I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
In author Hafiz Rahman’s “Decision System,” the author explores modern technology and the need to trust data being produced in those businesses.
THE SYNOPSIS
You are not short of data. You are short of numbers you can trust to decide with.
The dashboards are full. The reports arrive on time. And still, the decisions that matter come down to whoever argues hardest in the room. The problem was never a shortage of data. It is that almost none of it has earned the right to drive a decision.
Decision System is a practical guide to closing that gap.
Across six layers — Trust, Coherence, Access, Ownership, Value, and Operating the System — it follows two very different companies as they turn scattered, contested data into decisions that change outcomes. A direct-to-consumer fitness app. A multi-site entertainment operator. Different businesses, the same hard problem: a room full of smart people, three numbers that disagree, and a decision that cannot wait.
This is not a book about better dashboards. It is about the system underneath them — the definitions, the ownership, and the operating habits that make a number worth deciding with.
Inside, you will learn how to:
- Tell a metric that can steer the company from one that only describes it
- Settle the metric-fights that quietly stall your meetings
- Make trusted data findable, for your people and for AI
- Federate ownership across teams without losing a shared language
- Test any data idea against the only thing that matters: the decision it changes
Decision System is written for the people who live with this problem: executives who inherit the numbers, product and data leaders who build them, and the technologists who keep the whole thing running. It is short on theory and long on the moves that actually work, drawn from real patterns across high-growth subscription and consumer businesses.
The result is not more numbers. It is a higher bar, and a system that holds as you grow.
If your meetings still turn on whose spreadsheet wins, this book is the way out.
THE REVIEW
Being able to use data to help improve businesses is a time-honored art form in the world of business, and with advancements in technology, it has grown more and more imperative not only to vet that information, but for businesses to be able to trust where the information is coming from and how it will serve them best. The author presents this succinctly and compellingly, letting scientific data and experience permeate the writing and keep readers invested in the lessons being imparted.
The writing’s depth and the insights from the authors’ work will stand the test of time and resonate with modern business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to understand how technology governs data. The book’s focus on trust as the core of data implementation sets it apart from other books in this arena. The book steps back from the scale and platforms that generate data and instead focuses on the data’s trustworthiness and how well it helps businesses achieve their goals. The book does this by simplifying the use of AI technology in the modern world, exploring topics such as predictive modeling and forecasting future trends based on hard data.
THE VERDICT
Insightful, compelling, and engaging, Author Hafiz Rahman’s “Decision System” is a must-read non-fiction book on business and technology. The exploration of modern artificial intelligence tools, how it has changed the landscape of business data as a whole, and how businesses process that data, as well as exploring the need to be cautious and not over-rely on that technology, brings a nice balance and keeps readers invested in understanding the growing tech in the business space as a whole. If you haven’t yet, please be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hafiz Rahman has spent more than twenty-eight years building the trusted data and decision systems behind high-growth subscription and consumer businesses. He has worked in the rooms where the calls get made, partnering with C-suite teams across a global fitness app and a multi-site entertainment group, turning contested data into decisions that change outcomes.
He writes the books he wishes he had been handed earlier in his career. His first, Solving Business Problems Using SQL, is a beginner’s guide to writing SQL and designing relational databases. His second, Decision System, is about the harder problem that comes after the query runs: making a number trustworthy enough to decide with.
He lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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