Wouldn’t it be amazing to have all of the data and information at your fingertips to understand the change you want to see in the world? When so much data is available, and ways of collecting data have become more streamlined, it can be exasperating not to be able to pull together what is needed for the practical job of understanding whether something is making the difference intended.

We have already outlined why trying to understand complex work is difficult, and that using data is not a technical-rational process but rather a relational one – where the process of sense making together can be as important as the data, evidence or feedback you use.

In Chapter 3 we discussed challenges in the culture and in the ways of working with data for most organisations. We suggested the need to go on a data improvement journey. In this chapter we present some practical ways to approach the journey, and tools and techniques to help on the way.

This chapter covers:

• • improving approaches to data, evidence and feedback;

• • how to undertake a data audit;

• • how to fill the gaps understanding;

• • practical data collection techniques;

• • feedback in action.

We will be using examples from some of our clients, including how a research body improved feedback, ways of building on reflective practice, and getting feedback fast.

We hope you will be able to use some of the ideas presented here and apply them to any setting, share them with colleagues and start on a data improvement journey. The message is the same as in Chapter 4 – just get going with your data improvement journey!

A quick reminder of what we mean when we talk about data, evidence and feedback: