September 2016

If Wells Fargo had set out to write a cautionary tale, a case study of data-driven dysfunction, they could not have succeeded better. The first article posted here showed how creating strong incentives to hit numerical targets drove people over the edge.  Entirely predictable, and straight out of Austin’s Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations. … Continue reading Lies, damn lies, and data science

Wells Fargo paid $185M in fines and 5,300 people paid with their jobs to bring you this perfect example of metrics dysfunction.   The question that does not seem to have been answered is whether or not the people who set up the system — the people who put 5,300 line workers in the impossible… Continue reading Stagecoach robbery