SDS 166: Should You Be Effective or Efficient?

 So, those two terms, right? Efficient and effective. What do they mean? What are they all about? And, what’s the difference? Right? We’ve all heard people use these terms and sometimes even interchangeably. Sometimes people will say, “You have to be efficient.” Sometimes people say, “You have to be effective.”

 Well, today we’re gonna quickly demystify these two. Efficiency is about … Let’s start with effect. Effectiveness is about doing the right thing. Achieving the right goal. Going towards the right result. Whereas efficiency is about doing the thing right. Is about doing … Being very productive. Being very … Having low costs. Having high returns of investment and things like that. So that’s what efficiency is all about and that’s what effectiveness is all about.

 And so my question to you today is, what do you think is more important? Is it more important to be efficient or effective? If you could choose one, just one, which one would you choose? Being effective or being efficient?

 Quick answer? Probably being effective if you think about it. Because if you’re just efficient, right, you’re doing the thing right. Your costs are low. Your return on investment is high and things like that. But ultimately you’re achieving the wrong goal. You’re not effective, then what’s the point? You’re gonna be very efficient in doing the wrong thing.

 But if you’re effective, even if you’re not efficient but still if you’re effective, at least you’re doing the right thing. You might have high costs. You might be doing it slow. You might be not taking the optimal route. But at least you’re going in the right direction.

 So when people say … They’ll say to me, for instance, “You have to be efficient,” and say to themselves, “I have to be very efficient.” Efficient, efficient, efficient. First question I ask myself is, “Are you being effective? Are you actually doing the right thing? Is your goal set out correctly?” And that’s what I encourage you to do as well.

 Think about it in this way. Do you first think, “Am I effective?” Or when you’re talking to someone, I would suggest advising them to be effective and then only efficient. I actually saw recently an interesting table, an interesting diagram, that puts an intersection of these things, effective and ineffective versus efficient and inefficient. Very interesting, very insightful. So I will share that on the SuperDataScience page.

 And yeah, something to think about this weekend. The sun is out. Hope you have a lovely weekend and see for yourself next week, where are you being efficient? Where are you being effective? Where are you being both?

 See you next time. And until then, happy analyzing.