The Limits of Interpreting Data for Performance

Today, the obsession with measurement borders on excess. The same applies to sports, especially cycling and running, with the many tools at our disposal. What if these many numbers ultimately limited fulfillment, and by the same token, performance?

By Jean-François Tatard – Photos: pixabay.com, pxere.com, commons wikipedia, DR

The least quantitative concepts are increasingly systematically processed by calculation software: quality, value creation, engagement, stress, well-being… To such an extent that ideas that are not measured become questionable. Sport is no exception, sometimes to the point of overdose.

The dictatorship of performance coaching and control leads to constantly seeking, finding, and implementing adequate indicators (speed, heart rate, watts, weight, power-to-weight ratio, pelvic oscillation, foot pressure distribution, ground impact time, number of steps, cadence, etc.). So if everything that has a price is of little value, does what has an indicator have more value?

Finally, we have enough perspective to draw an initial assessment of the virtues and limits of data-driven management. And we will try to define precisely the opportunities and threats concerning this way of evolving and making things evolve.

The advantages of quantifiable goals

Setting a precise goal has several undeniable advantages: focusing attention on the most relevant training, greater and sustained effort over time, increased motivation (especially if achieving the goal is coupled with symbolic and not necessarily financial rewards), possibilities for regular feedback from your coach or training partners that allow you to adjust your plans…

The desire to do well, the satisfaction of achieving a goal, the fear of not living up to your partners’ expectations, the desire for recognition or to join the very exclusive club of sub-3-hour marathoners or the top 100 of the Étape du Tour, the fear of losing others’ esteem to move the indicator in the desired direction: it has been a long time since the imperatives of quantitative performance left factories and analyst reports that spit, treat, recruit, draft, to spread into almost all spheres of society and thus also into the company for which you work when you are not running or on the saddle. However, the dysfunctions inherent in management by numbers and the polarization of consciousness on simple counters cannot be ignored.

The risks of focusing on numbers

The first risk inherent in coaching by numbers is that the short term is optimized to the detriment of the long term. The conditions for future success are sacrificed on the altar of the appearance of immediate success. This temptation is all the stronger when one knows that one will not have to personally bear the problems in gestation. This is very often seen in the current economy and in business management unfortunately, but also in politics.

The second risk is the manipulation of the indicator rather than the underlying reality. Since numbers are adorned with the virtues of objectivity and truth, the blind trust we place in them makes us forget that clever individuals know how to manipulate them to give them the expected content. A first three-point shot in the basket is enough for a basketball player to have 100% success on this parameter if he stops at that shot. On a large scale, and the goal is not to scare you but this even led to the spectacular failure of Lehman Brothers, when it was discovered with astonishment that financial statements, although certified and perfectly established in compliance with the rules, were nevertheless completely fallacious.

Since numbers are adorned with the virtues of objectivity and truth, the blind trust we place in them makes us forget that clever individuals know how to manipulate them to give them the expected content.

The third risk is that what is not measured is neglected. Chronometric or measurable goals make us forget the quality of the movement, the subjective perception of suffering or, conversely, well-being, introspection, extrospection, and the natural satisfaction of what you feel. Athletes, tired of being “cataloged” without consideration by their coach or networked measurement interfaces, give up, and all these young people who were born with all these measurement tools and who have absolutely no knowledge of their own subjective perception let quality slip away.

The fourth risk is that to counterbalance the previous excesses and the perverse effects of ultimately overly simplistic ratios, the measurement system is made more complex and “gas factories” are built. Fortunes are spent collecting, processing, formatting, and analyzing data. Counting up to €1000 for the most powerful heart rate/GPS watches and not so long ago, up to €4000 for a power meter. Subsystems are optimized to the detriment of the sport and what one is capable of providing with one’s body as a whole. And in the process, we lose the overall vision and the meaning of collective action, as the indicators are multiple and contradictory. The obsession with calculation has made us forget that the essential is elsewhere and cannot be quantified. After a full circle, we therefore return to values. The simplest primary values: “dreams are not translated into arithmetic“. Smiles, joy, the hope of a better world do not fit into dashboards.

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It’s all about balance

The fact remains that we must also live with the times. Because indeed, there was also a time when we made fire with two flints. But we must know how to evolve and make ourselves evolve with tools that also evolve. We just need to avoid falling into the trap of over-control. Thus, we must synthesize quality and quantity in measurement, with a handful of relevant indicators and a good dose of unifying ideal. What if you stopped controlling everything and (finally!) tried to let go? What if you stopped doing things that bore you and focused on what you love most deeply in your heart? Just to rediscover your innocence and the pleasure of letting go. How much do you bet you’d be even better?

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