Survey’s closed, results coming

September 22, 2011

This afternoon, I finally closed the long-running survey of “those who analyze data.” The results are seeping in to Datadoodle headquarters. I’ll release them in stages over the next two months: first, highlights, then more highlights, and finally a preview report and a final report. I opened it in mid-February this year. It has 221 [...]

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Everybody talks about collaboration

September 7, 2011

Everyone’s talking about collaboration — but what culture and tools does it take to succeed? Six principles emerged from a discussion among experts at the Pacific Northwest BI Summit in July. Even among this moderate crowd, an old tension showed itself. BI has always had what I’ve thought of as “data police,” those who stress [...]

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“Data bounces … behind your eyeballs”

August 29, 2011

If no one sees a piece of data, does it exist? Andrew Walkingshaw asks in his post “Data as process.” Data only exists inasmuch as it supports either communication or decision-making. When it’s not being looked at, whether by a person or a process, it’s as if it had never been at all. Instead, he [...]

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Steve Jobs on elegant, simple solutions, and a plea

August 26, 2011

I hate to be so timely, but I saw a Steve Jobs quote today that I like. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more [...]

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My columns on BI This Week

August 25, 2011

Sometimes I’m a complete idiot. I’ve been writing a monthly column for TDWI’s BI This Week since the beginning of 2011 — after a break of almost two years — and I have never posted a link. No good self promoter would have neglected to do that. Well, here’s a link to all of them. [...]

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Big BI and the ladder man to come calling at the Tableau conference

August 15, 2011

Howard Dresner is a celebrity in the business intelligence industry, but most people at last year’s Tableau conference didn’t even recognize him when he showed up there. Who needs BI? Tableau Software liked to think it had left BI behind. BI people, after all, were the control freaks who denied access to data. They sneered [...]

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Skinning “analytics,” the word

August 9, 2011

“Analytics,” the term, has been twisted so badly that Wayne Eckerson last month felt moved to rescue it with a definition. Rather, two definitions, possibly more. One definition is capitalized, the other is not. What “analytics” might mean in italics, all caps, or underlined he doesn’t say. Whatever the typography, Wayne just might have the [...]

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Frank Buytendijk to keynote at TDWI Las Vegas 2012

August 8, 2011

The TDWI keynote speaker who told about jogging with a chip in his shoe is coming back. Frank Buytendijk, always entertaining and thought provoking, will be the Monday morning keynote speaker at next February’s TDWI conference in Las Vegas, according to TDWI education director Paul Kautza this morning. The chip counted his steps, which gave [...]

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Data analyst for a construction company: where to look?

August 8, 2011

The general manager of a local builder wanted my advice the other morning — how to find a data analyst. I’m sure a lot of small-business managers would like to know, too. “I don’t know what I don’t know,” he says, “but I know that I don’t know.” He’s been trying to convince the boss [...]

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The joy of 6.1

August 4, 2011

There’s nothing like a Tableau release. No one but Tableau users tweet so exuberantly, not even a flock of birds at dawn. What’s going on here? This week Tableau Software released version 6.1, on paper just a single decimal point up from last fall’s Six. We got more iPad readiness, improved maps, and other handy [...]

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