You Can Take a Horse to Water

I mostly wear a heart rate monitor when I work out.  I do it so I don't sandbag myself.  It is a way old Garmin unit, and once it is full, I download it into my Garmin desktop program (pre-app days) and I look it and then forget it.

I work with a guy who has one of those Under Armour bands.  I see them on other folks as well.  HBR has a quick blog post about this trend.

We're creating our own little Big Data networks on our heart rates, sleeping patterns, blood chemistry, and all sorts of great stuff, but will the data from these 485,000,000 auto-analytics devices by 2018 (in the HBR article) actually be used?

Like all BI projects, your reports need to support a decision.  For me, it is stop lolly-gagging, but that is a moment in time.  I don't use the data again.  I don't have a good BI application to compare and contrast my workouts and to make that useable.  Do they exist?  I'm sure Olympic and professional athletes use them - but for this middle-aged, balding desk jockey?  And even if I paid for the best BI auto-analytics tool and I can increase my cycling efficiency by 5% - so what?

Just because we can collect data and create reports - it doesn't mean we should.  Make sure to align reports with a true decision making need or you'll run the risk of wasting money on something no one will use.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to update my food diary app...