Lot’s of things go wrong. Sometimes a failure can be linked to analysis, or the lack of analysis.

Failures can be disappointing, expensive, or even disastrous. This is one argument for analysis-based decision-making. However, when mistakes are made and failures occur, we can often learn something from it.

In this challenge, you should describe an example of failure, where the wrong decision was made because of the lack of analysis, the wrong design of the analysis, or simply the ignoring of analysis.

Find an example from your own experience, by interviewing someone, or through secondary sources such as news texts, documentaries, and reports.

Also, reflect on the difficulties of analysis and use the literature on decision-making, bias, etc.

Inspiration

Some examples of major failures are:

Enron’s sudden collapse in 2001, with auditing and accounting firm Arthur Andersen not seeing the problems. https://www.investopedia.com/updates/enron-scandal-summary/ https://www.famous-trials.com/enron/1791-stockchart

Kodak’s failure to adapt to digital cameras. Led to bankruptcy. See https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/

The analysis and report concluding that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which led to the Iraq War 2003. The report was released in 2004 and received extensive critique. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Report_on_Pre-war_Intelligence_on_Iraq

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan, on the assumption that Afghan National Security Force could safeguard the stability and that the talibans could not organize an attack. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/
The fast offensive by the talibans, taking over the country in just a few weeks. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/even-taliban-are-surprised-how-fast-they-re-advancing-afghanistan-n1272236