What is Data?
Posted by antfoodz on March 28, 2008
“Numbers are just numbers. Nothing more… nothing less.”
The world of an analyst is tied to the numbers they interact with, the tools that capture them, and the actions we take against them. Even with all of that energy and the layers on which that defines the role and the world that they live in, numbers are completely meaningless.
I am not paid to find numbers, I am not paid by which numbers are showing. I can say any number in the world to any other person, and they will just look at me like I have lost my mind. It is also not the tools we gather them with or how we track them. I do not care if you use Omniture, Web Trends, Google Analytics, Cognos, or any of the thousands of other offerings, they are just tools. There are differences between them, there are strengths, weaknesses, uses and reports, but they are just shiny hammers who are only as good as the people who swing them and only can be used for certain functions.
Insight has value. Being able to find context, both from the tangible and the ethereal, is what matters. It’s not the numbers, but the knowledge of what they really mean and being able to act on them that matter. It is not what we hold true, or what we have done, or where we are. It is what we are doing to move towards the end goal and to make sure that we are where we want to be. Our insights, our values, shape what we see and what we do, but if you are not able to step back and get a read on where you are going, be it through quantitative or qualitative methods, then you are not anywhere. A map is only useful with a start and a finish, if there is no context, it is simply lines on paper.
This falls back to the classic KPI discussion. Many companies are great at creating dashboards, or finding metrics, or counting things. None of these have any real use, other then to make some executive feel better about themselves and give them more things to hide behind. Value comes from knowing what adds value to your path, and what doesn’t, and knowing what actions you can take to drive that value. If you can not find the few meaningful value adding things you must do, and measure yourselves against them, you will never succeed. This is not the number, but the actions. The insight will reflect the action, and will measure it, but it is never a replacement for that action, nor is data the insight that you may gain from it.
My world mostly focuses on media and content websites, though I have touched just about every single type of business model online that there is. It is fundamental to know who is looking at what, where, and how. But that doesn’t help shape where to go, how to get these people to stay, or what value they really add to the bottom line.
The truth is, that almost no one knows what they are really doing. They think they do, they think they can guess which way the wind is blowing, how they got to where they are, and what they need to do to impact the fundamental equation of their business. The truth is they are nearly blind and falling into the darkness every moment. That is why it is so important that you stay focused on the few, simple actions, that you must do to drive forward. These shining lights will always be there, and they will help you see the world around you. You won’t see everything, and sometimes we are scared by how little we do see, but in the end, the only light we have we have to make for ourselves.
When I step into a room to work with different groups, no matter the function or hat I have on, the most important thing I must do is understand their business needs. I often times have to understand them far better and more meaningfully then the people who have done this for years. This isn’t because I know more then they do, but because I practice the discipline every day to look at a site or function and to narrow it down to key actions which will drive it. Without that understanding, you will never be able to drive successful change, leaving both sides with wasted energies and lost time.
Data is my divining rod, it is how I look at the world. I can hold a metric, or a number in my hand, but without the ability to tie it to the tangible, and to understand what it is that got it to where it is and what actions are needed to change it, it has no value. Others have their own barometers, and they are all correct. It’s only the ability to take that element, to understand it and act on it, that really matters.
biathlonchamp said
“I can hold a metric, or a number in my hand, but without the ability to tie it to the tangible, and to understand what it is that got it to where it is and what actions are needed to change it, it has no value.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but nothing on the internet is “tangible”. Any Web site is just a bunch of numbers arranged in such a way as to evoke responses from users. That response is what people are willing to pay for, and it’s what analysts get paid to predict and (hopefully), direct.
Unless you’re right there in the room with your (very tangible) users, you’ll never know exactly what drives their behaviors, so all you can do is rely on your numbers. The numbers paint a picture, and you can infer whatever you want about your users, but in the end you still just have a bunch of numbers. My favorite number is seven.
antfoodz said
In the case of the internet, tangible are the things we see and can interact with.