Infoporn

Sales Professional Wanted! Must be able to fill out timely sales reports accurately! (actual recruiting ad)

Increasingly we can amass formidable data on anything we want. Damn little is worth the effort involved to capture it. When I set up a new analytic, it usually falls into one of two categories, “Ooops, not useful,’ or more rarely, “Needs refinement,” before “Ooops, not useful.” Breakaway ratios are infrequent and fleeting.

Reminds me of the fruit vendor who explained his business model, “I buy for one dollar, sell for two, take my ten percent and go home.” He ended up with six stores and a fleet of trucks.

It’s easy to spend important work time collecting, transmitting and looking at data that doesn’t move you forward. That’s even easier when it keeps you from doing something scary, like going out and making a new customer. And even easiest when your boss encourages timely reporting instead of work.

Infoporn is spending time gazing at seductive pictures when we could be doing work.