by Berend Booms, Associate Editor, Future of Assets

I am fascinated by data. It has a way of making us feel in control: we measure, we monitor, we build increasingly sophisticated systems to capture what is happening across our assets, our operations, and our organizations at large. The underlying assumption is that if we can see more, capture more, and analyze more, we will ultimately understand more and make more of the right decisions when it matters most.

But more is not always better; the sheer volume of data available to us today leaves many organizations not struggling with a lack of information, but with an inability to make sense of it in a way that holds up in practice. This is a much more fundamental challenge that I have come to recognize not only in my work, but also in my personal life.

Preparing For Something You Can’t Fully Prepare For

When my wife was pregnant with our first son, I approached that period in much the same way I approach most things that matter to me: by trying to understand it. I read a lot of books, I listened to podcasts, I started asking questions of friends and family with young children, and I tried to prepare myself mentally for what it would be like to be a dad. All of these external inputs were helpful to a degree, but the most valuable part of this learning process was the internal reflection they brought about. I found myself revisiting my own upbringing, gaining a new appreciation for parts of it and vowing to do things differently for others.

Sometimes, these reflections brought a sense of clarity; other times, they introduced doubt and uncertainty. In the light of my new reality, a few things started to fall into place, while other elements remained shrouded in mystery. What stayed with me most was not one single lesson, but the act itself of taking what you have experienced and observed, placing it in context, reflecting on its meaning, and deciding how it should shape the way you move forward. In many ways, that process is not so different from how we use data in asset management.

From Data To Meaning

In many asset-intensive industries, there is an overabundance of data. Sensors, systems, inspections – they all generate a constant stream of information that does not automatically translate into understanding. Without context, data fragments; without alignment, data contradicts; without trust, data is ignored altogether.

Over the years, I have seen numerous organizations invest heavily in building out their data capabilities, only to then be faced with the same, familiar questions: which dataset is correct? Which definition should be used? Which number can be trusted? This is not a data issue; it’s a foundational issue. You cannot move forward confidently with your data if you do not understand what reality looks like.

That is why data quality and governance matter, not as theoretical constructs, but as practical enablers of clarity. Clean, structured, and well-governed data creates the conditions in which decisions can be made with confidence. But even then, there is a layer that sits beyond structure and beyond tooling, and that is the human element of interpretation. It is one thing to have access to the right information; it is quite another to understand what it is telling you and what it is not. This distinction became very tangible to me when, after months of preparation, we were caught off guard by the premature birth of our son.

Learning To Deal With Data As A Dad

From waking up in the middle of the night, to rushing to the hospital, to our son being born, it all happened incredibly fast. Before I could fully comprehend what was unfolding, we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. My wife was recovering, and I was alone in a room with our son, who had to stay in an incubator. He was hooked up to a multiparameter patient monitor and had numerous ECG electrodes stuck to his body, to measure his heart activity, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and temperature. I quickly learned to read the monitor and knew which values to watch. From that moment on, I became hyperfocused on checking the data points.

In hindsight, I can see how, in my helplessness, I tried to regain control using the one thing I could make sense of: data. Every fluctuation, every beep of the alarm, every sudden movement, my eyes would fixate on the monitor to try and process what was happening, to observe and look for patterns. Over time, I noticed that I stopped focusing so much on the data and started focusing on my son instead. Doing so gave me a peace of mind no number on that monitor ever could.

I now think that this was all part of my learning process, similar to how you need to learn to work with your data before jumping to conclusions or actions. It is not so much that the signals start to become clearer, but that your ability to interpret them improves. You start to recognize patterns where before there was only noise, and you connect moments that initially felt isolated. Having a better understanding of what you are seeing and what it means allows you to respond with more confidence. This is where the real value of data lies.

Data Only Matters When You Act

We tend to think that better data will automatically result in better decisions, but in practice, better data only creates the opportunity for better decisions. Whether or not that opportunity is realized depends heavily on how well we are able to interpret what we see and whether or not we are willing to act on it.

You cannot optimize what you do not measure, but equally, you cannot improve what you are unwilling to act upon. Data that remains confined to reports and dashboards, no matter how well-designed, does not change outcomes. It is only when insight translates into behavior that value is created. My role as a father has made this reality very clear.

As a parent, you simply don’t have time for endless analysis or perfectly refined conclusions. More often than not, you just have to assess, decide, act, and then adjust along the way if required – your feedback loop is immediate and the learning continuous. You learn as you go, and somewhere along the way realize that confidence isn’t a lack of uncertainty, but rather a higher degree of comfort operating within it.

You go with the flow, and much like water, that flow will eventually take you where you need to be. I have always found that data is a lot like water: without it, nothing thrives. Both water and data should be cared for, cleaned regularly, and used responsibly. Left unmanaged, you risk drowning in the floods; left ungoverned, you risk polluting your source; left uninterpreted, that source will remain stagnant. These dynamics also have a ripple effect on how we shape the environments around us.

Shaping What The Future Looks Like

At its core, I think both data and parenthood are about stewardship: how do we care responsibly for what exists today while making decisions that will help shape the future for the better? The value of the data we look after is not limited to its current performance, but extends into how it will serve those who come after us.

Whether we are working with data or raising children, we do well to remember these basic principles: take in the right information, make sense of it as best we can, and use that understanding to guide and shape what comes next. As a dad, my perspective on life has shifted from short-term optimization to responsible, long-term impact. The understanding that enables this shift cannot be acquired at once, but rather is built over time through attention, interpretation, perseverance, and the willingness to act with care – even when certainty remains out of reach.