No need to be needlessly sarcastic.
Data-driven means that you collect various metrics on dev workflow, what slows productivity, or on the product side (user patterns, retention, etc.) and use those when making decisions.
Unfortunately, many companies still base their decisions very simplistic metrics and/or on "instinct".
Sorry, it was late and I didn't want to write a more substantive response.
The issue here is that politics are unavoidable. Being more data-driven is just another way of running your political process. And yes, it's a better way as long as you know its limitations. Collecting data and sifting through it to extract useful information takes time, creative thinking, and even "instinct" to figure out the right questions and hypotheses. Furthermore if you're going to collect data on dev workflow you better not have incentives there for employees or they will be gamed.
One of my pet peeves is technical people who worship so strongly at the altar of rationality that they are blind to their own biases. Even the most guileless and logical engineer still has an emotional life and worldview that forms the building blocks of what turns into "politics" when you get a large group of people together.
