Driving Decisions with Data | by DBA Coach, Amy Long
Some people when they hear the word “data” think of the 21st century and modern advances, but it is something that existed since life began. Whether it be animals working out the pecking order of the food chain within the animal kingdom, or bakers recognising which loaves sell best in their bakery, data has always been ‘collected’ in order to allow us to recognise the best practices.
Why Is It Important To Make Data Driven Decisions?
In a contemporary world filled with data that is more visible than ever, how do we go about using it to ensure that our decisions and next steps are driven by it?
Before we begin with the “how”, we must always consider the “why”!
Your ability to help your company make data-informed decisions is the game-changing step to help them level up in their actions, missions and visions. But why data-driven and not use the old-fashioned ‘gut instinct’? Though this list could go on far too long, let us consider a couple of vital criteria that using data allows us to achieve:
• The decisions are led by fact, not feeling - achieving this is vital when you are building the credibility of your professionalism. Being able to back up your notions with data allows you to demonstrate to all stakeholders that these decisions are informed and considered
• You are shining a light on what already exists - allowing this data to be made visible in your considerations and applications helps your company to see what already existed! Rather than be hypothetical or ‘potentially’ useful, building on the present data allows you and your team to provide insights as to how you can pave the way forward to further success
How To Make Data-Driven Decisions
So now that you know the why, let us begin to look at the how!How can you go about making effective data-driven decisions?
Here are some top tips to get you started:
1. Recognise what data it is that you need to use
Avoid drowning in data! Review the raw data that you are working with and consider which parts apply to your final product. What areas are you focusing on? Which points of data collection are going to help you achieve that end goal?
2. Clean and validate the data
Cleaning your dataset is like clearing a room before you paint – it takes the stress out of the situation and allows you to work more efficiently. Accurate data also increases your productivity, as your next stage removes the reactivity of constantly checking for errors. Ensuring that all entries are entered in the same format (e.g. all numerical/written number entries), checking for duplicate entries and recognising any input errors such as spelling can be a great starting point.
3. Consider how you will capture your insights and findings
Visualising data allows you to communicate your key findings to your stakeholders, but not every visualisation is required to deliver your key findings. Working with visualisation tools, such as PowerBI, can give you a chance to explore what works best for your situation. Is a pie chart more or less informative for what you are trying to convey? Will using a line graph allow you to demonstrate your learnings? Experimenting with visualisations prior to making your final decision will allow you to be confident that you have achieved success.
4. Look at what solutions can be offered
You have done most of the legwork now! The data has been cleaned, validated and visualised. Now comes the climax: Your analysis! Working with your results, take time to acknowledge the narrative that this data is presenting to you. What is working well? Where are the anomalies? What seems to be a barrier to your company’s success? Asking these questions will allow you to create a range of recommendations that can be offered to demonstrate to your stakeholders. Not only are you demonstrating your ability to work with data effectively, but you are also showing your proactivity in offering what could be taken as the next steps to continue adding value to the business and achieving its mission.
5. Ensure that your presentation is accessible to all your stakeholders
Remember that no two people are the same when you are delivering! Stakeholders will be entering with different levels of knowledge about your project and different accessibility needs. So, take some time before finalising to look back once more at your work. Is your layout accessible to all, or is there too much/too little appearing? Are the colours you are using for your visualisation making it easier or more difficult for your audience to witness your discoveries? Does your narrative include enough information and context for all members of different teams to access your findings? These can be some quick fixes that have a massive impact when presenting your findings!
Amy Long is a Digital Business Coach at Multiverse.