IOT

Is an engineering or data-driven culture driving your current data product or analytics initiative toward risk?

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Check engine light on car dashboard illuminated

Here are (25) design faults that should trigger the check-engine light I really don’t know much about cars. Furthermore, with all the computers on them now, I probably never will. However, I do care when the “CEL” goes on. The CEL, or check-engine light, is that often cryptic, blood-pressure-raising notification that mostly just makes you … Read more

Reasons your next sprint, product, or project might fail

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Good design happens at the intersection of discovering real user needs/wants and business goals that are ACTIONABLE (by design and engineering). Yes, there’s a little magic/instinct that creeps into good design too, but you can get far without a lot of this magic. It’s really more about nailing the problem set, and having really clear … Read more

How to solicit *real* needs from users via UX research interviews

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Readers of DFA know that I’m big on not immediately giving customers what they asked for, and instead asking the question “why” to learn what the real latent customer needs are. And for you internal analytics folks, remember your employees, vendors, etc. are your “customers” whether you think of them that way or not! Anyhow, … Read more

The Easiest Way to Simplify Your Product or Solution’s Design

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Ok, you probably know this one, but let’s dig in a little farther. I recently started to explore using the TORBrowser when surfing on public wi-fi for more security (later finding out that using a VPN, and not TOR, is what will enable safer surfing). However, in the process of downloading and trying the TORBrowser … Read more

My reactions to the Chief Data Officer, Fall 2017 conference summary

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I ran into a an article about the Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Fall conference that summarized some of the key takeaways at the previous year’s conference. One paragraph in the article stuck out to me: … The Great Dilemma – Product vs Project vs Capability Analytics Approaches Although not one of these approaches will provide a … Read more