Why Less Means More for PPPs and Data: Keys to collecting the right information

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes, is a master at using data. With his unparalleled intellect and observational skills, Holmes has an uncanny ability to collect data— but collecting isn’t enough. In order to solve his cases, he needs to not only collect data, but understand which elements apply to the issues at hand and which to discard as irrelevant. Holmes needs the “right” data.

The short story “A Scandal In Bohemia” was first published in 1891. At that time, collecting data implied a lot of painstaking, time consuming, and sometimes—for a certain detective named Holmes—dangerous work. In 2016, data collection is facilitated by computers and is oftentimes fully automated. As our ability to generate and collect information continues to grow exponentially, the question arises of how this vast repository of information—this data—can be used. Perhaps just as importantly, we need to ask when it should be used and when it should simply be ignored.