A step-by-step guide for business leaders who need to manage successful big data projects
Leading in Analytics: The Critical Tasks for Executives to Master in the Age of Big Data takes you through the entire process of guiding an analytics initiative from inception to execution. You’ll learn which aspects of the project to pay attention to, the right questions to ask, and how to keep the project team focused on its mission to produce relevant and valuable project. As an executive, you can’t control every aspect of the process. But if you focus on high-impact factors that you can control, you can ensure an effective outcome. This book describes those factors and offers practical insight on how to get them right.
Drawn from best-practice research in the field of analytics, the Manageable Tasks described in this book are specific to the goal of implementing big data tools at an enterprise level. A dream team of analytics and business experts have contributed their knowledge to show you how to choose the right business problem to address, put together the right team, gather the right data, select the right tools, and execute your strategic plan to produce an actionable result. Become an analytics-savvy executive with this valuable book.
- Ensure the success of analytics initiatives, maximize ROI, and draw value from big data
- Learn to define success and failure in analytics and big data projects
- Set your organization up for analytics success by identifying problems that have big data solutions
- Bring together the people, the tools, and the strategies that are right for the job
By learning to pay attention to critical tasks in every analytics project, non-technical executives and strategic planners can guide their organizations to measurable results.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Dr. Tim Rahschulte xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: The Last Analytics Mile 1
The Last Mile to Analytics Success 1
Expert Contributors 4
Task 0 Analytics Leadership 11
Knowledge Begins in Failure 12
From Failure to Success 17
The Seven Tasks for Analytics Success 22
Chapter Summary and Exercises 24
Task 1 The Problem 27
Solve the Right Problem 28
The DAD Framework for Analytics Action 28
Finding Valuable Problems to Solve 39
The Problem Statement 45
Checking for Project Viability 50
Prioritizing Viable Projects 52
Chapter Summary and Exercises 54
Task 2 The Team 61
Building a Winning Analytics Team 62
Building and Managing Your Team 73
Managing the Technical Team 81
Engaging Your Team 86
Chapter Summary and Exercises 89
Task 3 The Data 91
Amorphous Asset 92
Understanding Data’s Value 92
Identifying Valuable Data 97
Harnessing Data’s Value 101
A Few Vs to Enhance Value 107
Quality Data 114
Chapter Summary and Exercises 121
Task 4 The Tools 125
Analytics Mindset 126
Executives’ Role in Tools 127
Categories of Analytics 131
Predictive Analytics Tools 146
Prescriptive Analytics Tools 151
Tool Synergies 155
Limits of Analytics Tools 157
Chapter Summary and Exercises 158
Task 5 Execution 161
Execute = Action 162
Process 163
People 177
Problems 186
Chapter Summary and Exercises 189
Task 6 Analytics Maturity 191
Defining Analytics Maturity 192
Visualizing Analytics Maturity 194
Growing Analytics Maturity 210
Tools for Maturity 218
Chapter Summary and Exercises 225
Task 7 Responsible Analytics 227
Our Analytics Responsibility 228
Analytics Discernment 229
INFORMS Ethical Guidelines 232
Analytics for Good 241
Being Responsible for Our Analytics Future 248
Chapter Summary and Exercises 261
Conclusion: Crossing the Last Mile 265
We Must Cross It Together 265
Additional Learning Opportunities 268
Lasting Principles for Success 269
Afterword: Dr. Karl Kempf’s Legacy 271
Pioneering Analytics with Formula One Racing 271
Teaching Superman to Fly 273
Automating Aerospace Manufacturing 273
Making Better Decisions at Intel 273
Author’s Tribute 274
About the Author 275
Why Read Leading in Analytics 277
Author Index 279
Subject Index 283
