How can business survive without data? Well, 80 percent of eligible users, according to most surveys, do seem to go without. The industry salivates in anticipation of someday colonizing that territory, and it shudders in frustration because they haven’t done it yet. That topic came up last summer at the annual Pacific Northwest BI Summit. […]
Information Management
“BI for the other 80 percent” at
“Storytelling: Gimmick or Real?” My latest in Information Management
I’m stalking the data-story story. One of the first stops is with a few smart people I know and trust to have given it thought. Scott Davis, whose name long-time Datadoodle readers will recognize, has thought about it deeply. I talked to him in June, and in August finally wrote it up. By the way, […]
First comes the data story, then comes the shadow
Nothing interesting goes without simultaneous celebration and condemnation. Back in 2008 when I wrote that “Tableau is the new Apple,” data visualization was widely pooh-poohed. “Pretty pictures,” I heard so many say. Now the pretty boy is data storytelling. “Cue the data storytellers,” which ran in Information Management the other day, got a good round […]
My latest in Information Management: “‘Sexy'” Data Science is a Team Sport”
The word got out last year: data scientist is the “sexiest job,” a late-2012 declaration by the renowned Tom Davenport of “Competing on Analytics” fame. Trouble is, “sexy” goes bad faster than fish. “Data scientist,” still fresh, is my word of the year. In 2013, the data analysis industry discovered it, many loved or hated […]
The value of small industry events
Any run-of-the-mill industry event calls itself a failure when just 24 attendees show up. An audience of that size tempts any keynote speaker to flee. The so-called “welcome” reception seems more like a wake for an unpopular deceased. Throughout, a deadly calm fills every room. Some events of that size, though, sparkle with life. Potential […]