Doing the maths

When things don’t add up (and we’re not just talking about numbers here) you have one of two problems: the numbers are wrong or the adding is whacked. Either way, time to do the maths.

Find the numbers, search out the data, check your sources, look for transposition or translation errors, push your assumptions.

Check the maths (and every other kind of one and one makes two leap of imagination). The maths, missing data points, duplications, double anythings.

When you’ve done the work, and it still doesn’t add up into a sensible idea or a clear understanding of the thing, the new work is to ask – yourself and your team – what am I missing?

And if you still can’t find what you’re missing and no one can make the kind of sense of it that makes sense to everyone else, walk away.

Skippy strategy: Sometimes, doing the maths means walking away.

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Category:
Decisions