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Data analyst for a construction company: where to look?

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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 that they had to see what the pile of data that had accumulated over the years could tell them.

But the boss thought that between them they knew enough. They’ve been running the businss for so long that much of the management is by intuition. “We self-correct by feel.”… Read the rest “Data analyst for a construction company: where to look?”

No dashboard, just an ironing board

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As if to renounce one more convention of business, a Berkeley-area businessperson I know couldn’t find data, so he went out and got some of his own. He had to evaluate market areas.

For three days, he stood by an ironing board with a map on top in front of the Cheese Board in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto. Each customer coming in or out got handed two stick-on dots, red to mark home and blue to mark work. His map quickly revealed patterns and commute routes.

It was easy. “Everybody’s curious,” said Terry Baird, who had made a career of cooperative/collective food retailing.… Read the rest “No dashboard, just an ironing board”

Don’t weep for IT

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Just by chance, two ostensibly unrelated items arrived here at Datadoodle headquarters on the same day last week.

First, the Department of Here and There received notice of a comment on a post by Information Management editorial director Jim Ericson about his video interview of eLearning Curve director of education Dave Wells. In the interview, Dave described a convergence of forces, a “perfect storm,” that will overwhelm IT shops. Comments ensued, including this one:

… I only hope those who refuse to be intimidated by “IT buzzwords” understand that it’s not going to happen by magic … someone still needs to know what they are doing … and it ain’t glamorous.

… Read the rest “Don’t weep for IT”