"Then whoever counts!" is the most annoying thing for data analysts to hear. If there is something more annoying, it is when you are about to get off work, suddenly a phone call "Then who will give the number soon, our director will look at it, if there is a problem, let your boss personally explain to our director!!!"—— After listening to hacking people's hearts are all.
So many younger brothers and sisters hung the title of "data analyst", actually doing the work of human running counting machine, writing 2,000 lines of SQL every day. After one year, what did I analyze? I don't even have experience in a decent analysis project. I am often dismissed: "Isn't it just the number? It's so slow. People outside of the artificial intelligence big data analysis! It must be our analyst ability is not good."
To get rid of this embarrassing situation, simply relying on job-hopping is similar to buying lottery tickets. The ghost knows whether the next company is also the same virtue. In addition to changing pits to try your luck, you have to practice internal skills hard. The status of data analysis is achieved by oneself. If you want others to see it, you must be able to communicate, fight for, and do more meaningful work that is impressive. The first step here is to start with communication. The data analyst must understand the business, confirm the needs, and promote the project. All rely on communication.
1. Communication object
The kind of ideal company that data analysis says is what it says only exists in the official account. In a real company, not all departments are so easy to talk about. It is necessary to see clearly the style of the company in which you work, and the status and approach of each business department. Choose those who respect and approve data to cooperate. Only in this way can we reduce the chance of hitting the wall, make more achievements. Here is a simple two-dimensional standard for your reference.
Recruits will be the most ideal, but these people are hard to come by. So the other three categories can also try to communicate. When encountering arrogant soldiers and warriors, it is the priority to consider yourself not to blame, so try to communicate formally, leave written confirmation documents, and wait carefully. For the tired generals, if you don't find a solution to the pain points, you can ignore them first to avoid being stunned. Among the shrimp soldiers and crab officers, it is easy to find someone who is motivated to promote cooperation. As for the dead shrimp that breaks the jar, let him go.
2. Communication goals
The information we want to get is as follows:
- Recent actions of business units
- Business goals
- Work flow of business unit
- Evaluation criteria for business units
Only with these can we know what has happened recently; when interpreting data, we can have ideas that are close to the business; when we receive the needs of business departments, we can judge the priorities and help them design better methods. These things are written in the plan of the business department, but they are too lazy to talk about it, can't talk about it, and don't want to talk about it. Anyone who has done business knows that the most annoying thing for business departments is the various reporting and approval procedures, which can save money. So you have to think of some ways of communication. If you ask hard, you will definitely be slammed back.
The results we want to output are as follows:
- Unified data caliber
- Unified evaluation standard
- Unified analysis format
- Establish a reporting mechanism
- Strive for independent projects
- Develop data products
Although we often say: data drives business. But one bite can’t be fat, so you have to take the initiative step by step. The first thing to do is to take the "standard" into your own hands. Business departments will also do their own analysis, and even some departments hire sql writers themselves. Individuals can do it simply by mentioning numbers, writing analysis reports and even modeling. The true core value of data, in addition to the establishment of data warehouses, is the status of objective neutrality. What bosses hate the most is that the business department talks to itself, speaks in confusion, asks for credit, and evasions.
So we can start from this step, first help sort out, unify the caliber and standards, and slowly build trust with the boss. Afterwards, we will promote a fixed reporting and communication mechanism to gain a legal seat for ourselves. The last is to do independent projects and build data products.
Three, communication method
There are many specific communication methods and words. Here are three details that are easily overlooked:
1. Clever use of informal communication. Make more use of lunch, pesticides, gossip, talk about ball games, exchange baby milk powder diapers and other opportunities to mix with business departments. Build relationships before talking about work. So when everyone is upset, they will complain to you, so they can naturally get more detailed questions. Knowing the specific pain points of the business unit can start a formal topic. A good data analyst is not far behind in corporate popularity.
2. Start by solving specific pain points. After starting the formal topic, cut in from the perspective of solving the pain points of the business department. Everyone hates reporting and approval, and everyone likes someone to help, so it will be more welcome to talk about how to help others solve their pain points, and arouse business attention. In the workflow of the business department, there are many places where data is needed and there are many pain points. For example, let’s take your time to understand
PS: There are so many pain points listed above, how much do the students feel? If you have never heard of business complaints, it means that they don't treat you as their own. Of course, you will not get comprehensive information, and you will not be able to achieve business recognition results. Classmates who are familiar with Mr. Chen know that Mr. Chen has a deep spit skill, every time he vomits very detailed and specific points. This is the result of long-term business dealings. Enterprises are not schools, and there are no standard textbooks. It is precisely because I know many of the details of the business that I can get to the point when analyzing.
3. Start easy and officially end. Starting topics can be easygoing, but ending topics must be formal. After confirming the work objectives, content, and output time, formally send an email, and the leaders of both CCs will confirm the work content. This way, with the accumulation of time, more and more project results, the more trust in the business. By the end of the year, there is only a lot to say. It’s not just that I ran a watch last year...
With the first step, the second step is to define the problem. When the business department asks data analysis questions, it is often not about asking some very basic and very physical questions, or directly jumping to a very mysterious and unsolvable question. In essence, these are the results of laymen's consultation with experts. Because I don't understand the working methods of data analysis, I always don't pay attention to it. If something goes wrong, I expect the Alpha Fire Spitting Dinosaur to make trouble. This requires data analysts to actively define the problem and choose the appropriate analysis method. Mr. Chen, who is concerned about grounding, let's share the next article.
Author: Chen grounded gas, micro-channel public number: down to earth school. A data analyst with ten years of experience and CRM experience in multiple industries.