Data in systems like DCIM is an abstraction of the events. The data is a description of the event. It’s one thing if the data is a temperature reading from a sensor in the cold aisle. But, so much other data is entered by people who are asked to fill in fields that correspond to the event.

When you are staring at the numbers and letters you miss the perspective of the people who entered the data. What is on their mind? So many things. One thing that is over riding that almost no one thinks about is these people are going to fill out the data so as not jeopardize their job. They’ll do enough to satisfy management and others without rocking the boat by entering in complaints or problems that can make things difficult for them or others.

What? Here is an example that got me to focus on this problem. When Pixar created Toy Story the CEO realized there was a problem in that the production staff felt like second class citizens on the project and they didn’t speak up.

First, since we didn’t know what we were doing as we’d geared up to do Toy Story, we’d brought in experienced production managers from Los Angeles to help us get organized. They felt that their jobs were temporary and thus that their complaints would not be welcome. In their world— conventional Hollywood productions— freelancers came together to make a film, worked side by side for several months, and then scattered to the winds. Complaining tended to cost you future work opportunities, so they kept their mouths shut. It was only when asked to stay on at Pixar that they voiced their objections.

Catmull, Ed; Wallace, Amy (2014-04-08). Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (Kindle Locations 1037-1041). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Many companies have a strategy of treating people as commodities. “You can be replaced.” So, people focus on doing things to keep their job. Speaking up is too risky.

This same type of problem goes to all kinds of parts of operations with people entering data into systems so as not to jeopardize future work opportunities.