Ian M Rountree

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Confronting the Absense of Evidence

March 11, 2010 by Ian 2 Comments

Imagine you get asked a very simple question.

So you research. You dig in, follow the rabbit hole, and find a few dozen answers the exact question, plus a few more scenarios where the simple question may mean entirely different things based on external circumstances.

But here’s the problem; it’s all wrong.

It’s so simple, and it’s within your specialty, so you immediately assume you know the answer. But, it turns out, the question is deceptively simple – so much so, that you immediately begin to doubt not only the assumed answer, but the veracity of your skill at answering simple questions within your specialty.

The term we use around the office for tis kind of problem is “Analysis Paralysis” – coined by Susan, the SEO Sensei.

It applies to more than simple questions, but they can be a total pain to deal with, because they’re so unspecific that usually they leave a huge amount of steering room. The number of answers you find for simple questions simply can’t be handled without knowing some kind of process for refining these questions.

Like raw ore, the simple question has so much potential, so much possibility untapped that we’re tempted to find shapes in the rock. But by beginning to shape – to find answers – without first refining our understanding of the outcome we’re looking for, and defining our action plans.

How can we do that? By never allowing ourselves to answer a simple question with anything but pointed, directed querries which will help turn the simple question with a huge rabbit hole attached into a wide ditch which gives us only one possible answers.

So, simple question: does this make sense?

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