Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

What does this thing do? Exploring the question is the act of analyzing a black box. Reveal the results of black box analysis carefully.

I often encounter systems for which I have no knowledge of their inner workings. Airline reservations, online retail, job listings and applications, etc. I don’t know how they work. I don’t know their design and structure. Continued poking, however, from the outside reveals much. This poking from the outside is black box analysis.

I am not a professional analyst— just ask any hiring manager. Nevertheless, I have years of analysis experience, and so do most persons I know.

Black box analysis often provides an incorrect understanding of how a system works. For example, the vast majority of us have an incorrect understanding of how our kitchen refrigerator works. Still, we are able to use it. Hence, just as often, black box analysis provides a useful understanding of how a system works.

Black box analysis often bruises egos. It reveals how a system actually works. Some persons don’t want to know that. They believe their system works the way they intended it to work. They also believe that their employees use their system the way they are told. Reality often destroys these beliefs.

Hence, reveal the results of black box analysis at your peril. Always ask first, “Would you like me to tell you the results of black box analysis of your system.?”