book

Where data analysis is a nightmare

April 18, 2011

There are the dream organizations that deploy data analysts wisely. Then there are the nightmares, such as the I.R.S. as portrayed in David Foster Wallace’s last novel, The Pale King, reviewed yesterday in the New York Times. … In a universe of veiled and veiling numbers, the task of drawing the true [data] out into [...]

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New hope for the “single version of the truth”

December 1, 2010

What will it be, a “single version of the truth” or unabated proliferation of ad hoc data? It’s a chronic dilemma, and its resolution is crucial to big-box business intelligence. Frank Buytendijk’s new book, Dealing with Dilemmas: Where Business Analytics Fall Short, offers a way out of this pickle.

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A reason for BI failure: knowledge requires a knower

June 15, 2010

What can explain business intelligence’s poor adoption rate? Are tools not easy to use? Or is there a deeper reason? A book from 2000, The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, suggests that BI designers have neglected basic human needs. Jack Vinson, of Knowledge Jolt with Jack fame, has just [...]

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Self tracking is business intelligence

May 10, 2010

Back when secretaries were common, you could have had yours track your day in 15-minute increments. In his book The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker suggested this as a way to find out what you really did all day. The results were usually, let’s say, a starting point for improvement. Tracking your time then and now [...]

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A long look at Stephen Few’s “Now You See It”

July 15, 2009

Stephen Few gave a snappy name to his new book, Now You See It, and a cover that signals a gem — all black with a slice of sunset that highlights the “see.” The question, though, is who the “you” is.

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CIA’s insights on the psychology of analysis

July 7, 2009

Imagine someone writing a book about data analysis without even mentioning software. “To penetrate the heart and soul of the problem of improving analysis,” writes Richard J. Heuer Jr. in Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, “it is necessary to better understand, influence, and guide the mental processes of analysts themselves.” It’s the mind that does the [...]

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