Noise in human judgments: A deep dive

In a fascinating New York Times article, the book “Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment” by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein. The book sheds light on the concept of “noise” in human judgments and decisions.

According to Kahneman, “noise” is the unwanted variability of judgments. It is a systematic variance that is equivalent to an error. In contrast to “bias”, which systematically misses the target in the same direction, “noise” scatters widely around the target.

The book argues that “noise” is a widespread and inadequately addressed problem. It can lead to gross injustices, unacceptable health risks and loss of time and assets. The authors suggest that organizations should be more committed to reducing noise and promote noise audits and decision hygiene as strategies to detect, measure and avoid noise.

Overall, the book is a worthwhile read about a little-noticed human problem. It shows once again how structured collaboration in teams can compensate for human fallibility.

#Bias #Noise We need to consider the entire supply chain to get to the next level. Forecasting, production planning, supplier audits, etc.

For more insights, I recommend you read the full article and buy the book.

Opinion | Bias Is a Big Problem. But So Is ‘Noise.’ – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Image by Pete Ryan