Don't conflate data with process. It's fair to say you can't process 40 million bits of data on a whiteboard. On the other hand, if you have 40 million bits of

Don't conflate data with process. It's fair to say you can't process 40 million bits of data on a whiteboard. On the other hand, if you have 40 million bits of data, but can't work out how to answer the question you're asking of it (or in many cases, what question you're trying to ask!), then it's useless. This is where whiteboards, paper, and other physical solutions really shine. You can make notes for yourself or communicate with those in your shared physical space in a very immediate, speed-of-thought way. In general, software (even BI software) is limited to doing what it is programmed to do. We necessarily adapt our thinking to the tools we have to express the ideas we have. Dancing about architecture is difficult, as Steve Martin pointed out.