Data Is Not Boring, It Is How I Stop Guessing And Start

People hear “data” and think it means boring spreadsheets and sadness. I get it. Some data is boring. That is why I do not treat it like paperwork. I treat it like the secret weapon that tells me the truth.

Here is the honest reason I love data. Data stops arguments.

If my teammate says, “It feels faster,” I can say, “Cool, show me the timer.”If I say, “This change improved stability,” I can prove it with three runs.If our robot randomly does something weird, data helps me find the pattern.

The Difference Between Science And Screwing Around

My dad always says the difference between science and screwing around is writing it down. He is correct. I would like to act like I invented that quote, but, although I use it A LOT, I did not.

If we do not write down what we changed and what happened, we are guessing. Guessing is how teams waste half a season and do not know why their ROV still drives like a shopping cart with one bad wheel.

The Only Testing Rule That Matters

Change one thing at a time.

If you change five things, you might fix the problem, but you will not know what fixed it. Then you will break it again later and have no clue how to get back.

One change. Three trials. Write it down. Decide.

If you do not do three trials, one run can lie. The tether can snag. Someone can bump the controller. A wave can hit at the wrong time. Three trials tell the truth.

What We Track Every Time

We do not track everything. We track what matters.

We track:

• What changed

• Why we changed it

• What we tested

• Three run results

• Average result

• Notes about anything 'weird' that happened

We also track the stuff people forget:

• Water conditions

• Visibility

• If the tether pulled

• If the ROV started slightly tilted

• If the pilot rushed

All of that affects results. All of that matters.

Data Makes The Engineering Notebook Easy

People get overwhelmed by the engineering notebook because they think it has to be perfect. It does not.

A notebook is a record. A good notebook tells a story:

We noticed a problem.

We made a plan.

We tested.

We improved.

We tested again.

We learned something real.

The notebook is basically the receipts for your engineering.

Data Makes The Report Write Itself

This is the part that surprises people. If you collect the data, the report starts writing itself. You already have your evidence. You already have your results. You already have your why.

Without data, you are stuck writing sentences like “We improved stability.”With data, you can write, “After moving flotation forward, our average roll reduced across three trials and our pilot reported more predictable turns.”

One of those sounds like engineering. The other sounds like vibes.

Nolan’s Fast Start For New Teams

If your team is new and you do not know where to start, do this:

• Choose one thing to improve

• Run three baseline trials

• Change one thing

• Run three trials

• Write down the results and the average

• Decide if it helped

• Repeat next practice

If you write it down and track it, it is science.