REVIEW: Ruben Ugarte — The Data Mirage (BOOK)
Summarizing analogously what it’s like reading Ruben Ugarte’s The Data Mirage: Why Companies Fail to Actually Use Their Data, one would say it’s all about the elementals. In this case, said elementals being data, and how to make smart business choices based on the best possible reading and interpretation of said data.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://rubenugarte.com/
Ugarte provides detailed work scenarios and broken down aspects of the processes chapter-by-chapter, in effect almost flicking his earlobes when citing examples of experienced, seasoned professionals making embarrassingly amateurish and somewhat obtuse organizational choices. Ugarte writes on what arguably is his evidence-based opinion on how to properly utilize data trends, and he has a good blend of both authoritative and engaging. He’s so subtly sarcastic in some of his portrayals of simplistic and inflammatory decision-making resulting in bad business that as a reader you’d almost feel like ignoring him would result on you being on the wrong side of history.
Ugarte’s track record as the founder of a premier data analytics company obviously makes him an authority on the topic, in addition to his extensive work with over seventy-five thousand national and international clientele. Because of the push-pull factors of such a hierarchal relationship, Ugarte never truly crosses the line to stating his approach and perfected step-by-step processes are law. But he goes right to the edge, with sobering and vividly described examples that will make even the most unsentimental, left-brain corporate cynic cringe with an appropriate burst of chagrin.
A particular nugget that stands out is from a metaphorical scenario Ugarte paints regarding being stranded in the equivalent of an outdoor fire. “We were lost in the middle of the forest,” he writes. “We couldn’t see the way out because all the trees looked the same. In this project, all we could do was keep putting out the fires and hope to find a minute to breathe. Pausing can seem weird when there’s chaos but sometimes it’s the only sensible answer.” Such dramatics is then tempered by the snarkily effective title of the book’s fifth chapter, Creating Reports That People Actually Understand. The result, again, is something that keeps readers hooked by the caustic blend of statistics and somewhat dark, understated humor.
Charisma has always proved another secret ingredient to long-term success. Ugarte has the finesse of an experienced salesman, neither straying too far into dry territory of well-intentioned but overly wordy corporate advice manuals, nor slipping into more maudlin and semi-awkward descriptions of overtly holistic and fringe ideologies that even Toyota’s Lean occasionally can slip to. The result is something that feels like a wakeup call everyone could use, regardless of their confidence in their professional practices.
Colin Jordan
