http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/ In this blog, freelance writer and analyst Ted Cuzzillo considers the far end of business intelligence, where technology meets the irregular human profile. With original reporting and analysis, he writes about data analysis and the analysts themselves, as well as a range of other concerns such as perceptions, terminology and personalities. en Copyright 2011 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:45:55 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.21-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It's no secret that some people hear about Tableau's passionate users and wonder what all the fuss is about. Back in June, in fact, one skeptical industry analyst tweeted to a Tableau fan, "Pal, you seem to have had... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/12/looking_for_kool-aid_at_the_ta.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/12/looking_for_kool-aid_at_the_ta.php Business intelligence Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:45:55 -0800 ted Haul away the hardware, peel off the software, rinse off the mystique and you see what the people who manage data really are: They're librarians. That's the role IT workers should model themselves on. I'm not talking about technology.... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/06/data_managers_should_emulate_g.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/06/data_managers_should_emulate_g.php Analyst Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:02:16 -0800 ted What do you get if appliances keep getting smarter, faster, and roomier inside? Choice A: abolition of IT, because who needs geeks? Choice B: license to be sloppy. You guessed it: sloppy and proud. Out of the loud, unruly... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/03/smarter_faster_roomier_inside.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/03/smarter_faster_roomier_inside.php Business intelligence Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:31:58 -0800 ted Search all the business literature you can and you'll never find data analysis compared to romantic love. But, hey, why not? Love's trajectories might hint at what the business world's newly enabled generation of data analysts can expect. These... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/02/new_data_analysts_and_teenage.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/02/new_data_analysts_and_teenage.php Analyst Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:34:55 -0800 ted A guy walks into your cube and asks you to whip up an econometric model. You're a statistician, after all, and you've got a Ph.D. in something or other. You do this for lunch, he figures. He "over-thought," says... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/01/answering_the_real_questions_i.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2011/01/answering_the_real_questions_i.php Analyst Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:37:38 -0800 ted When you come face to face with unfamiliar data, how do you proceed? How do you avoid sending you and your shiny "speed of thought" tool slamming into a dead end? Dan Murray's got a routine — and he's... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/11/how_to_analyze_unfamiliar_data.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/11/how_to_analyze_unfamiliar_data.php Analyst Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:18:30 -0800 ted As Stephen Few delivered his keynote address at the recent Tableau customer conference in Seattle, he suddenly broke his rhythm to look at someone in the audience. "Is that Howard Dresner?" he asked, surprised. It was. Howard is the... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/09/tableau_rising.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/09/tableau_rising.php Business intelligence Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:05:38 -0800 ted Many in the business intelligence industry talk about organizational problems getting in BI’s way, but few talk about them very much. Scratch the surface of most presentations and conversations — such as last week at the TDWI conference in... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/09/getting_over_the_p_word_to_exp.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/09/getting_over_the_p_word_to_exp.php Business intelligence Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:09:44 -0800 ted Does it seem to you like data analysis is busting out all over the place? It might become another fun game like chess or Chutes and Ladders — so this might be good time to recall an old admonition:... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/07/minding_datas_pedigree.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/07/minding_datas_pedigree.php Business intelligence Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:24:59 -0800 ted So many people who should know better seem to miss the point when they mention Tableau. Why? I asked BI veteran Stephen McDaniel for his thoughts — which he gave, but then went on to suggest an almost unheard... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/07/feature_lists_miss_the_point.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/07/feature_lists_miss_the_point.php Business intelligence Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:56:41 -0800 ted What can explain business intelligence's poor adoption rate? Are tools not easy to use? Or is there a deeper reason? A book from 2000, The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, suggests that BI... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/06/one_reason_for_bi_failure.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/06/one_reason_for_bi_failure.php Business intelligence Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:13:35 -0800 ted Self tracking for performance has a place on the map now thanks to the May 2 New York Times Magazine article by Gary Wolf. But along with praise and interest, "The Data-Driven Life" also drew harsh, skeptical reactions. Many... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/06/self-tracking_objections1.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/06/self-tracking_objections1.php Business intelligence Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:15:48 -0800 ted It was International Workers' Day on Saturday and the official release day of Lyzasoft's latest product: its foray into "free." It's a good way to say "power to the people." Some people associate that slogan with protests and even... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/05/lyzasoft_says_power_to_the_peo.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/05/lyzasoft_says_power_to_the_peo.php Business intelligence Mon, 03 May 2010 10:02:42 -0800 ted One of the pleas in Mark Madsen's fascinating keynote at the TDWI conference in Las Vegas was to let the "Barts" work. The Barts are, of course, the Bart Simpsons among us, the sometimes nerdy rebels who actually come... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/04/a_bart_just_wants_protection_f.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/04/a_bart_just_wants_protection_f.php Business intelligence Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:10:32 -0800 ted When some people look at dashboards, they want to see patterns but not reasons. "They don't want to read the fine print," said one attendee in Lyndsay Wise's dashboards seminar at Enterprise Data World in San Francisco yesterday. That's... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/03/basking_in_a_dashboards_warm_g.php http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soft_bi/2010/03/basking_in_a_dashboards_warm_g.php Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:32:19 -0800 ted