It's strange how today's the first day I realise how closely related competitive intelligence is to so much of what I've been doing and thinking and writing about in the fields of data analysis *slash* business analysis *slash * business intelligence *slash* data science etc. This discipline even has a professional society of called, aptly enough,... Continue Reading →
I haven't been to the kottke.org page for a while (like in five years) and was serendipitously reintroduced to it through Marginal Revolution on CK Chesterton's essay on success (and its associated BS). Talk about coincidence. Glad to see it's still standing and well worth a read.
kottke.org/
The Case for Modelling
Last week I wrote about the need for experimentation over models. Models are generally too abstract and far afield from reality that it’s hard to get any accurate answers. If you want to find out if an intervention works, try it. Do experiments on it. Carry out pilot projects and see what happens. Don’t model... Continue Reading →
The Brilliance of Malcolm Gladwell
I've been seeing a lot of Gladwell posts lately on the blogs I read, not least because he's come up with what seems to be a killer new book, David and Goliath. I'll be honest and admit I'm a Gladwell fan. Why? I'm not too sure myself. But there's a pretty interesting post (in the... Continue Reading →
Decision Making: The Need for Experimentation Over Models
Jim Manzi, in his book Uncontrolled, makes a very good point about analytical models and their shortcomings, in particular the need for experimentation (i.e. controlled interventions) to figure out what really happens in the real world (emphasis mine): Cost changes often could be predicted reliably through engineering studies. But when it came to predicting how... Continue Reading →
Big Data and Personality
Andrew McAfee posted about a very intriguing study on personality, gender and age in their relation to language. In essence, what the study did was to look at the correlation of people's Facebook statuses and their personality, gender, and age. You'll know why I say it's intriguing when you take a look at some of... Continue Reading →
The dismal failure of ‘Big Data’?
I just read an article on ZDnet on the dismal failure of 'Big Data' that was so bad I don't even know where to start. The author states that economics is a "big data" profession (why--what makes a profession "big data" or not?), and then goes on to say that because big data hasn't been... Continue Reading →
Some thoughts on the thinking behind building things
I’m going to write a bit about my thinking process whenever I build things, whether it’s websites, VBA applications, or financial models. I’m not too sure if this is going to be a “oh that’s so obvious why is he telling me this?” piece, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, one person’s normal behaviour... Continue Reading →
What Courage Is
Was on one of my regular runs today when the words "courage is not acting in the absence of fear, but in spite of it" suddenly came to mind and never left. Can't quite remember where exactly I read it or heard it, but those words have always comforted me in times of need. Here... Continue Reading →
Business vs. IT
I was reminded today in a book I'm reading on visual analytics that the purpose of any analytical project is ultimately to make better decisions. Coming from a mixed business and IT background, I have had my fair share of IT vs. Business conundrums. With my IT hat on, I'm always thinking about efficiency, optimisation, ease-of-use,... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 