Thursday, May 23, 2013

Twenty Golden Rules of Analytics



"Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted."  -- Albert Einstein

Data Analytics is new gold mine every organization is digging now, however, analytics is art and science at the same time, perhaps not so many businesses understand these golden rules of analytics:



  1. Question is more Important than Answers

  1. Accurately defining the problem is half the game won.

  1. Tell the story with analytics. Analysis is for effective decision making

  1. Don't expect automated tools to provide an optimal solution. There is no substitute for an experienced data analyst

  1. Correlation does not imply causation

  1. Never trust your data! Consider it always dirty and in need of extensive data preparation

  1. The analysis has to tell a story people understand and is relative to the problem.

  1. Right Navigation Order: ‘Why’ precedes ‘What' proceeds 'How'.

  1. Garbage in, Garbage out; fighting for clean and the right data never ends and understand your data quality & accuracy

  1. Follow ‘KISS’ Principle: Keep it simple! The end-users must see, understand and follow it.

  1. Brilliant analytics does not trump bad decision-makers 

  1. Your model should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. (Einstein)

  1. The only thing that is certain is there is no certainty, probably
 
  1. Find a regularity in a chaos, and recognize a chaos in a regularity
  1. The actual model building (although critical of course) is the least important compared to business understanding, data understanding, communication and adoption 
  1. Data analysts can just find evidences. Who find answers are who asked question. 

  1. Information is worthless, unless it has the power to change a decision
  2. The Three most important features of your data are metadata, metadata, and metadata.
  3. Observable variables are not the same as Process variables
  4. The continuous learning and improvement is available for all involved in the process from the data collectors to the analysts to the decision makers. Proper feedback mechanisms built into every analytical plan can be as informative as the results of the analysis.
"Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses a lamp post, more for support than illumination."  -- Mark Twain

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