May 2009

BI terms that mean something

May 28, 2009

What a radical idea: break business intelligence down by the types of work to be done — financial intelligence, human-resources intelligence, risk intelligence, etc. — instead of by the technology — data warehousing, data integration, dashboards, etc. “If I put my feet in the shoes of a business person listening to someone pitching ‘business intelligence,’ [...]

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Also “not BI”

May 27, 2009

From a reader who identified with “That’s not BI“: His product has performed BI functions for many years, though it still goes unacknowledged except by users. “Sometimes the looking down the nose from the cognoscenti gets to you.”

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Data lurking in the elevator

May 27, 2009

The TDWI San Diego conference opens in just 10 weeks, and some people are already thinking about who they hope to avoid. “We’re sure not going to hide out in a stairway,” one promises but has no other strategy so far. Speculation about who’d win should it come down to a good old bar fight, [...]

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Just-in-time training at the desktop

May 26, 2009

There’s a new way to learn BI skills — at the desktop. eLearningCurve launched May 15. Former TDWI education director Dave Wells directs the program.

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“Press here”: timeless cartoon

May 19, 2009

This cartoon by Timo Elliott is good. It was funny in 2007, and it’s funny today.

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A new game for BI

May 19, 2009

BI might be best made into a game. Tableau Software, for example, doesn’t call its tool a game, of course. You don’t sell business software that way. But to many of its users, it might as well be a game. Tableau looks like more fun than any other computer game I know of. We’ve seen [...]

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Sleight of hand

May 18, 2009

“We’re confusing folks who can benefit from this. It’s sleight of hand.” – On drifting BI terminology by a keen observer who’d rather not be named

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That’s not BI

May 14, 2009

A pair of officials in double-breasted suits arrived at a New York school for a meeting with the principal. On their way to his office, a young student excitedly offered to demonstrate his skill at computer programming. In a story told in 1984 by Nicholas Negroponte, I heard echoes of today’s business intelligence industry. The [...]

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Buytendijk, from the outside

May 11, 2009

You could say that Frank Buytendijk, the Dutch performance expert, thinks outside the box. Consider last week’s advice to BI metrics makers. What you probably didn’t realize is that he was born with a name to suit: Buytendijk (pron. BAW-ten-dek) means “outside the dike.”

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Perfect BI tool is one that people actually use

May 7, 2009

People want to perform well, Frank Buytendijk believes. Management gets in the way with stupid, top-down games. It would be better to join people’s natural passion with corporate goals.

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