{"id":1492,"slug":"rule-three-thresholds-before-claiming-information-edge","title":"Rule: three thresholds before claiming an information edge — volume to clear noise, clean data, an actual decision someone will act on (and timeliness before commoditisation)","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["data-pipeline-maintenance","decision-linked-metrics","information-asymmetry"],"reference_body":"**Rule.** Before a Candid article or proposal claims a client has (or can build) an information-asymmetry edge, verify four threshold conditions:\n\n1. **Volume:** enough observations for the signal to clear noise ([[express-analytics-volume-quality-undermine-models]]).\n2. **Quality:** clean, consistent data — \"garbage in\" is fatal at any scale ([[clubcard-data-quality-multiple-users-one-card]]).\n3. **Decision:** a specific inward decision the information actually changes, with a willingness/ability to act ([[bdc-mit-tech-revenue-transformation-management-profit]]).\n4. **Timeliness:** the edge must be acted on *before* the data commoditises ([[tesco-loyalty-card-now-common-practice-edge-decay]], [[levin-stanford-public-information-shrinks-asymmetry]]).\n\n**Why.** Each threshold is independently documented. Together they explain why most named-case magnitudes (Tesco, AA, Progressive) do not scale down to typical SMB volume or maturity.\n\n**How to apply.** If any of the four fails, do not anchor the article on an edge claim for that decision domain. Pivot to the capability-with-caveat framing or to a different decision domain where the thresholds do hold.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-information-asymmetry-decision-edge-june-2026","title":"Research notes (capture-layer): the affirmative, inward decision-edge case for data intelligence — information asymmetry applied to pricing, demand, risk, retention, targeting (June 2026)","kind":"research-notes","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"clubcard-data-quality-multiple-users-one-card","title":"Clubcard data-quality lesson — multiple users on one card produced false positives in mining (the \"garbage in\" warning from the best-documented winner)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"express-analytics-volume-quality-undermine-models","title":"Express Analytics / INFORMS — \"data quality and availability can fundamentally undermine a model's reliability\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"bdc-mit-tech-revenue-transformation-management-profit","title":"BDC / MIT framework — \"investing in digital technologies drives revenue, but transformation management capabilities drive profits\" (capability ≠ outcome)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"tesco-loyalty-card-now-common-practice-edge-decay","title":"Tesco / Computing on dunnhumby sale — \"Using CRM data from loyalty cards is now common practice rather than the unique differentiator that it once used to be\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T01:14:48.847Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T01:14:48.847Z"}