Quantitative versus Qualitative
I just got off the phone with a colleague and we were having a conversation about data. He brought up some good questions and points and so I figured I’d jot a few of them down here before they went right out of my head again.
The gist of the discussion was the difference between quantitative and qualitative data. He was having some trouble explaining the difference to his boss. One line of questioning I asked right off the top was, “Why is this a controversy? Why the heck does this even matter? How did this become a topic of conversation?” It’s always useful to get to the bottom of why someone is asking a question so as to better address it in the first place. Plus, this seems more like an academic inquiry rather than something that’ll actually make a huge difference in what they’re doing.
It is, however, pertinent in a discussion like this, because I’ve used the mechanism that quantitative data can tell us where to look, while qualitative data can tell us what to do once we get there. More on that in a moment. […]
It’s the little things
I’ve noticed that, when I write about CX or speak with other CX professionals, I often tend to append my anecdotes about my own experiences with something like, “Well, now, this wasn’t a huge deal, but…” or, “Of course, it’s not the end of the world, but…” I see many other CX leaders do the same thing. I’ve written before about how CXers can be the best and the worst Customers because, while we’re sympathetic to those with whom we interact, being in the business we’re also pretty demanding from those who should know better; we recognize and call missteps out when we see them. […]
Half-measures and full-measures
I used to work out at a gym that had a bothersome, but almost comedic tendency: Whenever a piece of equipment broke down, someone would diligently and swiftly mark it with an “Out of Order” sign. The particular machine would usually sit like that (broken, that is) for weeks on end. Now, part of this is the result of compartmentalized work: The person whose job it was to properly label broken machinery literally is done with his job once that sign is in place…it’s someone else whose responsibility it is to fix it. But you almost got the sense through the entire club that that’s all that was necessary when something went wrong: label it as broken, and move on. […]
Don’t confuse your system with reality
Improving our processes is hard work. There’s a lot of research and thinking that goes into the exercise of getting better at what we do. Add to that the complexities and politics of change management—especially if your organization is large and/or well-established—and it can be daunting for sure. People spend careers refining their approach to Process Engineering, and quite frankly, if it’s being done right, there’s a lot of math involved. And as any one of my cadets can tell you…math is hard.
One thing that (unnecessarily, in my opinion) makes it even more of a challenge is the wrong perspective. I consider it unnecessary because it’s a human tendency, but not an inevitability, to see things from our own perspective and miss those of others. […]
