The value of critical thinking in a machine-driven world

The belief that artificial intelligence will solve all of our challenges is pure science fiction, argues Rob Hocknell. It’s time for planners to start trusting their faculties.

There’s no question that the media world is becoming progressively platform and machine driven. So much chatter in the industry now is about the growth of automation and the pace of change is undoubtedly increasing.

However, I’m most interested in nurturing the skillsets our planners need to prosper in this new realm of A.I. driven planning platforms.

I believe the answer lies, without a doubt, in excellent critical thinking. First penned by the Greeks 2,500 years ago, the theory behind critical thinking still holds very true today: it is the key skillset a successful modern media planner should be living and breathing every day.

Scanning through the packed schedule of industry events till the end of the year, I’m surprised to see how little attention is given to critical thinking over disciplines such as content marketing and programmatic.

Every day, we make an endless series of judgments, many of which are based on raw data – be it channel selection, spend allocations, focus audience segments and strategic tactics. We must be careful that machines don’t render us passive in our decision-making and end up judging things at face value.

Critical thinking is about how we analyse insight available to us, thinking more broadly and widely about the judgments we form; considering campaigns objectively rather than being a passive bystander to data.

So smart critical thinking elevates planners to have an informed overview, to objectively analyse data and form better judgements. In this way, we can use critical thinking to make logical and creative leaps to connect the seemingly unconnected. In the battle for insight, it’s this aspect of critical thinking which is so valuable.

As an industry we can be blamed for having a tunnel-vision approach to the qualities we look for and value in our planners. Critical thinking can certainly be workshopped and learnt, however it’s often more effective when it’s natural and innate.

A smart recruitment process will identify these skills and combined with this we need current senior planners to always be questioning, driving and experimenting to promote a culture where risks can be taken and new conclusions can inform planning.

When it comes to technology, we’ve become saturated with the ‘latest’ developments. We’re hyper-aware of its potentially disruptive power, but get easily sucked into rumours about new models, moving through a predictable hype cycle of naïve optimism, informed cynicism, dissolution, and eventually productivity.

We are aware that moving into a cloud-based analytics environment leverages the power of A.I, however it’s essential we balance this with enhanced ‘craft of science’ thinking skills.

Critical thinking is our tool to maintain control over this new domain and avoid the trap of cognitive biases. The belief that A.I. will solve all of our challenges is pure science fiction. ‘Applied imagination’, through critical thinking, must be used to drive transformation and ensure a harmonious future for both our people and our technology platforms.

Rob Hocknell is head of strategy at Spark Foundry