Open Source Analytics

A common technologist blindspot is that techies often do not understand what business/users want and how they are going to use it.

Technologists think, “Build it, and they will come.” But they’re building plenty of cool stuff, and consumers aren’t coming.

Techies are often so taken and smitten by their own technology that they fail to understand why and how it may not sell. Just because a technolgy is logically coherent and technically brilliant doesn’t mean it would sell. And sale is where the first ‘potential for value’ gets created, whether or not a technologist likes to admit it.

Most people will not switch to something new unless the perceived benefits far outweigh the perceived pain in switching. Pip Coburn, the author of “The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn“, calls this the Change Function, and understanding this gives an insight into what’s likely to sell and what’s not.

Click here to read an article by Pip Coburn on the Change Function that appeared in May issue of Fast Company.

How can management follow medicine’s lead and rely on evidence, not on half-truths?

A good question to ask all those ’seat-of-the-pants’ managers and decision makers: How would you like it if you found that your medical practitioner didn’t look at the evidence and engaged in a similar ‘gut-feel’ decision making in matters concerning your health?
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Technology today is a weird scene.

Even though IT is usually one of the most important departments (strategically) in an organization, the transparency and accountability is sorely lacking. Have you ever wondered why IT departments are still run as a Cost Center in a world where far more intangible things are easily priced? It’s definitely not because you cannot price IT services. Just that life would become a little tougher for the pseudo-technologists if accountability was brought into IT. I still remember the stares I got when I naively suggested a few years back that we could increase productivity by considering our department (IT) as a Profit Center through notional pricing of services for internal customers. That would have exposed the con, and the idea was immediately killed.

And it is painfully mind-numbing to operate in such a group. And yet, it is the fundamental responsibility of every technologist to comprehend the important function he/she plays and to know what it takes to do his/her job well.

This is something that has bothered me for years now. Right until I came across this blog post just two days back that was putting down in words the same thing many a technologist have always believed in…

The only point of IT is to improve physical operations by providing efficiencies and reducing logical operations by providing automation…
The best business solution is not always the best technology solution. The burden is on you, the technologist, to make the best system the business will use.

I find myself getting strangely addicted to this new-born blog (just 10 days old) because of the absolute clarity of thought, and the raw manner in which it is delivered.

I shall not attempt to explain the post for fear of diluting it. To understand and appreciate for yourself the manifesto that a technologist should live and operate by, please go ahead and read
Things Everyone in IT Should Know…or, The Technologist Manifesto

I’ll be happy if it strikes a chord and rings a bell. And it might be a good idea to drop a comment for dratz (the blogger) if you find yourself nodding your head in agreement.

Big-bang is dead. And its awfully obvious these days that Less can be a competitive advantage.

I have had a tough time explaining this. And it’s a pleasant surprise to see today that the guys at 37signals.com do get it.

Times have changed. All other people’s money gets you these days is into debt. And that’s not a great place to start anything from. You don’t need money for hardware — hardware is cheap. You don’t need money for software — software is free. You don’t need money for marketing — there are a variety of ways get your message out online to a huge audience for next to free. Money doesn’t buy you time and money doesn’t buy you passion (and passion is something you need a boatload of).

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The craft of analytics has suffered due to the severe hype surrounding commercial data-mining tools. Try checking the websites of most commercial data-mining software vendors to confirm for yourself. Buying that million dollar tool will not help if you do not know the craft. Unfortunately, even the ‘consultants’ of such companies confuse the tool for the art. Often enough, all that these consultants can do is regurgitate the same meaningless crap their marketing guy shafted into their heads.

But the playing field is changing. As in other fields of human endeavour, the tools are getting better and cheaper, thus removing the first barrier to entry: Access to professional tools. (more…)