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Precisely: Working with Precision Systems in a World of Data
Bronze Medal Winner, 2024 Axiom Business Book Award, Emerging Trends / AI
If you want to win an election, improve the health of a city, or thrill your customers, you’re going to need precision systems—the highly engineered working arrangements of teams, processes, and technologies that put data and AI to work creating the change that leaders want, exactly how they want it. Big Tech firms like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook have mastered their own precision systems, building trillion-dollar businesses using data-driven tools from mass-market “nudges” to industrial-grade recommendation systems.
Precisely is the playbook for the rest of us. Zachary Tumin and Madeleine Want show how leaders in every domain are taking real-time precision systems into the marketplace, the political race, and the fight for health—from New York-Presbyterian Hospital to the New York Times, the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens to BNSF Railroad, the Biden-Harris campaign to the NYPD—to reveal elusive patterns, perform a repetitive task, run a play, or tailor a message, one at a time or by the millions.
Precisely provides insight that will help leaders choose the system that’s right for them, decide which problem to tackle first, sell the importance of precision to stakeholders, power-up the people and the technology, and accomplish change that delivers precisely what’s needed every time—and do it all responsibly.
If you want to win an election, improve the health of a city, or thrill your customers, you’re going to need precision systems—the highly engineered working arrangements of teams, processes, and technologies that put data and AI to work creating the change that leaders want, exactly how they want it. Big Tech firms like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook have mastered their own precision systems, building trillion-dollar businesses using data-driven tools from mass-market “nudges” to industrial-grade recommendation systems.
Precisely is the playbook for the rest of us. Zachary Tumin and Madeleine Want show how leaders in every domain are taking real-time precision systems into the marketplace, the political race, and the fight for health—from New York-Presbyterian Hospital to the New York Times, the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens to BNSF Railroad, the Biden-Harris campaign to the NYPD—to reveal elusive patterns, perform a repetitive task, run a play, or tailor a message, one at a time or by the millions.
Precisely provides insight that will help leaders choose the system that’s right for them, decide which problem to tackle first, sell the importance of precision to stakeholders, power-up the people and the technology, and accomplish change that delivers precisely what’s needed every time—and do it all responsibly.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 23, 2023
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Zachary Tumin
5 books9 followersZachary Tumin is Special Assistant to the director and faculty chair of Harvard Kennedy School’s Program in Science, Technology and Public Policy, the most recent of a number of key posts that Zach has held at the school over the years. In addition to leading research programs and executive teaching at Harvard, Zach served in senior executive roles for industry and government, including head of public safety for the New York City public schools, the executive staffs of the Brooklyn District Attorney and the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, and director of the Financial Services Technology Consortium. A frequent lecturer and consultant, Zach is also author of numerous teaching cases, working papers, reports, and essays.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 13, 2022
Tumin and Want highlight a necessary discussion regarding “big data” and its analysis. While they tout the many benefits of “precision systems”—reliable, reproducible, accurate output from data analysis—they do not overlook the past failures or forthcoming issues if imprecision is not exorcised from our data sets and algorithms. The authors discuss key successes in sports, criminology and business.
They warn against people who want to take action on analysis results before asking the tough, probing questions regarding the collation of data, the assumptions behind algorithms and so on. They caution that the “action vanguard” who blindly trust the data engine outputs will “fire, aim, ready” in that order. Part of the ready, which needs to be first, is ensuring high quality data integrity and freedom from corruption or misapplication.
There are some examples that we can find success by utilizing simpler tools. Many business processes (not just manufacturing) have benefited from timely Statistical Process Control analysis where outliers quickly instigate an investigation to determine if “something” has changed—or other patterns. Like any good business prospectus’ caveat, historical success does not guarantee future success, extrapolation of data should be “taken with a grain of salt.” Too many have been burned assuming projections are linear, only to discover there’s a performance plateau (e.g. market saturation). Whenever we’re dealing with markets and other phenomena of human behavior, it becomes less predictable; behavior changes when it’s observed, sort of like the quantum Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. I’ve seen results often improve by ten percent just because people knew it was being measured. Consumer trends can run hot and cold in an instant and they become less predictable. Thus, precision systems might have their place in static processes and environments. I wish the authors would address this more completely.
For example, how would the authors build a precision system for most of our endeavors which can be characterized as an Infinite Game (Carse, 1987 and Sinek, 2019). In an infinite game, the rules may change, the competitors may change, the boundaries may not exist and there’s no time limit. In business, I always asked my staff to revisit policies, processes and procedures every six months—and I advise other business owners similarly—because what used to work may not work still: competitors, suppliers, service providers, regulations, customers, team members’ behaviors and skills, community resources, etc. have all changed. (As a Greek philosopher said many centuries ago, “You cannot step in the same river twice.”)
In addition, we’ve probably all experienced that our metrics were leading us to the wrong behaviors, decisions and goals…and businesses go bankrupt when this happens. So Tumin’s and Want’s precision systems need to ensure that we’re not “putting the ladder against the wrong wall.” Their chapter on transformation, red zones and watching out for misleading correlations is worthwhile.
This is good addition to the data analysis conversation to move us toward reliable, reproducible and accurate results.
They warn against people who want to take action on analysis results before asking the tough, probing questions regarding the collation of data, the assumptions behind algorithms and so on. They caution that the “action vanguard” who blindly trust the data engine outputs will “fire, aim, ready” in that order. Part of the ready, which needs to be first, is ensuring high quality data integrity and freedom from corruption or misapplication.
There are some examples that we can find success by utilizing simpler tools. Many business processes (not just manufacturing) have benefited from timely Statistical Process Control analysis where outliers quickly instigate an investigation to determine if “something” has changed—or other patterns. Like any good business prospectus’ caveat, historical success does not guarantee future success, extrapolation of data should be “taken with a grain of salt.” Too many have been burned assuming projections are linear, only to discover there’s a performance plateau (e.g. market saturation). Whenever we’re dealing with markets and other phenomena of human behavior, it becomes less predictable; behavior changes when it’s observed, sort of like the quantum Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. I’ve seen results often improve by ten percent just because people knew it was being measured. Consumer trends can run hot and cold in an instant and they become less predictable. Thus, precision systems might have their place in static processes and environments. I wish the authors would address this more completely.
For example, how would the authors build a precision system for most of our endeavors which can be characterized as an Infinite Game (Carse, 1987 and Sinek, 2019). In an infinite game, the rules may change, the competitors may change, the boundaries may not exist and there’s no time limit. In business, I always asked my staff to revisit policies, processes and procedures every six months—and I advise other business owners similarly—because what used to work may not work still: competitors, suppliers, service providers, regulations, customers, team members’ behaviors and skills, community resources, etc. have all changed. (As a Greek philosopher said many centuries ago, “You cannot step in the same river twice.”)
In addition, we’ve probably all experienced that our metrics were leading us to the wrong behaviors, decisions and goals…and businesses go bankrupt when this happens. So Tumin’s and Want’s precision systems need to ensure that we’re not “putting the ladder against the wrong wall.” Their chapter on transformation, red zones and watching out for misleading correlations is worthwhile.
This is good addition to the data analysis conversation to move us toward reliable, reproducible and accurate results.
March 23, 2023
In recent years, the world, empowered by computer technologies and advanced data collection, has experienced an explosion of information. Instead of focusing on a few fixed principles, decision-making increasingly takes place in light of ever-changing data points. How are business folk supposed to develop, deploy, and use these systems? In this book, Tumin and Want provide a series of case studies that illustrate how leaders across many domains have accomplished this. They then extract guidelines that will help businesses adapt to this new paradigm.
Professionally, I develop software that makes a precision systems run in academic medicine. I am not a businessperson and probably do not sit in the intended audience for this book. Further, as one who designs and implements these systems, I’m already very familiar with many of the ideas. I recognized that this book consistently hits on the right topics, but the various case studies seemed repetitive at times. I could see how this could teach the business community – particularly those who need to learn how to adapt for the future. However, I don’t feel like it taught me much that I hadn’t encountered before.
Like any good business book, a variety of industries are represented. The message of continual development and continual improvement rings strong throughout the book. The authors cover topics as diverse as politics, potential trouble spots, management, and transforming an enterprise. They describe the change of precision systems as a true paradigm shift and as a creative disruption that will change an entire industry over time.
The main audience for this book is the class of business leaders with decision-making responsibilities, especially those on a more senior level. Anyone who feels left behind by technology’s ineluctable advance can open her/his eyes to modern advances through this book. Those who may understand something about precision systems, but not everything, can fill in gaps in their knowledge as well. As with any change, business opportunities will present themselves, and winners and losers will separate. Those who understand the new paradigm the earliest and the best will be in a prime situation to succeed. This book can help business leaders position themselves and their companies for the future.
Professionally, I develop software that makes a precision systems run in academic medicine. I am not a businessperson and probably do not sit in the intended audience for this book. Further, as one who designs and implements these systems, I’m already very familiar with many of the ideas. I recognized that this book consistently hits on the right topics, but the various case studies seemed repetitive at times. I could see how this could teach the business community – particularly those who need to learn how to adapt for the future. However, I don’t feel like it taught me much that I hadn’t encountered before.
Like any good business book, a variety of industries are represented. The message of continual development and continual improvement rings strong throughout the book. The authors cover topics as diverse as politics, potential trouble spots, management, and transforming an enterprise. They describe the change of precision systems as a true paradigm shift and as a creative disruption that will change an entire industry over time.
The main audience for this book is the class of business leaders with decision-making responsibilities, especially those on a more senior level. Anyone who feels left behind by technology’s ineluctable advance can open her/his eyes to modern advances through this book. Those who may understand something about precision systems, but not everything, can fill in gaps in their knowledge as well. As with any change, business opportunities will present themselves, and winners and losers will separate. Those who understand the new paradigm the earliest and the best will be in a prime situation to succeed. This book can help business leaders position themselves and their companies for the future.
May 21, 2023
Moving to a data driven world
Review - The move towards precision systems will involve big changes in the way many people work. Striking the right balance between being data driven and keeping the goals of meeting business and customer needs can be fraught with difficulties. The authors take us through the key steps of designing, testing and proving precision systems using a range of different case studies. These are interesting in and of themselves but the real ‘a ha’ moments started to happen for me when the authors started to bring together the relevant elements of the case studies to illustrate particular points.
There is an interesting, and timely, discussion around AI in the final chapters of the book that gave me a lot of food for thought. Overall precision systems will be another moment in time that will have far reaching impacts on people, the way we live and the work we do, much like the industrial revolution and the introduction of calculators, computers and word processors did in the past.
Used and managed correctly precision systems have much potential for good in work and society. Achieving their full potential will require changes in leadership styles, a focus on data skills and managing teams to overcome fears and new biases.
I found the book an interesting read and useful introduction to precision systems, their pros and cons and the things that need to be done to introduce them.
I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.
Review - The move towards precision systems will involve big changes in the way many people work. Striking the right balance between being data driven and keeping the goals of meeting business and customer needs can be fraught with difficulties. The authors take us through the key steps of designing, testing and proving precision systems using a range of different case studies. These are interesting in and of themselves but the real ‘a ha’ moments started to happen for me when the authors started to bring together the relevant elements of the case studies to illustrate particular points.
There is an interesting, and timely, discussion around AI in the final chapters of the book that gave me a lot of food for thought. Overall precision systems will be another moment in time that will have far reaching impacts on people, the way we live and the work we do, much like the industrial revolution and the introduction of calculators, computers and word processors did in the past.
Used and managed correctly precision systems have much potential for good in work and society. Achieving their full potential will require changes in leadership styles, a focus on data skills and managing teams to overcome fears and new biases.
I found the book an interesting read and useful introduction to precision systems, their pros and cons and the things that need to be done to introduce them.
I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.
December 7, 2023
The book introduced precision and data science in a way that can be understood by those already interested in data science and breaks down data science concepts extremely well. However, it would be better if the book explained these concepts in a more accessible way to those outside of data science and big data, and approached this topic with a new angle. That being said, it's still a great introduction to people for learning about the applications of data science in various industries.
January 16, 2025
Overall, a decent "work book" with a high-level introduction into big data, data science, and the business applications.
It's a digestable read, and the business applications sections are very interesting (NYTimes, Moneyball examples are the best).
It's a digestable read, and the business applications sections are very interesting (NYTimes, Moneyball examples are the best).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews