Early in my career, I spent a great deal of time looking at and analyzing employee compensation data. Among my early discoveries: even the secretaries in Hawaii make a great deal of money. (The cost of living is quite high there, I'm told.) While I've since moved on to other
In physics, antimatter has the same mass, but opposite charge, of matter. Collisions between matter and antimatter lead to the annihilation of both, the end result of which is a release of energy available to do work. In this blog series, I will use antimatter as a metaphor for a
If a key concept of customer centricity is understanding relationship networks and any individual’s sphere of influence, it is critical that the organization of the data incorporate two different aspects of these networks. The first is the concept of a relationship, which can bind a customer to some other entity
The second part of my data governance primer series addresses ways to "mind your metadata." I can just hear the collective groans, and perhaps a stifled yawn. Sorry, but metadata collection is one of those necessary evils that may not be fun, but having it available as a resource to
Root-cause analysis is a core technique of all data quality improvement initiatives. You can’t improve a situation unless you know what is causing it to happen in the first place. There are many different techniques for root-cause analysis. Recently I discussed the 5 Why’s technique and how to improve it
Data scientist is one of the hottest jobs in the country right now, and probably the world. In an oft-cited report, McKinsey estimated that the U.S. will soon face a shortage of approximately 175,000 data scientists. Demand far exceeds supply, especially given the hype around big data. Universities like UC
In physics, antimatter has the same mass, but opposite charge, of matter. Collisions between matter and antimatter lead to the annihilation of both, the end result of which is a release of energy available to do work. In this blog series, I will use antimatter as a metaphor for a
In my last three posts, we walked through a thought experiment about the decision-making process, with the conclusion that a method for ensuring the quality of report data used to make decisions will highlight the value of those individuals whose instincts and experience allow them to generally make good decisions.
The “5 Whys” technique is one of the most commonly cited analysis tools in popular data quality texts, and for good reason. First, it's a simple tool to teach. It only takes a few minutes to explain to someone the basic workings of the 5 Whys approach. Start with a known
Timeline: August 5, 2013, 11:50 am, PST I'm on the treadmill in my gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, glued to the television set. Any moment now, Major League Baseball is going to announce the suspension of Alex Rodriguez. Reports put the suspension at 214 games to life. Many people loathe the
