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“Tame” the data makers

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I’ve heard of “taming data.” But the week before last at Strata I heard it in a new context: taming behavior.

Taming data has been “nichy,” as fellow TDWI writer Steve Swoyer puts it. He says, “It doubtless explains the etymology of, for example, Tamr.”

But Swoyer pushes on from there, as Swoyer knows how to do.

[Notice the] consonance between to wrangle and to tame. Both are grounded in the same metaphorical frame. Both are grounded in the same metaphor. This pre-conscious framing/understanding of the issue is more interesting than the stupid terms.

Former IBM sales engineer Lamont Lockwood, now the “Integration Expert,” sees two definitions.… Read the rest ““Tame” the data makers”

Still a “tool” by any other name

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A marketing manager I know stopped me in mid sentence. He didn’t want me to call his business intelligence product a “tool.”

Why? “It sounds small,” he said. But it is small, I pointed out. It’s smaller than many others in its space. It’s downloaded in under a minute and unpacks itself on a desktop in a few minutes.

But he waved that rationale away as if it were a fly, and I should have known. Marketing people, like the parents of gladiators, prefer their progeny to be perceived as big. Bigness casts dark shadows over competitors and conceals weakness. Industry insiders give big competitors good odds.… Read the rest “Still a “tool” by any other name”

Skinning “analytics,” the word

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“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 stature to make it all stick. He’s been around the industry for nearly two decades, now as the TechTarget director of research and president of BI Leader Consulting. People know him, respect him, and like him.

The capital-A meaning takes the “macro perspective.” He says it’s “the processes, technologies, and best practices that turns data into information and knowledge that drives business decisions and actions.”… Read the rest “Skinning “analytics,” the word”