There are many skeptics who complain about the Brockmann Methodology saying that I confuse cause with effect.
To me this is like trying to understand what separates the people with excellent oral health from those without and discovering that what separates the Top Performers (those with strongest teeth, fewest cavities etc) from the Poor Performers are a set of factors that are not only related to the central idea, but are intuitively obvious. For example, those with fewest cavities tend to live in areas that fluoridate the drinking supply. They also eat regularly, avoid sweets, visit a dental professional regularly and frequently brush their teeth between meals.
In this case, we would discuss the behavioral elements as sources of knowledge, operations or technology that are the best practices, simply because they are the habits of Top Performers. These are intuitively obvious to me since I know that sugar causes plaque which needs undisturbed time to attack the enamel of teeth, so brushing disrupts that process and regular dental visits assure preventative steps can be taken before it's too late.
Our research goal is to draw attention to the effects of these issues and recommend best practices to improve the circumstances for users. The value of experience as a source of customer insight drives the research process that highlights the effect of the recommendation.
In future studies, it will be relevant to measure the weight of the recommendation and report on the one, two, three… five most critical things that IT managers must do.
