Positive change is harder to see

Humans are wired to see negative change because we need to protect ourselves; a negative change is seen as a risk and a danger. Positive change is much more difficult to see; there's no risk involved.

Think about it this way: When there's a negative change with your data (e.g., a board member's email address is incorrect), it is a problem, everyone knows about it, and often we rush to fix it. When there's a positive change (e.g., all the board members' email addresses have been updated and are now 100% accurate), we rarely notice, and it's even more rare that we say anything about it.

This is why I recommend that data managers practice database public relations. Because positive change is much more difficult to see than negative change, we have to make a proactive effort to highlight all the positive change going on around us.

Positive change is harder to see

Positive change is harder to see

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

The hidden costs of bad data

Don’t let your customers edit their names online!

Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.

“Every association does this.”

Trust your gut

“People more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”

Problems without solutions are not problems, they are facts of life

Perfect is not possible

“Different” isn’t necessarily better or worse.

The Rule of 100 and 1,000 and automation