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The parable of the third soap dispenser

8/9/18 • 2 min read

It never runs out of soap…

This post was originally posted on August 9, 2018 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.

The bathroom at my office has four sinks and three soap dispensers. Each soap dispenser has a clear plastic front so the cleaning crew can see how much liquid pink soap is left and refill it if necessary.

Sometimes, the first two soap dispensers are low on soap, but the last one, furthest from the door never seems to be low on soap.

You could draw conclusions from this single data point that no one uses the dispenser. And you would be right.

But why? Maybe people prefer the sinks closer to the door? Maybe it’s not in the most convenient location? Maybe there are too many soap dispensers?

The soap dispenser is broken. It hasn’t worked in at least 8 months.

But I imagine the cleaning crew has no idea. They are only looking at that one indicator: Is there soap in the dispenser?

Just a reminder that often, our data tells us what’s happening, but not necessarily why.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.