New Year's Analytics Resolutions
i guess i too need to write the stereotypical “New Year's Resolutions” post.
So here you go:
It’s the new year, and many of us are super energized with New Year’s Resolutions. Finally, this is the year we are going to get in shape, read more books, spend more meaningful time with friends, and get organized.
While not necessarily aligned with a new year, analytics teams often feel a similar sense of enthusiasm and desire that we feel personally as we set our New Year’s Resolutions.
AND.....just like our personal resolutions, analytics teams often experience the same wild swings of emotions: excitement with the prospect of finally taking action, followed by the inevitable acceptance of abandoning those lofty resolutions, perhaps with a bit of despair, as they slowly settle back into their old, comfortable routine.
i believe that analytics resolutions fail for a very similar reason why our New Year’s Resolutions fail: Because we tend to focus on tactics, on specific actions to take, rather than focusing on understanding the very nature of why we do what we do in the first place.
For example, i can be really committed and energized with my New Year’s Resolution to procrastinate less, but if i don’t put in the time to understand why i procrastinate in the first place, then all the great frameworks and tactics and actions will quickly fail — i’d be lucky to make it to March with my resolution still intact...i know from experience dude 😂
The same is true for our desire to become a better analytics organization. We conduct audits, perform compliance scans, set goals, reimplement data capture, update our dashboards with a new color palette, and create frameworks for success. Then, within a few months, all those initiatives fall apart as we revert back to the norm.
If analytics teams are going to have a meaningful chance at becoming a better version of themselves, they should reject the idea of resolutions, tactics, and action lists.
Instead, they would be much better served investing that time into understanding themselves first. By diving deep into the underlying causes of their challenges and behaviors, then and only then can teams can begin to create more sustainable and impactful changes that extend far beyond the enthusiasm of a New Year or a new analytics implementation.
