Analytics: The Agile Way (Wiley and SAS Business Series)

For decades now, companies big and small have embraced Agile software development methods. The rationale here is straightforward:

• Why take one or two years to fully deploy a system, app, or website when so many things can and do go wrong?
• Why try to cook one big batch and boil the ocean?
• Why not cook many smaller batches?

Double that when the world changes faster than ever. Brass tacks: It's no coincidence that methods such as Scrum have exploded with no end in sight.

Yet, when developing and using analytics, many organizations paradoxically continue to think in terms of traditional, phase-gate IT projects. That is, they optimistically plan for six-month or year-long projects to launch dashboards, key performance indicators (KPIs), data-visualization tools, predictive models, and their ilk. Antiquated techniques abound. In so doing, these organizations bet--often incorrectly--that they will diligently gather every requirement and data source. In their conceit, they assume perfect conception, planning, and execution. Even if they pull off these enormous feats, it's usually a fool's errand for one simple fact the world is moving faster than ever.

This is insanity.

In Analytics: The Agile Way award-winning author Phil Simon shows how intelligent organizations such as Google, Nextdoor, and others are approaching contemporary analytics.

At a high level, the text will demonstrate how organizations are applying the same Agile techniques that software engineers and developers have successful used for years, but in a different area: analytics. In so doing, individuals at these smart companies can understand--and, most important, act upon--nascent opportunities far faster than their more traditional counterparts do. Using a combination of case studies, examples, and exercises, Analytics: The Agile Way demonstrates how this new mind-set affords tremendous opportunity for organizations willing to embrace uncertainty and move fast.