Once you know, what will you do?
I've yet to meet a client who didn't require, in some form or another, some way to analyze their data. Whether it was simple queries or reports, or more advanced dashboards or analytics, everyone wants to be able to analyze their data.
And that's a good thing.
But the first question that should be asked whenever we decide to analyze any data is "Once we've analyzed the data, what next action will we take as a result of that analysis?"
Or put more simply, "Once you know, what will you do?"
"That's interesting" or "It would be good to know" are not actions. "Let's try a different marketing message" or "Let's change the price on that" or "Let's stop doing that" are actions. Even "That's working, let's keep doing what we're doing" is an action!
So before you spend a lot of time and energy analyzing any data, ask yourself, "Once I know, what will I do?"
Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives
Two tips for data conversion
Two Tips for Data Conversion I’ve written a lot about data conversion over the years […]
Who should “own” the database?
Who should “own” the database? One of the most common questions I get from my […]
What makes you weird?
What makes you weird? When I work with clients on selecting a new association management system, one […]
Why “AMS Consortiums” Don’t Work
Why “AMS Consortiums” Don’t Work About once a year I will get a call from […]
Your vendor will disappoint you
Your vendor will disappoint you I follow politics as a hobby. A past publisher from […]
Learn how to lose
Learn how to lose “Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to […]
Ownership is Required
Ownership is required When asked for the most common reason AMS implementations fail, I typically respond […]
It’s all relative…
It’s all relative… Over the course of my 22 years of consulting, I’ve consulted with […]
Eliminate to optimize
Eliminate to optimize So much of data management is habit (both good and bad) which is […]
For data governance, ask “Why?”
For data governance, ask “Why?” Recently I’ve had the opportunity to work on several data […]