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
There is nothing so permanent as business rules
There is nothing so permanent as business rules Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman said, “There’s nothing […]
Budget for feature discovery and adoption
Budget for feature discovery and adoption When developing a budget for implementation of a new […]
Customize staff pages for better user adoption
Customize staff pages for better user adoption The single most important element to data management […]
Don’t ask questions for which you already know the answer
Don’t ask questions for which you already know the answer I was recently completing an […]
All decisions involve risk
All decisions involve risk Whether it’s choosing a new AMS or introducing a new product […]
Try flowcharting your processes
Try flowcharting your processes Working with a client recently on their membership join process reminded me […]
“I just want a system I don’t have to fight with.”
“I just want a system I don’t have to fight with.” I asked my client: […]
Inertia Contributes to Bad Data
Inertia Contributes to Bad Data Without knowing anything about your organization or its data, I’d […]
What are you doing with new contacts?
What Are You Doing with New Contacts/ I was very interested to read in a […]
Be Aware of Selection Bias
Be Aware of Selection Bias I wrote recently about the mistaken perception of older members […]