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Inspired by a post at Flowing Data, I present three visuals that demonstrate how the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine could improve the presentation of this vital information. I personally found it shocking that US agricultural subsidies were so small
Agriculutural subsidies working against the health of America???
Listen to the Analytic Talk Show with Stacey Barr
“A Week in the Life of an Analyst Rock Star: Using Analytics to Dramatically Boost Bottom Lines”
You can download the examples discussed here (Adobe PDF file). Once you have the examples downloaded, click here to listen to the recorded webcast (download as an MP3 file).
The case studies and topics discussed on this webcast include:
- How a niche winery analysed it’s customer segmentation using the Customer Lifetime Value metric and dramatically increased it’s marketing ROI
- An oil and gas reserves case study that demonstrates the emerging value and impact of using analytics and powerful metrics visualisation in journalism
- How analytics reveals strategies for maximising the uptake in a community of “green practices”
WITH: Stacey Barr and Stephen McDaniel, co-founder of Freakalytics, LLC and author of “Rapid Graphs With Tableau Software” and “SAS for Dummies”. Stacey is “The Performance Measure Specialist” from “Down-Under” and is a recognized expert at how simple improvements in performance measurement can radically improve your business. Stacey was delightful to work with and I encourage you to visit her website for advice on making measurements powerful, easy and fun!
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The seven habits of analyst rock stars!
Implement and practice these seven habits to make your work relevant, timely and actionable for the business and your customers!
- Collect, discuss and understand the questions that matter for your customers and business owners. Working with the business, determine how valuable the various questions are and whether they can be acted upon. How much time should be spent on this work? Is it better to take a simple approach and deliver a rapid answer and then revisit it more in-depth? Remember that the first step is the most important step! If you don’t actively engage in this step, you will lose a lot of your time and opportunity to positively impact the business.
- Collect and clean the best available data for the identified questions. Implement a strategy to capture and enrich the analytic data used across multiple projects.
- Explore the data sources to understand high level trends and exceptions. Leverage rapid graphs and simpler analytic methods here…
- Understand key interactions, trends, sources of effect & possible causes. Use clear graphs in a simple, short presentation to explain key findings for business owners.
- Communicate the right amount of information and conclusions in the language of the audience. What matters to them? Don’t be afraid to make recommendations based on your work! Don’t be offended if they don’t follow all of your recommendations, there are many factors beyond your findings that will affect what is implemented. When creating your presentation, apply the 10/20/30 rule of Guy Kawasaki- no more than 10 slides in 20 minutes and no text smaller than 30 point font!
- Collaborate with the business to act on the findings. Seek long-term business opportunities to seamlessly integrate analytics.
- Continue to learn from and listen to the business! The more you listen to the business the more they will listen to you!
As you practice these habits, especially step 1, you will eliminate one of the biggest complaints I hear from analysts- that their work isn’t appreciated or understood often enough in the business. Step 1 is about active listening, understanding context of problems and prioritization. Unfortunately, most analysts and statistical experts have never received any training in this area!
At Freakalytics, we are pleased to offer custom training for your technical and analytic teams. Using a series of short workshops, we can coach your team to better understand, practice and gain confidence in applying these habits. Please contact us for more details.
→ 1 Comment- Add YoursMaximizing Sustainability by Incorporating Consumer Behavior & Environmental Expert Opinion
Executive Summary
Which “green” activities are consumers performing in their everyday lives? Activities that-
• Save them money?
• Are easy to do?
• Are the most beneficial to the environment?
• Some combination of the three?
By combining insights from a recent survey of consumer behavior with expert opinion on green activities I found that:
• Activities that experts rank as the most beneficial for the environment are not always performed frequently by consumers.
• Economic benefit to the consumer is a stronger predictor of frequently-performed activities than environmental benefit.
• However, convenience to the consumer is the best predictor of green behavior!
Decision-makers for sustainability programs can tailor this method to their particular location by:
• Compiling a list of green activities specific to their region.
• Surveying local consumers and experts.
• Altering which dimensions are included in assessing the importance of various green activities.
“Newcomer” communities can maximize the impact of launching their green programs by:
• Prioritizing activities that are convenient and economical for the consumer.
• Motivating consumers with educational programs and incentives.
• Waiting until the environmental program has gotten off the ground before encouraging activities that are low in convenience and economic benefit- unless they can be financially subsidized.
Newcomer Communities
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