new york times

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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Self-tracking: “If man were meant to fly” and other objections

June 7, 2010

Self tracking for performance has a place on the map now thanks to the May 2 New York Times Magazine article by Gary Wolf. But along with praise and interest, “The Data-Driven Life” also drew harsh, skeptical reactions. Many of the objections were of the “if man were meant to fly, he’d have wings” variety. [...]

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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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You know it when they dance

November 17, 2009

Here’s that eternal question again: how do you know when whatever you’re working on is good enough? Today, two perspectives. The Oscar-winning sound designer Walter Murch, speaking Friday night at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael California, told about talking shop with Michael Jackson’s engineers. They told Murch that they had no special insight, [...]

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As if there there can be a single version of the truth

July 8, 2009

The popular New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman often disagrees with his fellow economists. Let’s all raise our eyebrows in shock. Not! My shock is at the idea among some of his readers that there’s a right and wrong answer. Today, for example, Krugman again refers to his opinion that the stimulus [...]

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Big BI, meet Big Ag

March 18, 2009

Swap out a few terms in a recent New York Times story about farmers’ attempt to split California, and you might see the IT vs. business saga.

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Alex Vollmer’s review of election day infographics

February 7, 2008

Be sure you don’t miss Alex Vollmer’s excellent review of election day infographics. He wanted to see the margins of victory, percentage of precincts reporting, number of delegates at stake, and other goals. He looked at the New York Times online, CNN, National Public Radio and other media.

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