You Can Never Have Too Much Data, But Data Alone Can't Run a Campaign
- jeff5971
- May 1
- 2 min read
Can we have too much data? No.
Can we let the volume of data available to us blind our sometimes better and expert judgement?
This article argues "Yes" to that second question.
The article in question is about former manager Joe Madden and the (over) proliferation in data in baseball and in life.
Apologies if you don't have an "Athletic" subscription and can't read the link (but if you're a sports fan, The Athletic is WELL worth $8/month), but the gist of this article is this.
As a Manager of a baseball team, Joe wants all the data available to him...opposition hitting tendencies, etc, etc. But don't let the data make you lazy in terms of having it make every decision for you.
Most AI and "Big Data" is just that. Tools that are much better than humans at crunching large volumes of data and seeing patterns. But human beings are still in involved in sports and in life, and don't expect me to not use my decades of experience (in his case as baseball expert) and use that experience when I think the patterns the data may see don't apply to the specific situation in front of me.
If you're good at what you do, use the data you're given, see it for the often excellent tool it is, and evaluate what it's telling you, but then trust your gut and your expertise if you believe in the SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCE in front of you as a strategist or baseball manager, you think a call slightly (or significantly) different from the data or AI recommendation is the right call.
Maddon gives an example of managers who are told to position defensive players "on the dots" (meaning exactly where the data says the opposition batter hits the ball typically.) The tool is extremely valuable.
But he says too many managers are told not to ever deviate from the analytics. He argues that the data and analytics are a great tool, but if you wanted a robot making the decision, don't hire me. I may see something with my expert eyes and my good judgement of human character to trust the big data is accurate, but not this time. Sure, the last 5,000 plate appearances of this hitter gives me great insight into his tendencies, Maddon argues, but I can see something in his eyes that tells me this hitter is "on" or "off" at this moment.
This sentiment applies equally to campaign strategists. I love data. Dare I say, I loved data "before it was cool." Give it all to me. I will pour over it, all night and all weekend long.
But no robot or analytics or AI algorithm can replace the experience and instincts that a good campaign strategist has built up over the years.
Data and AI and analytics are tremendous tools in both the strategy and tactics of baseball and campaign management. I use them all and they make me and my friends in the business much better for it. But no AI or big data crunching will ever replace what we do.
What do you think? Will there ever be a great AI campaign strategist?
Comments