Is there a difference between.......?

[Napper]

"Experience is only an opinion."

e.g.

Worker: "The problem with this machine is <problem>, if we adjust the widget that will solve the problem."

Boss: "Do you have any data to prove your point?"

Worker: "No. But I do have 20 years experience of working with this machine so I know what's wrong and how to fix it."

Boss: "Experience is just an opinion, we need data, solid proof."



"Experience is only an opinion."


Anyone have a view?

[cerina]

Surely experience is an accumulation of data, albeit much of it probably not written down. You can have an opinion without experience, but when it is informed by said experience, it is no longer just an opinion.

[Napper]

Thanks you Cerina! We are singing from the same haystack!

[cerina]

[Don't Blink]

it is my opinion that experienced workers are usually correct

It has been my experience that opinionated bosses are usually wrong

[Napper]

I'm writing all this down. He won't know what hit him.

[Don't Blink]

I'm writing all this down. He won't know what hit him.

thank goodness

After I wrote that post, I thought well napper might be talking about his wife, in which case, that boss is always correct, and you will just have to kiss up.

[Napper]

thank goodness

After I wrote that post, I thought well napper might be talking about his wife, in which case, that boss is always correct, and you will just have to kiss up.

No, it's not 'Er Indoors. She always tells me what my opinion is!

[cerina]

It's like 'common sense'. What might be common sense to one person because of their experience is totally outside someone else's sphere of knowledge. I would put an opinion formed by experience above some jumped up little twerp who thinks he knows it all any day.

[Napper]

Thanks Cerina, I'm saving all this for use at the appropriate time!

Thing is, because of certain "programmes" where "Data is King", an inordinate amount of valuable resource is being used to collect, collate and display data pertaining to work methods. Fault analysis basically. Whereas, had the people involved simply asked, the answers would have been readily available. A fact borne out by the data!

[cerina]

Data is King and clipboards rule?

[Napper]

A good example of what I'm getting at is, I'd rather ask a 60 year old mechanic what was wrong with my car and have him listen to it running and tell me what needs done than have some spotty 17 year old hook it up to a computer and get 6 pages of diagnostics - AND charge me £50 for the privilege - just to tell me that e.g. a spark plug is wonky. Then charge me parts & labour to fix it.

Experience.

[Lonestar]

I wouldn't hand my car over to a 17-year-old, especially after the last teenage twatmonger almost shattered the rear window [heated, and you know how expen$ive those can be] on one of my cars, years ago.

I can't add much more to the discussion than to agree that experience trumps simple raw data every time.

[Napper]

Lonestar, you have added enough to reassure me that I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill on this issue.

[Don't Blink]

A good example of what I'm getting at is, I'd rather ask a 60 year old mechanic what was wrong with my car and have him listen to it running and tell me what needs done than have some spotty 17 year old hook it up to a computer and get 6 pages of diagnostics - AND charge me £50 for the privilege - just to tell me that e.g. a spark plug is wonky. Then charge me parts & labour to fix it.

Experience.

Most auto parts places will plug in a hand held auto error code thingy and read the error code - they assume you'll buy the part from them

[Napper]

I bought one for £25. I've used it on my car and my son's car. Plug in - Get Error Code - Look up code in supplied booklet - Buy part from auto shop at a fraction of the price and self fit.

So far, money saved on dealer diagnostics alone is over £200.

[cerina]

And when you have a car as old as mine, the only things you plug in are the spark plugs and the cigarette lighter.

[Napper]

And when you have a car as old as mine, the only things you plug in are the spark plugs and the cigarette lighter.

What about the cassettes?

[Starfire]

Intuition trumps experience and data combined.

[mugley]

And when you have a car as old as mine, the only things you plug in are the spark plugs and the cigarette lighter.

What about the cassettes?

naw, think 8 track, and after market at that

[cerina]

I used to have an 8 track in my Honda S800.

[ScornedVixen]

I agree, techno savvy man in the garage insisted our car wheels had to be straight, as his machine thingy pin pointed our tyres being at an angle, as a result we had punctured tyre on the same left front side 5 times in 2 months. Not funny as the tyres were £148 each.

Nagged at mark to take the car to an experienced garage (Volvo repair shop) and they re-set our wheels at an angle, turns out Volvo car wheels had be at an angle. No problem with tyres after that!

[Lonestar]

I used to have an 8 track in my Honda S800.

Are you serious? 8-Track made it across the Atlantic? There *is* a God, after all.

I agree, techno savvy man in the garage insisted our car wheels had to be straight, as his machine thingy pin pointed our tyres being at an angle, as a result we had punctured tyre on the same left front side 5 times in 2 months. Not funny as the tyres were £148 each.

Nagged at Mark to take the car to an experienced garage (Volvo repair shop) and they re-set our wheels at an angle, turns out Volvo car wheels had be at an angle. No problem with tyres after that!

Automobile front wheels are supposed to aim to an angle [called "toe-in," similar to pointing your toes slightly inward; and "caster/camber," the vertical angle of the wheel with the car's weight resting upon] the degree of which depending upon the design of the car's steering and suspension systems. It sounds counter-intuitive, but when properly adjusted this ensures even wear of the tire's tread surface. If anything is out of kilter the tire will wear unevenly, even suffer internal damage such as its steel belts coming apart [which is what I wonder may have happened to you, Vix].

[ScornedVixen]

Makes me wonder how that guy qualified and why depend on technology. The experienced. One pointed out that other cars wheel are aligned straight (never thought to ask which), a very costly mstakr on Mark's part thinkIng 'younger equals updated info the better than older experienced so and so'. Our new car tyres set us back at £200 each and no way we would make that mistake again!