Algorithm reluctance, home-visit showdown, and the problem with wearables.
kitten on keyboard awww!

Yikes, evidence-based decisions are taking on water. Decision makers still resist handing the car keys to others, even when machines make better predictions. And government agencies continue to, ahem, struggle with making evidence-based policy.  — Tracy Altman, editor 1. Evidence-based home visit program loses funding.The evidence base has developed over 30+ years. Advocates for home visit programs – […]

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Don’t show me the evidence. Show me how you weighed the evidence.
calculator saying I don't Know

Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that if people just had access to all the relevant data, then the right decision – and better outcomes – would surely follow. Of course we know that’s not the case. A number of things block a clear path from evidence to decision to outcome. Evidence can’t speak for […]

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Choices, policy, and evidence-based investment.
bad arguments

1. Bad Arguments → Bad Choices Great news. There will be a follow-on to the excellent Bad Arguments book by @alialmossawi. The book of Bad Choices will be released this April by major publishers. You can preorder now. 2. Evidence-based decisions → Effective policy outcomes The conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, is advocating for evidence-based […]

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How Warby Parker created a data-driven culture.
PepperSlice data-driven presentation

1. SPOTLIGHT: Warby Parker data scientist on creating data-driven organizations. What does it take to become a data-driven organization? “Far more than having big data or a crack team of unicorn data scientists, it requires establishing an effective, deeply ingrained data culture,” says Carl Anderson. In his recent O’Reilly book Creating a Data-Driven Organization, he […]

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Analytics of presentations, Game of Thrones graph theory, and decision quality.

1. Edges, dragons, and imps. Network analysis reveals that Tyrion is the true protagonist of Game of Thrones. Fans already knew, but it’s cool that the graph confirms it. This Math Horizons article is a nice introduction to graph theory: edges, betweeness, and other concepts.   2. Teach your team to make high-quality decisions. Few of […]

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