MARTYN
RICHARD JONES
In
spite of the best-efforts of Hadoop evangelists, consulting houses, and IT infrastructure
and service vendors, Big Data – hailed as the greatest thing since the dawn of
greatest things – is failing, and dramatically so, to produce the necessarily
corresponding quantity and quality of tangible, detailed and verifiable success-stories.
So,
given the dearth of Big Data success stories, why are so many in the industry still
banging on with troll-like insistence about the ‘indisputable’ relevance,
importance and universal applicability of Big Data?
Seen
from where I stand, and I don’t think I am particularly unique in this respect,
a lot of arrows are pointing towards a quieter future for Big Data, one where
it has far more limited use than was once imagined, a data niche rather than a data
driven all-encompassing market-based revolution. But obviously not everyone is
sharing that view, at least not ostensibly so.
The
fact of the matter is this. That in spite of what the good people at the
prestigious house of Gartner have been saying, the Big Data hype-cycle is far
from over. In fact, we have entered what might be crudely yet accurately
described as the golden age of Big Data boloney.
When
I survey the Big Data landscape and see companies, organisations and
individuals continue to bang on the Big Data drum like as if it was going out
of fashion, it’s quite embarrassing. Acutely so. Even for someone who isn’t
participating, either actively or passively, in the Big Data dog and pony bestiality-show.
So,
what’s happening with the Big Data in-crowd? Words were coming to my mind, words
such as overcompensation, projection, doublethink, denial, delusion, social, awkward,
wacky correlation and non-existent causation. But none of these were entirely satisfactory.
Lacking, as they do, in conveying any sort of coherent, tangible and credible
explanation of the continuing and burgeoning Big Data hype phenomena.
Then
it dawned on me. Black tulips.
Industry
players and Big Data pundits are inexplicably engaged in what is at best a
zero-sum game, and at its worst has clear parallels with the hubris, wilful ignorance
and greed which lead to the last major
global financial crisis and also has nasty parallels with the dot-com bubble.
So,
the next time you are reading a gushing puff-piece on Big Data take this advice
to heart. Instead of thinking about the author as a friendly adviser, think of
them as an unqualified, unregistered and unregulated financial adviser who is
trying to flog you something that they probably don’t understand and that they
have no idea how to value – remember, all they are thinking is in their ‘commission’.
More
to the point, don’t go repeating the same talking points as if they were facts
you can take to the bank, when you yourself are unsure about how reliable those
‘facts’ might be.
Stated
simply. There is very little which could be more suspect than an announced
global revolution in Big Data, a revolution that is accompanied by a dearth of tangible,
detailed and verifiable success-stories. So take good note of what is really
going on.
If
someone deceives you once, it’s their fault, if they deceive you twice it’s your
fault. If you then go on to ‘do unto others what has been done unto you’, then
expect to be rightfully derided and decried.
Be
professional, be on the side of the angels, and do the right thing. In the longer
run you will thank yourself for your wise choices.
Many thanks for
reading.
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