ML Lessons for Managers
A common misconception across industries
Hi, and welcome to a new series where I share common machine learning mistakes that most businesses make. I aim to provide simple but original lessons based on misconceptions that have survived for years and never seem to disappear.
Here’s lesson number 1.
Many professionals view machine learning as advanced technology that you deploy when other approaches fail. In their mind, it’s a sophisticated tool reserved for problems too complex for conventional methods.
Therefore, when I talk to businesses, I often hear comments like “We don’t need to use machine learning for that” or “We solved that problem years ago before machine learning was a thing”.
Sometimes, those comments are valid, making machine learning the wrong technology. However, more often, they stem from a false belief that their traditional approach is the straightforward alternative, and that misconception leads to businesses sticking with and maintaining outdated solutions.
The reality is that machine learning is a fantastic tool for creating robust and easy-to-maintain solutions to simple problems. You can often replace…