Most people tend to manage their life and business on a healthy diet of trial and error. Not Lynn Reedy, 48, Ebay's senior vice president for software development. She tends to see everyday tasks as sets of discrete variables, each in need of study, quantification and improvement. Two years ago, in preparation for a ski trip to Squaw Valley, Calif., Reedy's husband, Kevin, bought a watch that measures altitude changes. To her spouse's chagrin, Reedy became obsessed with the data the watch was providing. If they didn't drop at least 30,000 feet per day, she would write the day off as a failure. To Kevin's glee, the watch broke near the end of the season.
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