標籤彙整：data

3 tips your business could implement to become more competitive

We could review our organization’s performance by using analytical data. If we see the performance report, but don’t take any further action. Nothing will change.

Competing on Analytics: Updated, with a New Introduction: The New Science of Winning

The book author of “Competing On Analytics”, Tom Davenport, suggests readers apply data carefully and gain an advantage through it.

  1. Outperform your competitors:Even in industries where analytical data is prevalent, some cooperations are better at using data and making a smarter decision than others.
  2. Be special: Adjust your marketing position and business models that are hard to be replaced by your competitors. For example, Apple inc., the maker of iPhone, changed its target metrics from the unit sales to installed base of devices. Apple is redefining their marketing position from a hardware company to a service company.
  3. Renewable: In a fast-paced world, no cooperation could remain top. Nokia, once the mobile phone giant, lost its appeal while it overlooked Google and Apple. So every decision-maker in an organization should keep reinventing and renew their business goal for their company.

How to make a better decision(book review of “The Signal and the Noise”)

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don’t

Which animal would you think defines a good forecaster, fox or hedgehog?

The hedgehog knows one big thing, but the fox knows many little things.

If an original method is not surely working, the hedgehog is reluctant to change, but the fox is tolerant of complexity and is adaptable to find a new approach. That is why the author suggests being foxy is a right attitude toward a good forecaster.

We live in a world in which information is pervasive so that the gap between what we know and what we think we know is widening.  As the study has shown, even the experts usually make incorrect predictions. For example, the probability of the skyscraper being crashed into by the terrorists is 0.05%. The possibility would rise to 38% given that the first building is under attack.

Today’s Forecast is the First Forecast of the Rest of Your Life

If we could use one of the principles, “Today’s Forecast is the First Forecast of the Rest of Your Life” in this book, we could make a better forecast possible today—regardless what we said yesterday, last month, or last year–   and prevent the formidable catastrophe from happening.

Other suggestions the writer proposes are below:

  • Think probabilistically: Acknowledging the real-world uncertainty in our forecast.
  • Look for consensus: It’s not easy to be objective. Other options could help us see the world in different viewpoints to reduce biases.
  • Weighing qualitative information– accounting for the qualitative information along with quantitative factor

This book is a little long but readable, not a formula-heavy, general science book. It consists of four sections.

The first section considers the failures of predictions in finance, baseball, and politics. Then, the author gives the readers some advice about how we can apply our judgment to the data without succumbing to the biases. The second section focuses on dynamical systems (weather, economy, earthquake, and economy) that make forecasting more difficult. Following the third section, it turns toward a solution by an introduction of Bayer’s theorem. Finally, the discussion of applying Bayer’s theorem to more existential types of problems.

Other suggestion:

If you’re interested in general science books or statistically forecasting, please enjoy it. However, if you are the audience who need depth in measuring and making data-driven decisions, you might not appreciate this book as much. I would suggest to read “How To Measure Anything” by Douglas W. Hubbard.

Tell a story like a script director, book review of “Storytelling with Data”

Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Tell a story like a script director. Present a slide like a designer.

The author, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, uses simple examples and explains to every reader about how to communicate to audience using data.

You could implement these concepts by hand. Learning how to use PowerPoint well doesn’t mean you could give an excellent presentation to the audience. You must display your idea like a well-trained designer and tell a story like a Hollywood script director.

So, the author borrows some professional elements from design and script-writing such as affordance, acceptance and storyboarding. In the chapter of “case studies”, the author demonstrates how she would fix the not-so-good graphs by the concepts covering in this book.

Telling an emotional or persuasive story using data is a hard work. If we don’t consciously recognize that this takes time to do well. We run the risk of losing the potential opportunity to drive change and action.

This is the final step the audience will see. We should devote our time to storytelling with data.