A single source of truth

A new phrase, something that other people use all the time, but I keep thinking about it. Plus: "Now, with comments!" Also: 7 other things worth a click.

I wrote a book about West Point. I had a title idea before I wrote a single word.

It came from President George W. Bush’s address to the graduates on June 1, 2002:

“In your last year, America was attacked by a ruthless and resourceful enemy. You graduate from this Academy in a time of war.”

Boom. It hit me: “In a Time of War.”

I don’t have another book planned imminently, but I heard another phrase recently that has similarly stuck with me.

A friend and ex-colleague mentioned it at lunch last week. He has a deep background in both entrepreneurship and finance, and I wanted his take on an idea I’m working on.

More on that later. Well, maybe.

Anyway, here’s his phrase: “a single source of truth.”

If you’re into finance or have a background in information systems, you’ll likely be very familiar with this phrase. But it was new to me.

In short, and I hope I summarize correctly, it boils down to the notion that if you’re building a model or tracking information across a team, you want to be able …