I’m the kind of person who sweats the small stuff. There’s nothing more satisfying than getting a project of some kind off the ground, following through, and having something to be proud of at the end. But for me, all those things come with a swell of different little decisions that you better believe I change my mind at least ten times over. If any of this sounds familiar, there may just be a digital ray of hope for you yet. I’m talking about data analytics. Sexy, right?
This blog and the ones to follow are intended to help the self-proclaimed “stressers” like myself reduce some of the anxiety that comes with projects of all kinds. Even if you’re not a numbers person, the goal here is to learn how analytics can remove uncertainty and answer make those decisions for you.
So, for this post, let’s focus on the first part of any project, deciding whether to go through with it or not. Is it a good idea? How do you know? Say for example, you’re about to pitch a new website design to a client, or maybe you have to present an idea for new business. You better go into that meeting with a better rationale than “I think it would be cool.”
Data and analytics take the bias out of pitching a project. It takes the human subjectivity out of the go ahead and go for it. In the first example, a web designer can use the data gathered while having people test out their new design to better improve the finished product. And when presenting that new design, they’ll have hard numbers to justify the changes. In the second example, simply by looking at how often people search Google for terms related to your business, analytics can show an irrefutable need in the market and even help you refine demographics information. Don’t you feel a lot more relaxed knowing you’ve got some backup?
To go into all the ways data and analytics can help you in getting your project off and running would take much more time (and a much higher word count) than this post allows. For now, the best way to get started is by thinking about those unknowns. What aren’t you sure about? Now, ask yourself, can you find that answer in a number? If so, data and analytics are your best friends for finding that answer. Again, even if numbers scare you, there are plenty of tools and resources out there to help understand what you’re seeing. Just check out Google Analytics tutorials if you need someplace to start.
That’s all I’ve got for now on how to get started with a project using data and analytics. Next time I’ll cover some ways D&A can help you steer the ship of an ongoing project. Until then…happy stressing.
Feedback for Casey Venema’s post “Pitch Perfect: How Data Helps in Project Planning”
ReplyDeleteHi Casey, I’m glad I got to give feedback on your topic, “How data can help project-worriers be more confident,” because I really connected with it.
GLOWS:
1. Love the title. It’s clever and relevant.
2. I love that you gave an example early on in the post, and you kept that example going all the way through. I personally learn the best through examples, so this was really helpful for me. For example, you introduced this hypothetical in P3: “Say for example, you’re about to pitch a new website design to a client.” Then, in P4, you keep it going: “In the first example, a web designer can use the data gathered while having people test out their new design to better improve the finished product. And when presenting that new design, they’ll have hard numbers to justify the changes.” Totally relatable and understandable, which is especially important when discussing a non-sexy topic like data.
3. You ended the post with questions so the reader can begin self-reflection -- “the best way to get started is by thinking about those unknowns. What aren’t you sure about? Now, ask yourself, can you find that answer in a number?” -- and, more importantly, use your blog posts (which you already mentioned would be a series, well done) as a tool in that self-reflection.
GROWS:
1. Maybe this is the middle-school teacher in me talking (I was a teacher for four years before going back to grad school), but you might want to give your readers more personal examples before you send them off. In Glow #3 above, I gave you kudos for the self-reflection questions. I’ve found the best way to get people (or students) to do what you want is to do it first, all the way through, while modeling your thinking. So you could say something like -- “What aren’t you sure about? Now, ask yourself, can you find that answer in a number? Take me for example: I’m going to a birthday party this weekend for a work colleague of mine. We aren’t super close, and I’m not sure what gift to get her! But I am sure of her age, gender, current city and interests. So I could start by researching the top trending purchases of 27-year-old females in the D.C. area, try to scope out to see if she already owns it, and if not, buy that for her!” I know this is a corny example but you could spell out your points to your reader even more and start to build a deeper relationship with your readers by providing a few more personal examples.
2. It would be smart to physically link to the resources you mention. For example, you wrote, “Just check out Google Analytics tutorials if you need someplace to start.” I totally agree! But if I were someone that wasn’t familiar with Google Analytics, I might not know where to start. A hyperlink that brings me right to the page would help your reader actually take the helpful next steps you suggest.