Surveys, ultra-processed bullshit

So I received this survey. It asks me to rate stuff on a 5 point scale. We are probably rated on our innovation prepardness. The survey has encoded a world in which Teams, blackboard and big data are upcoming innovations. It left me wondering how the receiver of this information is able to make decisions based on this. Perhaps departments are ranked based on this. Maybe there will be some innovation preparedness score? Food for charts and weird statistics.. What DHH calls “ultra processed bullshit”. Statistical relations will be found, because in any set there will be random correlations (Hilarious papers based on spurious relations)

Not something that helps you inform a digital strategy. A new strategy is a new design. To create a good design, you will need to employ design methods. You need empathy and a good understanding of the target audience. Encoding your opinion about the world in a survey is almost never a good idea. A better way would be to collect narratives. What do people want to achieve? How do they work? If you have to do a survey, I would suggest to open it up

Less questions, and more open-ended questions:

What’s so amazing about these open-ended questions is that the customers who answer them will give you the greatest gift of all. They will give you the language by which they think about these problems. Rework podcast