This week's thread

TV detectives are a lie.

The lone genius, the flash of insight, the convenient confession. Real investigative work is something else entirely. It is a team sport. It is a process of managing messy, incomplete data that rarely arrives in the right order (sound familiar marketers?).

In this week's conversation, I talk to Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin of the Metropolitan Police. She explains the craft of investigation, from building a timeline of facts to stress-testing hypotheses, and using team disagreement to prevent closed-mindedness from setting in.

What I learned this week

How to separate signal from noise: detective style

With Katherine Goodwin.

1. Separate what you know to be true from what you have been told. This distinction provides the only solid foundation to build upon.
2. Develop multiple, competing hypotheses at the start. Then design specific lines of inquiry to disprove them, not confirm them.
3. Embrace disagreement within the team. Dissent is not a blocker; it is the mechanism that prevents groupthink and confirmation bias.

Why marketers should care: Most miscarriages of justice, Goodwin explains, happen when a team jumps to a conclusion then makes the evidence fit. Marketers constantly fall into the same trap. This conversation provides a robust framework to challenge your own assumptions, kill bad ideas early, and focus on what the evidence actually says is true, not what you hope it to be.

Watch the conversation →

This week's concept

Bad market research

Lazy thinking makes it hard to gauge public opinion.

Continue the thread

What is one investigative technique you will borrow?

Reply with the best example you've seen. I read every response, and the best ones often end up on Uncommon Thread.

Keep pulling the thread

Listen to the conversation →