty simple, data should be seen as information and not insight. Put simply it's not about the available tools and techniques but about the painter. Data is of little use when one expects all truth from it without putting his assumptions and perceptions and getting past these with creativity.
The point here is that data should be constantly experimented with until a satisfactory result not a pre conceived one is reached.

Another good approach to available data is questioning everything.

• Who obtained this data

• Under what conditions was this data obtained

• What was the researchers aim

• What techniques were used and why.

• What if I take out this item or that item from it, what would be the effect. and so on and so forth.

Creativity in a Data Rich World

Data has become an essential part of or work, business and even our personal lives. As a problem solver you rely on data as a tool to help understand the wider world around you to create new things.
Data should be seen purely as information but let the insights come from you and those you work with. In my opinion it's a bad idea to rely on data as a driver.

When next you are faced with a data driven scenario, search for the questions such data generates rather than look for the solutions it provides. As the kunfu masters would say, let your chi come from within, lol.

Am very much interested in your opinions on this topic, Have an amazing week.