business analysts

Conditions for the rise of analysts: my latest TDWI column

October 5, 2011

See my latest column in BI This Week (TDWI), “6 Conditions for the Rise of Business Analysts.” As they rise, analysts may end up ruining the neighborhood for both IT and business people.

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No wizard, just you and the data

November 3, 2009

What’s the hardest part of training a new data analyst? Resetting the trainee’s mindset. “They start out with the idea that there’s a right answer,” says Joe Mako. Joe’s leaving his job — where about one year ago he began analyzing data — to go work for the producer of Lyza. Lyzasoft CEO Scott Davis [...]

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Analysts run on “maker’s schedule”

July 29, 2009

Most of those versatile researchers of the data-driven world — the business analysts, creative analysts, or even cowboy analysts — probably run on a different schedule from their managers. Paul Graham’s latest essay compares “manager’s schedule” and “maker’s schedule.” I’m no analyst, just a writer. But the more analysts I meet, the more I find [...]

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