In the February 2018 Constructrr conversation, Michael Lake said, “Data by itself is just numbers.” He followed that statement by describing the work of turning data into information for choices about cost, materials, building systems, technology, and space.
Connected devices, smart grids, blockchain, city infrastructure, and large market projections all came into the conversation. The clearest decision path was narrower: data had to become useful information before an owner or city official could act on it.
A building was one connected part of a city system
Michael Lake compared city infrastructure with a central nervous system and buildings with connected parts that could monitor use or interact with services such as an energy grid.
Michael's 2018 frame did not assume that every building had those connections or that every proposed connection would justify its cost. Owners and city officials still had to choose which connection served a real need.
Information required a purpose and an interpreter
Michael's distinction between numbers and information placed work between collection and decision. Someone had to decide which data belonged to the problem, interpret it, and present it in a form an owner could use.
In the conversation, I agreed that the industry was collecting data across design, construction, and commissioning without always knowing how to use it. That observation described the industry's 2018 challenge, when collection was moving faster than clear use.
Technology still had to earn its place
Michael Lake discussed paperless city transactions, distributed energy markets, smart building services, and blockchain. He also said the investment had to make financial sense for owners and property managers.
None of those 2018 examples made a particular system necessary. Before treating any technology as infrastructure, the team still needed a clear decision and a value case that made financial sense.
Follow one decision backward to its data
Take a current decision about energy, space, purchasing, materials, technology, or a building system. Write the decision first. Then identify the information the owner needs, the data that can support it, the person responsible for interpretation, and the limit that keeps the data from answering more than it can.
In Michael's 2018 framing, the collection became useful only after that translation. The final responsibility remained with the person making the choice.
