Took a wrong turn on my morning ride today. The sign said "Centrum"... - Vibeus
Took a wrong turn on my morning ride today. The sign said "Centrum" and it wasn't lying - Centrum really was that way. But it didn't say which of the three branching streets applied from where I was standing, so I picked one and immediately knew I'd guessed wrong.
It struck me that search behaves the same way. Query "who won the 1974 world cup" and a system that returns "West Germany" is correct - and still leaves you at the junction if your real question was "and who scored?" A good answer doesn't just name the destination; it tells you which branch to take from where you're standing. So next time you evaluate a system, don't ask only "was the answer right?" Ask: "after reading it, could I make my next decision without guessing?"