ADDICTED TO DATA? A SELF DIAGNOSIS THAT STOPS DATA DOPING

ARE YOU DATA-DRIVEN OR

@TonyClement

The sexy tools of Big Data.Bedazzling dashboards.Intelligent sounding analytics.

We deserve a healthier relationship with data, but the trend is against us.

Continually counting KPI’s.Collecting more and more data sets.CFO’s keeping you up at night.

DATA DOPING

IS THE HABITUAL ABUSE OF

ANALYTICS

WITH SO MUCH ANALYTICAL ANXIETY

AROUND MARKETING, THE TEMPTATION TO USE DATA

FOR SELFISH PURPOSES IS SERIOUSLY STRONG

WITH ALL THE GOALS, METRICS AND KPI’S TO ANSWER TO, THE PRESSURE TO MAKE DATA SPEAK THE TRUTH IS RELENTLESS

WE ARE BEING DRIVEN TO ADDICTION

5 SIGNS THAT YOU’RE HEADING FOR A DATA ADDICTION

PROTECT YOURSELF: A SIMPLE SELF DIAGNOSIS

The analytics department is a nameless, faceless jumble of gears, tech and data. They live in the corners of the culture and exist to deliver the data.

1 You can’t name a soul in the analytics department. ‘i, sad robot.’

When deprived of data, facts and research you become dazed and disorientated. Unable to give or take direction due to ‘lack of analysis, paralysis.’ A loss in business instinct is a terrible thing.

2 YOU SUFFER FROM DATA WITHDRAWALS.

Charts of research and analysis is lifted out of context to plug gaps in other places. This addictive behavior can seem harmless, but ‘over-plucking’ can be ugly in the end.

3 DATA IS PLUCKED WITH NO REMORSE.

You spend more time trying to figure out what social data tools to use, rather than actually using one. They all have such cool names and shiny logos.

4 You’ve been hi-jacked by the social listening pirates.

You’ve had so many circular meetings about goal setting, KPI’s and metric performance all sense of what real success looks like is lost.

5 meetings about metrics lead to more meetings about metrics.

COUNTER MEASURES TO MAKE DATA WORK FOR GOOD.5

LET’S HAVE A HEALTHIER YEAR OF DATA

Trust your intuition. Instinct becomes the experiment and the data will provide the evidence. Be agile in unknown situations - build, measure, learn, then build better.

1 USE INSTINCTS TO GUIDE YOUR ANALYSIS.

Less metrics means more focus. Find the mini metrics that are leading, comparable and accountable. Nurture them, grow them, help them become heroes amongst your peers.

2TURN MINI-METRICS INTO SUPER-METRICS.

Treat your reporting, like a reporter. And write your findings as headlines that humans want to read. Remember, your dashboard is competing with gifs and cat videos.

3 WHEN ANALYZING LOOK FOR HEADLINES, NOT OBSERVATIONS.

Too much data in your diet? Time to take a look at your dietary needs for analytics and eliminate anything that doesn’t promote a lean data environment.

4 BUST THAT DATA BELLY. BUST IT HARD.

Get out of the way of your analysts, and let them tell the story behind their numbers. Often the real insight is not in the charts, but in their narrative.

5 HELP YOUR ANALYSTS SHINE.

See analysts as delivery bots?Lead with data, instead of instinct?Pluck data to support an agenda?Have more social tools than insight? Have circular meetings about metrics?

SELF DIAGNOSIS SCORECARD

Do you...

1. Use instinct to guide your analytics.2. Nurture mini metrics into super metrics.3. Look for headlines, not observations.4. Bust the data belly by detoxing needless metrics.5. Help your analyst tell the meta-story.

IF SO, TRY THESE COUNTER MEASURES AND ENJOY A DATA DETOX.

LET’S MAKE 2014 A HEALTHIER YEAR OF DATA.

@TonyClement

FOR THE LOVE OF DATA