Men hate asking for directions. This is a common stereotype often referenced in blogs, books and sitcoms. I’m sure most of us have anecdotal evidence of people who would rather expend the energy driving around in circles rather than take the “easy way out” by asking another person for the quickest route.

I am not trying to say that this is trait exhibited only by men. It’s most likely determined by a variety of sociobiological factors, as well as culture. For the purposes of this post, I’d like to stick with the stereotypes.

So let’s ask ourselves: why do men do this? Is it stubbornness, some form of machismo, or something much deeper-rooted? Alison Armstrong offers a clue in her 2004 article “Why Men Don’t Ask for Directions“:

It is important to understand that a man is NEVER “lost.” To him, that implies a helplessness that he will never willingly experience. He simply hasn’t gotten there yet, and he has complete faith in his ability to do so.

We can extrapolate this theory into the more specific context of data quality management.

When data governance programs are brought into an organization, the data stewards are required to follow directions vis-a-vis the specific business rules that apply to the data. But seldom do all the records within a dataset fit perfectly into the rules set by the organization. Under those circumstances, individuals must determine how to best handle these exceptions.

To which we should then ask: how would a man who hates asking for directions respond? And why would he do this?

My guess is that these individuals would take matters into their own hands, sometimes making false assumptions about the data and not necessarily going to their peers for additional answers. Not everyone, of course, but I could see how some individuals would avoid speaking with other simply because not knowing where data fits is akin to being “lost” and men are NEVER lost.

Again, I don’t assert that this is a male-only trait, but one that is common among all individuals who handle data with no clear-cut standards.

What is often seen as the lone renegade, what Julian Schwarzenbach describes in his excellent paper The Data Zoo as a “data anarchist,” may just be a person who would rather avoid being lost and use his own abilities rather than seek the help of others.

Of course, I am not immune to this effect.

During a recent development effort, I spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon trying to figure out why my own code kept failing. Knowing I could view the log files at any time to find the answer, I instead chose to review my code believing that the answer would be an obvious quick fix. It was quick, but not obvious.

After finally reviewing the logs, I discovered a simple coding error: I had confused the terms Gender and Sex. As a male who strongly advocates proper data governance, I very much appreciate the irony.