Doing ______ increased project success by 32.67%

Nader K. Rad, 2020-09-07

I don't know about you, but when I see a claim like "Doing ______ increased project success by 32.67%", I'm almost sure that it's nonsense.

Measuring project success is complicated and even a little subjective, and to produce reliable statistical information, one has to study many projects, which is not possible for most entities. As a result, even a more or less acceptable measurement method cannot produce highly accurate results. However, a number like 32.67%, with its two decimal points, implies accuracy. When the person who calculated that number didn't know that they MUST round it and say "about 30%" instead of "32.67%", it means that they don't know how to measure and think about statistical information, and therefore, the whole calculation cannot be trusted.

By the way, people who reference statistical information like that may be victims of the confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias (Wikipedia record via a Gemini proxy)