Do your homework!

...You are told. And as a lowly employee, tail-between-your legs you retreat back to your cubicle to do more research, compile data, assess, investigate, quantify, draw tables, compare, export graphs, analyse graphs...etc

Then, your smart boss glances at the painstakingly prepared report and chooses the ‘winner’, ignoring all your work, taking a hit in the dark, based on his instinct, experience or nothing at all...

Is there a difference between ‘making an informed decision’ and ‘pretending to be doing so’?

Are we fooling ourselves with endless data gathering and following pseudo-scientific methodologies to come to answers we would get to easily by flipping a coin?

I’ve been following one of the latest long-winded discussions on what AEC modelling package one should invest in for a lifetime and as usually, all sides are passionate.

Personally I am losing interest in the topic that is failing to provide anything new or interesting.

Still, one comment published triggered some counter-comments that lead me to comment (again):

“Performing point-by-point comparisons may lull people into feeling that they are making an informed and considered choice, shrewd marketers have known for centuries that ‘endorsement by key parties’ sells better and more.”

My hunch is that the way we make even the biggest decisions in life are very similar to how we choose a cereal box from the shelf of the supermarket.