Its the data, stupid...
As others have noted, Watkins' article is rather dated, but interestingly enough, it still has time to make a timeless error about technology:
However, his general points about the use of data and technology to perform precise targeting and GOTV were extremely valid. If only his party had been listening...this article on the Personal Democracy Forum makes very depressing reading for any Democrat out there.
In summary, it explains how when McAuliffe took over at the DNC, there was no IT infrastructure to speak of. Seeking to remedy this, he did an excellent job of getting the funding, and understanding the need to build a huge repository of data in order to deal with the fundraising model McCain-Feingold required.
But sadly, McAuliffe and his consultants then appear to have made a second timeless error of IT projects - they forget to ask anyone who was actually going to be using the system what they might want it to do. So remarkably, even though it contained 166 million registered voters, it did not, for instance, have any grass roots organizing tools! No wonder people say it is disaster to use!
Most IT projects fail because of scope creep, poorly defined requirements or bad data. It is not enough to have one worked out without the others being under control - and as the PDF article says, Mr Dean's greatest challenge is now to "find or build the tools that can help the party succeed"
Computer technology also allowed us to assess our opponentsÂ’ strengths and weaknessesComputer technology, per se, allows no such thing - it is the underlying data that allows you do that - computers just make it quicker to analyze and process that data. The key to his success was that he had all the data he needed to be able to segment,analyze and the accurately mail and phone all those potential voters. Without that data, all the technology in the world wouldn't have been able to help him.
However, his general points about the use of data and technology to perform precise targeting and GOTV were extremely valid. If only his party had been listening...this article on the Personal Democracy Forum makes very depressing reading for any Democrat out there.
In summary, it explains how when McAuliffe took over at the DNC, there was no IT infrastructure to speak of. Seeking to remedy this, he did an excellent job of getting the funding, and understanding the need to build a huge repository of data in order to deal with the fundraising model McCain-Feingold required.
But sadly, McAuliffe and his consultants then appear to have made a second timeless error of IT projects - they forget to ask anyone who was actually going to be using the system what they might want it to do. So remarkably, even though it contained 166 million registered voters, it did not, for instance, have any grass roots organizing tools! No wonder people say it is disaster to use!
Most IT projects fail because of scope creep, poorly defined requirements or bad data. It is not enough to have one worked out without the others being under control - and as the PDF article says, Mr Dean's greatest challenge is now to "find or build the tools that can help the party succeed"
