Module one

Taking Action with Data

The Six Data Analysis Phase

1. Ask
It’s impossible to solve a problem if you don’t know what it is. These are some
things to consider:

 Define the problem you’re trying to solve

 Make sure you fully understand the stakeholder’s expectations
 Focus on the actual problem and avoid any distractions
 Collaborate with stakeholders and keep an open line of communication
 Take a step back and see the whole situation in context

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 What are my stakeholders saying their problems are?

 Now that I’ve identified the issues, how can I help the stakeholders resolve their
questions?

2. Prepare

You will decide what data you need to collect in order to answer your questions
and how to organize it so that it is useful. You might use your business task to
decide:

 What metrics to measure

 Locate data in your database
 Create security measures to protect that data

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 What do I need to figure out how to solve this problem?

 What research do I need to do?

3. Process

Clean data is the best data and you will need to clean up your data to get rid of
any possible errors, inaccuracies, or inconsistencies. This might mean:

 Using spreadsheet functions to find incorrectly entered data

 Using SQL functions to check for extra spaces
 Removing repeated entries
 Checking as much as possible for bias in the data

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 What data errors or inaccuracies might get in my way of getting the best
possible answer to the problem I am trying to solve?
 How can I clean my data so the information I have is more consistent?

4. Analyze

You will want to think analytically about your data. At this stage, you might sort
and format your data to make it easier to:

 Perform calculations
 Combine data from multiple sources
 Create tables with your results

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 What story is my data telling me?

 How will my data help me solve this problem?
 Who needs my company’s product or service? What type of person is most
likely to use it?

5. Share

Everyone shares their results differently so be sure to summarize your results

with clear and enticing visuals of your analysis using data via tools like graphs or
dashboards. This is your chance to show the stakeholders you have solved their
problem and how you got there. Sharing will certainly help your team:

 Make better decisions

 Make more informed decisions

 Lead to stronger outcomes

 Successfully communicate your findings

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 How can I make what I present to the stakeholders engaging and easy to
understand?
 What would help me understand this if I were the listener?

6. Act

Now it’s time to act on your data. You will take everything you have learned from
your data analysis and put it to use. This could mean providing your stakeholders
with recommendations based on your findings so they can make data-driven
decisions.
Questions to ask yourself in this step:

 How can I use the feedback I received during the share phase (step 5) to
actually meet the stakeholder’s needs and expectations?

These six steps can help you to break the data analysis process into smaller,
manageable parts, which is called structured thinking. This process involves
four basic activities:

 Recognizing the current problem or situation

 Organizing available information

 Revealing gaps and opportunities

 Identifying your options

When you are starting out in your career as a data analyst, it is normal to feel
pulled in a few different directions with your role and expectations. Following
processes like the ones outlined here and using structured thinking skills can
help get you back on track, fill in any gaps and let you know exactly what you
need.

This describes structured thinking. Structured thinking begins with recognizing

the current problem or situation. Next, information is organized to reveal gaps
and opportunities. Finally, the available options are identified. Structured thinking
is the process of recognizing the current problem or
situation, organizing available information, revealing gaps and opportunities, and
identifying the options. In this process, you address a vague, complex problem
by breaking it down into smaller steps, and then those steps lead you to a logical
solution.

Common Problem Types

1. Making predictions.
This problem type involves using data to make an informed decision about how
things may be in the future.

For example, a hospital system might use a remote patient monitoring to predict
health events for chronically ill patients. The patients would take their health
vitals at home every day, and that information combined with data about their
age, risk factors, and other important details could enable the hospital's algorithm
to predict future health problems and even reduce future hospitalizations.
2. Categorizing things.
This means assigning information to different groups or clusters based on
common features.

An example of this problem type is a manufacturer that reviews data on shop

floor employee performance. An analyst may create a group for employees who
are most and least effective at engineering. A group for employees who are most
and least effective at repair and maintenance, most and least effective at
assembly, and many more groups or clusters.

3. Spotting something unusual.

In this problem type, data analysts identify data that is different from the norm.

An instance of spotting something unusual in the real world is a school system

that has a sudden increase in the number of students registered, maybe as big
as a 30 percent jump in the number of students. A data analyst might look into
this upswing and discover that several new apartment complexes had been built
in the school district earlier that year. They could use this analysis to make sure
the school has enough resources to handle the additional students.

4. Identifying themes
Identifying themes takes categorization as a step further by grouping information
into broader concepts.

Going back to our manufacturer that has just reviewed data on the shop floor
employees. First, these people are grouped by types and tasks. But now a data
analyst could take those categories and group them into the broader concept of
low productivity and high productivity. This would make it possible for the
business to see who is most and least productive, in order to reward top
performers and provide additional support to those workers who need more
training.

5. Discovering connections
It enables data analysts to find similar challenges faced by different entities, and
then combine data and insights to address them.

Here's what I mean; say a scooter company is experiencing an issue with the
wheels it gets from its wheel supplier. That company would have to stop
production until it could get safe, quality wheels back in stock. But meanwhile,
the wheel companies encountering the problem with the rubber it uses to make
wheels, turns out its rubber supplier could not find the right materials either. If all
of these entities could talk about the problems they're facing and share data
openly, they would find a lot of similar challenges and better yet, be able to
collaborate to find a solution.

6. Finding patterns.
Data analysts use data to find patterns by using historical data to understand
what happened in the past and is therefore likely to happen again. E-commerce
companies use data to find patterns all the time. Data analysts look at transaction
data to understand customer buying habits at certain points in time throughout
the year. They may find that customers buy more canned goods right before a
hurricane, or they purchase fewer cold-weather accessories like hats and gloves
during warmer months. The e-commerce companies can use these insights to
make sure they stock the right amount of products at these key times.

Making predictions

A company that wants to know the best advertising method to bring in new customers is an
example of a problem requiring analysts to make predictions. Analysts with data on location, type
of media, and number of new customers acquired as a result of past ads can't guarantee future
results, but they can help predict the best placement of advertising to reach the target audience.

Categorizing things

An example of a problem requiring analysts to categorize things is a company's goal to improve

customer satisfaction. Analysts might classify customer service calls based on certain keywords
or scores. This could help identify top-performing customer service representatives or help
correlate certain actions taken with higher customer satisfaction scores.

Spotting something unusual

A company that sells smart watches that help people monitor their health would be interested in
designing their software to spot something unusual. Analysts who have analyzed aggregated
health data can help product developers determine the right algorithms to spot and set off alarms
when certain data doesn't trend normally.

Identifying themes

User experience (UX) designers might rely on analysts to analyze user interaction data. Similar to
problems that require analysts to categorize things, usability improvement projects might require
analysts to identify themes to help prioritize the right product features for improvement. Themes
are most often used to help researchers explore certain aspects of data. In a user study, user
beliefs, practices, and needs are examples of themes.

By now you might be wondering if there is a difference between categorizing things and
identifying themes. The best way to think about it is: categorizing things involves assigning items
to categories; identifying themes takes those categories a step further by grouping them into
broader themes.

Discovering connections

A third-party logistics company working with another company to get shipments delivered to
customers on time is a problem requiring analysts to discover connections. By analyzing the wait
times at shipping hubs, analysts can determine the appropriate schedule changes to increase the
number of on-time deliveries.

Finding patterns
Minimizing downtime caused by machine failure is an example of a problem requiring analysts to
find patterns in data. For example, by analyzing maintenance data, they might discover that most
failures happen if regular maintenance is delayed by more than a 15-day window.

Smart Questions

Effective questions follow the SMART methodology.

That means they're specific, measurable, action-oriented, relevant and time-
bound.
Let's break that down.
Specific questions are simple, significant and focused on a single topic or a few
closely related ideas. This helps us collect information that's relevant to what
we're investigating. If a question is too general, try to narrow it down by focusing
on just one element.
For example, instead of asking a closed-ended question, like,
are kids getting enough physical activities these days?
Ask what percentage of kids achieve the recommended
60 minutes of physical activity at least five days a week?
That question is much more specific and can give you more useful information.

Now, let's talk about measurable questions.

Measurable questions can be quantified and assessed.
An example of an unmeasurable question would be, why did a recent video go
viral? Instead, you could ask how many times was our video shared on social
channels the first week it was posted? That question is measurable because it
lets us count the shares and arrive at a concrete number.

Okay, now we've come to action-oriented questions.

Action-oriented questions encourage change. You might remember that problem
solving is about seeing the current state and figuring out how to transform it into
the ideal future state. Well, action-oriented questions help you get there. So
rather than asking, how can we get customers to recycle our product packaging?
You could ask, what design features will make our packaging easier to recycle?
This brings you answers you can act on.

All right, let's move on to relevant questions.

Relevant questions matter, are important and have significance to the problem
you're trying to solve. Let's say you're working on a problem related to a
threatened species of frog. And you asked, why does it matter that Pine Barrens
tree frogs started disappearing? This is an irrelevant question because the
answer won't help us find a way to prevent these frogs from going extinct. A more
relevant question would be, what environmental factors changed in
Durham, North Carolina between 1983 and 2004 that could cause Pine Barrens
tree frogs to disappear from the Sandhills Regions? This question would give us
answers we can use to help solve our problem. That's also a great example for
our final point, time-bound questions.

Time-bound questions specify the time to be studied. The time period we want
to study is 1983 to 2004. This limits the range of possibilities and enables the
data analyst to focus on relevant data. Okay, now that you have a general
understanding of SMART questions, there's something else that's very important
to keep in mind when crafting questions, fairness.

We've touched on fairness before, but as a quick reminder, fairness means

ensuring that your questions don't create or reinforce bias. Fairness also means
crafting questions that make sense to everyone. It's important for questions to be
clear and have a straightforward wording that anyone can easily
understand. Unfair questions also can make your job as a data analyst more
difficult. They lead to unreliable feedback and missed opportunities to gain some
truly valuable insights.

Examples of SMART questions

Here's an example that breaks down the thought process of turning a problem
question into one or more SMART questions using the SMART method:

What features do people look for when buying a new car?

 Specific: Does the question focus on a particular car feature?

 Measurable: Does the question include a feature rating system?
 Action-oriented: Does the question influence creation of different or new
feature packages?
 Relevant: Does the question identify which features make or break a
potential car purchase?
 Time-bound: Does the question validate data on the most popular features
from the last three years?

Questions should be open-ended. This is the best way to get responses that will
help you accurately qualify or disqualify potential solutions to your specific
problem. So, based on the thought process, possible SMART questions might
be:

 On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the most important) how important is your
car having four-wheel drive?
 What are the top five features you would like to see in a car package?
 What features, if included with four-wheel drive, would make you more
inclined to buy the car?
 How much more would you pay for a car with four-wheel drive?
 Has four-wheel drive become more or less popular in the last three years?

Things to avoid when asking questions

Leading questions: questions that only have a particular response

Example: This product is too expensive, isn’t it?

This is a leading question because it suggests an answer as part of the
question. A better question might be, “What is your opinion of this product?”
There are tons of answers to that question, and they could include information
about usability, features, accessories, color, reliability, and popularity, on top of
price. Now, if your problem is actually focused on pricing, you could ask a
question like “What price (or price range) would make you consider purchasing
this product?” This question would provide a lot of different measurable
responses.

Closed-ended questions: questions that ask for a one-word or brief response

only

Example: Were you satisfied with the customer trial?

This is a closed-ended question because it doesn’t encourage people to
expand on their answer. It is really easy for them to give one-word responses
that aren’t very informative. A better question might be, “What did you learn
about customer experience from the trial.” This encourages people to provide
more detail besides “It went well.”

Vague questions: questions that aren’t specific or don’t provide context

Example: Does the tool work for you?

This question is too vague because there is no context. Is it about
comparing the new tool to the one it replaces? You just don’t know. A better
inquiry might be, “When it comes to data entry, is the new tool faster, slower, or
about the same as the old tool? If faster, how much time is saved? If slower, how
much time is lost?” These questions give context (data entry) and help frame
responses that are measurable (time).
 Module 2

Data-inspired decision-making explores different data sources to find out what

they have in common.
Data is straightforward, facts collected together, values that describe something.
Individual data points become more useful when they're collected and structured,
but they're still somewhat meaningless by themselves. We need to interpret data
to turn it into information

Quantitative and Qualitative Data

Quantitative data is all about the specific and objective measures of

numerical facts. This can often be the what, how many, and how often about a
problem. In other words, things you can measure.
Qualitative data describes subjective or explanatory measures of qualities
and characteristics or things that can't be measured with numerical data, like
your hair color. Qualitative data is great for helping us answer why questions.
Qualitative data can then give us a more high-level understanding of why
the numbers are the way they are.
This is important because it helps us add context to a problem. As a data
analyst, you'll be using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, depending on
your business task. Reviews are a great example of this. Think about a time you
used reviews to decide whether you wanted to buy something or go somewhere.
These reviews might have told you how many people dislike that thing and why.
Businesses read these reviews too, but they use the data in different ways.

The Big Reveal. Showing your Findings

Reports and dashboards are both useful for data visualization. But there
are pros and cons for each of them. A report is a static collection of data given to
stakeholders periodically. A dashboard on the other hand, monitors live,
incoming data. Let's talk about reports first. Reports are great for giving
snapshots of high level historical data for an organization. There are some
downsides to keep in mind too. Reports need regular maintenance and aren't
very visually appealing. Because they aren't automatic or dynamic, reports don't
show live, evolving data. For a live reflection of incoming data, you'll want to
design a dashboard. Dashboards are great for a lot of reasons, they give your
team more access to information being recorded, you can interact through data
by playing with filters, and because they're dynamic, they have long-term value.
ut dashboards do have some cons too. For one thing, they take a lot of time to
design and can actually be less efficient than reports, if they're not used very
often. If the base table breaks at any point, they need a lot of maintenance to get
back up and running again. Dashboards can sometimes overwhelm people with
information too. If you aren't used to looking through data on a dashboard, you
might get lost in it.
A pivot table is a data summarization tool that is used in data processing.
Pivot tables are used to summarize, sort, re-organize, group, count, total, or
average data stored in a database. It allows its users to transform columns into
rows and rows into columns.

Data vs. Metrics

A metric is a single, quantifiable type of data that can be used for

measurement. Think of it this way. Data starts as a collection of raw facts, until
we organize them into individual metrics that represent a single type of data.
Metrics can also be combined into formulas that you can plug your
numerical data into. Metrics usually involve simple math. Revenue, for example,
is the number of sales multiplied by the sales price.
Data contains a lot of raw details about the problem we're exploring. But
we need the right metrics to get the answers we're looking for. Different
industries will use all kinds of metrics to measure things in a data set.
Companies use this metric all the time. ROI, or Return on Investment is
essentially a formula designed using metrics that let a business know how well
an investment is doing. The ROI is made up of two metrics, the net profit over a
period of time and the cost of investment.
By comparing these two metrics, profit and cost of investment, the
company can analyze the data they have to see how well their investment is
doing. This can then help them decide how to invest in the future and which
investments to prioritize.

The Beauty of Dashboard

 Dashboards are powerful visual tools that help you tell your data story. A
dashboard organizes information from multiple datasets into one central location,
offering huge time-savings. Data analysts use dashboards to track, analyze, and
visualize data in order to answer questions and solve problems.

* it is important to remember that changed data is pulled into dashboards

automatically only if the data structure is the same. If the data structure changes,
you have to update the dashboard design before the data can update live.

Creating a dashboard
Here is a process you can follow to create a dashboard:

1. Identify the stakeholders who need to see the data and how they will use it

To get started with this, you need to ask effective questions.

2. Design the dashboard (what should be displayed)

Use these tips to help make your dashboard design clear, easy to follow, and
simple:

 Use a clear header to label the information

 Add short text descriptions to each visualization
 Show the most important information at the top

3. Create mock-ups if desired

 This is optional, but a lot of data analysts like to sketch out their
dashboards before creating them.

4. Select the visualizations you will use on the dashboard

You have a lot of options here and it all depends on what data story you
are telling. If you need to show a change of values over time, line charts or bar
graphs might be the best choice. If your goal is to show how each part
contributes to the whole amount being reported, a pie or donut chart is probably
a better choice.

5. Create filters as needed

Filters show certain data while hiding the rest of the data in a dashboard.
This can be a big help to identify patterns while keeping the original data intact. It
is common for data analysts to use and share the same dashboard, but manage
their part of it with a filter.

Dashboards are part of a business journey

Just like how the dashboard on an airplane shows the pilot their flight path, your
dashboard does the same for your stakeholders. It helps them navigate the path
of the project inside the data. If you add clear markers and highlight important
points on your dashboard, users will understand where your data story is
headed. Then, you can work together to make sure the business gets where it
needs to go.

Types of Dashboard

Strategic dashboards

A wide range of businesses use strategic dashboards when evaluating

and aligning their strategic goals. These dashboards provide information over the
longest time frame—from a single financial quarter to years.
 They typically contain information that is useful for enterprise-wide
decision-making. Below is an example of a strategic dashboard which focuses on
key performance indicators (KPIs) over a year.

Operational dashboards

Operational dashboards are, arguably, the most common type of

dashboard. Because these dashboards contain information on a time scale of
days, weeks, or months, they can provide performance insight almost in real-
time.

This allows businesses to track and maintain their immediate operational

processes in light of their strategic goals. The operational dashboard below
focuses on customer service.
Analytical dashboards

Analytic dashboards contain a vast amount of data used by data analysts.

These dashboards contain the details involved in the usage, analysis, and
predictions made by data scientists.

Certainly the most technical category, analytic dashboards are usually

created and maintained by data science teams and rarely shared with upper
management as they can be very difficult to understand. The analytic dashboard
below focuses on metrics for a company’s financial performance.

Great work reinforcing your learning with a thoughtful self-reflection! A few

commonalities in these examples include:

 Dashboards are visualizations: Visualizing data can be enormously useful for

understanding and demonstrating what the data really means.
 Dashboards identify metrics: Relevant metrics may help analysts assess
company performance.
Some differences include the time frame described in each dashboard. The
operational dashboard has a time-frame of days and weeks, while the strategic
dashboard displays the entire year. The analytic dashboard skips a specific time-
frame. Instead, it identifies and tracks the various KPIs that may be used to
assess strategic and operational goals.
Thank you for your response! Dashboards can help companies perform many
helpful tasks, such as:

 Track historical and current performance.

 Establish both long-term and/or short-term goals.
 Define key performance indicators or metrics.
 Identify potential issues or points of inefficiency.
While almost every company can benefit in some way from using a dashboard,
larger companies and companies with a wider range of products or services will
likely benefit more. Companies operating in volatile, or swiftly changing markets
like marketing, sales, and tech also tend to more quickly gain insights and make
data-informed decisions.

Mathematical Thinking
Small data can be really small. These kinds of data tend to be made up of
data sets concerned with specific metrics over a short, well defined period of
time.
Big data on the other hand has larger, less specific data-sets covering a
longer period of time. They usually have to be broken down to be analyzed. Big
data is useful for looking at large- scale questions and problems, and they help
companies make big decisions.

Big and Small Data

As a data analyst, you will work with data both big and small. Both kinds of
data are valuable, but they play very different roles.
Whether you work with big or small data, you can use it to help
stakeholders improve business processes, answer questions, create new
products, and much more. But there are certain challenges and benefits that
come with big data and the following table explores the differences between big
and small data.

Challenges and Benefits

Here are some challenges you might face when working with big data:

 A lot of organizations deal with data overload and way too much unimportant
or irrelevant information.
 Important data can be hidden deep down with all of the non-important data,
which makes it harder to find and use. This can lead to slower and more
inefficient decision-making time frames.
 The data you need isn’t always easily accessible.
 Current technology tools and solutions still struggle to provide measurable
and reportable data. This can lead to unfair algorithmic bias.
 There are gaps in many big data business solutions.

Now for the good news! Here are some benefits that come with big data:

 When large amounts of data can be stored and analyzed, it can help
companies identify more efficient ways of doing business and save a lot of
time and money.
 Big data helps organizations spot the trends of customer buying patterns and
satisfaction levels, which can help them create new products and solutions
that will make customers happy.
 By analyzing big data, businesses get a much better understanding of current
market conditions, which can help them stay ahead of the competition.
 As in our earlier social media example, big data helps companies keep track
of their online presence—especially feedback, both good and bad, from
customers. This gives them the information they need to improve and protect
their brand.

The three (or four) V words for big data

When thinking about the benefits and challenges of big data, it helps to think
about the three Vs: volume, variety, and velocity. Volume describes the
amount of data. Variety describes the different kinds of data. Velocity describes
how fast the data can be processed. Some data analysts also consider a fourth
V: veracity. Veracity refers to the quality and reliability of the data. These are all
important considerations related to processing huge, complex data-sets.

Module 3

Spreadsheets and the Data Life Cycle

To better understand the benefits of using spreadsheets in data analytics, let’s

explore how they relate to each phase of the data life cycle: plan, capture,
manage, analyze, archive, and destroy.
 Plan for the users who will work within a spreadsheet by developing
organizational standards. This can mean formatting your cells, the headings
you choose to highlight, the color scheme, and the way you order your data
points. When you take the time to set these standards, you will improve
communication, ensure consistency, and help people be more efficient with
their time.
 Capture data by the source by connecting spreadsheets to other data
sources, such as an online survey application or a database. This data will
automatically be updated in the spreadsheet. That way, the information is
always as current and accurate as possible.
 Manage different kinds of data with a spreadsheet. This can involve storing,
organizing, filtering, and updating information. Spreadsheets also let you
decide who can access the data, how the information is shared, and how to
keep your data safe and secure.
 Analyze data in a spreadsheet to help make better decisions. Some of the
most common spreadsheet analysis tools include formulas to aggregate data
or create reports, and pivot tables for clear, easy-to-understand visuals.
 Archive any spreadsheet that you don’t use often, but might need to
reference later with built-in tools. This is especially useful if you want to store
historical data before it gets updated.
 Destroy your spreadsheet when you are certain that you will never need it
again, if you have better backup copies, or for legal or security reasons. Keep
in mind, lots of businesses are required to follow certain rules or have
measures in place to make sure data is destroyed properly.
Pro tip: Spotting errors in spreadsheets with
conditional formatting
Conditional formatting can be used to highlight cells a different color
based on their contents. This feature can be extremely helpful when you want to
locate all errors in a large spreadsheet. For example, using conditional
formatting, you can highlight in yellow all cells that contain an error, and then
work to fix them.

Conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel

To set up conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel to highlight all cells in a

spreadsheet that contain errors, do the following:

 Click the gray triangle above row number 1 and to the left of Column A to
select all cells in the spreadsheet.

 From the main menu, click Home, and then click Conditional Formatting to
select Highlight Cell Rules > More Rules.

 For Select a Rule Type, choose Use a formula to determine which cells to
format.

 For Format values where this formula is true, enter =ISERROR(A1).

 Click the Format button, select the Fill tab, select yellow (or any other color),
and then click OK.
 Click OK to close the format rule window.

To remove conditional formatting, click Home and select Conditional Formatting,

and then click Manage Rules. Locate the format rule in the list, click Delete Rule,
and then click OK.

Problem Domain

The specific area of analysis that encompasses every area of activity affecting or
affected by the problem

Structured thinking is the process of recognizing the current problem or

situation, organizing available information, revealing gaps and opportunities, and
identifying the options. In other words, it's a way of being super prepared. For
many businesses, this includes things like work details, schedules, and reports
that the client can expect.

Now, as a data analyst, your scope of work will be a bit more technical
and include those basic items we just mentioned, but you'll also focus on things
like data preparation, validation, analysis of quantitative and qualitative datasets,
initial results, and maybe even some visuals to really get the point across

Deliverables are items or tasks you will complete before you can finish
the project.

Timelines include due dates for when deliverables, milestones, and/or

reports are due

Milestones are significant tasks you will confirm along your timeline to
help everyone know the project is on track

Reports notify everyone as you finalize deliverables and meet milestones.

SOW - Scope of Work

 Deliverables: What work is being done, and what things are being created
as a result of this project? When the project is complete, what are you
expected to deliver to the stakeholders? Be specific here. Will you collect
data for this project? How much, or for how long?
Avoid vague statements. For example, “fixing traffic problems” doesn’t specify
the scope. This could mean anything from filling in a few potholes to building a
new overpass. Be specific! Use numbers and aim for hard, measurable goals
and objectives. For example: “Identify top 10 issues with traffic patterns within the
city limits, and identify the top 3 solutions that are most cost-effective for reducing
traffic congestion.”
 Milestones: This is closely related to your timeline. What are the major
milestones for progress in your project? How do you know when a given part
of the project is considered complete?
Milestones can be identified by you, by stakeholders, or by other team members
such as the Project Manager. Smaller examples might include incremental steps
in a larger project like “Collect and process 50% of required data (100 survey
responses)”, but may also be larger examples like ”complete initial data analysis
report” or “deliver completed dashboard visualizations and analysis reports to
stakeholders”.

 Timeline: Your timeline will be closely tied to the milestones you create for
your project. The timeline is a way of mapping expectations for how long
each step of the process should take. The timeline should be specific enough
to help all involved decide if a project is on schedule. When will the
deliverables be completed? How long do you expect the project will take to
complete? If all goes as planned, how long do you expect each component of
the project will take? When can we expect to reach each milestone?

 Reports: Good SOWs also set boundaries for how and when you’ll give
status updates to stakeholders. How will you communicate progress with
stakeholders and sponsors, and how often? Will progress be reported
weekly? Monthly? When milestones are completed? What information will
status reports contain?
At a minimum, any SOW should answer all the relevant questions in the above
areas. Note that these areas may differ depending on the project. But at their
core, the SOW document should always serve the same purpose by containing
information that is specific, relevant, and accurate. If something changes in the
project, your SOW should reflect those changes.

What is in and out of scope?

SOWs should also contain information specific to what is and isn’t considered
part of the project. The scope of your project is everything that you are expected
to complete or accomplish, defined to a level of detail that doesn’t leave any
ambiguity or confusion about whether a given task or item is part of the project or
not.

Notice how the previous example about studying traffic congestion defined its
scope as the area within the city limits. This doesn’t leave any room for confusion
— stakeholders need only to refer to a map to tell if a stretch of road or
intersection is part of the project or not. Defining requirements can be trickier
than it sounds, so it’s important to be as specific as possible in these documents,
and to use quantitative statements whenever possible.

For example, assume that you’re assigned to a project that involves studying the
environmental effects of climate change on the coastline of a city: How do you
define what parts of the coastline you are responsible for studying, and which
parts you are not?

In this case, it would be important to define the area you’re expected to study
using GPS locations, or landmarks. Using specific, quantifiable statements will
help ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what’s expected.

“The best thing you can do for the fairness and accuracy of your data, is to make
sure you start with an accurate representation of the population, and collect the
data in the most appropriate, and objective way. Then, you'll have the facts so
you can pass on to your team”

Context can turn raw data into meaningful information. It is very important for
data analysts to contextualize their data. This means giving the data perspective
by defining it. To do this, you need to identify:

 Who: The person or organization that created, collected, and/or funded the
data collection
 What: The things in the world that data could have an impact on
 Where: The origin of the data
 When: The time when the data was created or collected
 Why: The motivation behind the creation or collection
 How: The method used to create or collect it

Structured thinking is the process of recognizing the current problem or situation,

organizing available information, revealing gaps and opportunities, and
identifying the options.

Module 4

Project managers are in charge of planning and executing a project. Part

of the project manager's job is keeping the project on track and overseeing the
progress of the entire team.

Working With Stakeholders

Your data analysis project should answer the business task and create
opportunities for data-driven decision-making. That's why it is so important to
focus on project stakeholders. As a data analyst, it is your responsibility to
understand and manage your stakeholders’ expectations while keeping the
project goals front and center.

You might remember that stakeholders are people who have invested time,
interest, and resources into the projects that you are working on. This can be a
pretty broad group, and your project stakeholders may change from project to
project. But there are three common stakeholder groups that you might find
yourself working with: the executive team, the customer-facing team, and the
data science team.

Let’s get to know more about the different stakeholders and their goals. Then
we'll learn some tips for communicating with them effectively.

1. Executive team

The executive team provides strategic and operational leadership to the

company. They set goals, develop strategy, and make sure that strategy is
executed effectively. The executive team might include vice presidents, the chief
marketing officer, and senior-level professionals who help plan and direct the
company’s work. These stakeholders think about decisions at a very high level
and they are looking for the headline news about your project first. They are less
interested in the details. Time is very limited with them, so make the most of it by
leading your presentations with the answers to their questions. You can keep the
more detailed information handy in your presentation appendix or your project
documentation for them to dig into when they have more time.

For example, you might find yourself working with the vice president of human
resources on an analysis project to understand the rate of employee absences. A
marketing director might look to you for competitive analyses. Part of your job will
be balancing what information they will need to make informed decisions with
their busy schedule.

But you don’t have to tackle that by yourself. Your project manager will be
overseeing the progress of the entire team, and you will be giving them more
regular updates than someone like the vice president of HR. They are able to
give you what you need to move forward on a project, including getting approvals
from the busy executive team. Working closely with your project manager can
help you pinpoint the needs of the executive stakeholders for your project, so
don’t be afraid to ask them for guidance.

2. Customer-facing team

The customer-facing team includes anyone in an organization who has

some level of interaction with customers and potential customers. Typically they
compile information, set expectations, and communicate customer feedback to
other parts of the internal organization. These stakeholders have their own
objectives and may come to you with specific asks. It is important to let the data
tell the story and not be swayed by asks from your stakeholders to find certain
patterns that might not exist.

Let’s say a customer-facing team is working with you to build a new version of a
company’s most popular product. Part of your work might involve collecting and
sharing data about consumers’ buying behavior to help inform product features.
Here, you want to be sure that your analysis and presentation focuses on what is
actually in the data-- not on what your stakeholders hope to find.

3. Data science team

Organizing data within a company takes teamwork. There's a good

chance you'll find yourself working with other data analysts, data scientists, and
data engineers. For example, maybe you team up with a company's data science
team to work on boosting company engagement to lower rates of employee
turnover. In that case, you might look into the data on employee productivity,
while another analyst looks at hiring data. Then you share those findings with the
data scientist on your team, who uses them to predict how new processes could
boost employee productivity and
engagement. When you share
what you found in your
individual analyses, you
uncover the bigger story. A
big part of your job will be
collaborating with other data team
members to find new angles of the data
to explore. Here's a view of how different roles on a typical data science team
support different functions:

Working effectively with stakeholders

When you're working with each group of stakeholders- from the executive team,
to the customer-facing team, to the data science team, you'll often have to go
beyond the data. Use the following tips to communicate clearly, establish trust,
and deliver your findings across groups.

Discuss goals. Stakeholder requests are often tied to a bigger project or goal.
When they ask you for something, take the opportunity to learn more. Start a
discussion. Ask about the kind of results the stakeholder wants. Sometimes, a
quick chat about goals can help set expectations and plan the next steps.

Feel empowered to say “no.” Let’s say you are approached by a marketing
director who has a “high-priority” project and needs data to back up their
hypothesis. They ask you to produce the analysis and charts for a presentation
by tomorrow morning. Maybe you realize their hypothesis isn’t fully formed and
you have helpful ideas about a better way to approach the analysis. Or maybe
you realize it will take more time and effort to perform the analysis than
estimated. Whatever the case may be, don’t be afraid to push back when you
need to.
Stakeholders don’t always realize the time and effort that goes into collecting and
analyzing data. They also might not know what they actually need. You can help
stakeholders by asking about their goals and determining whether you can
deliver what they need. If you can’t, have the confidence to say “no,” and provide
a respectful explanation. If there’s an option that would be more helpful, point the
stakeholder toward those resources. If you find that you need to prioritize other
projects first, discuss what you can prioritize and when. When your stakeholders
understand what needs to be done and what can be accomplished in a given
timeline, they will usually be comfortable resetting their expectations. You should
feel empowered to say no-- just remember to give context so others understand
why.

Plan for the unexpected. Before you start a project, make a list of potential
roadblocks. Then, when you discuss project expectations and timeline with your
stakeholders, give yourself some extra time for problem-solving at each stage of
the process.

Know your project. Keep track of your discussions about the project over email
or reports, and be ready to answer questions about how certain aspects are
important for your organization. Get to know how your project connects to the
rest of the company and get involved in providing the most insight possible. If you
have a good understanding about why you are doing an analysis, it can help you
connect your work with other goals and be more effective at solving larger
problems.

Start with words and visuals. It is common for data analysts and stakeholders
to interpret things in different ways while assuming the other is on the same
page. This illusion of agreement* has been historically identified as a cause of
projects going back-and-forth a number of times before a direction is finally
nailed down. To help avoid this, start with a description and a quick visual of what
you are trying to convey. Stakeholders have many points of view and may prefer
to absorb information in words or pictures. Work with them to make changes and
improvements from there. The faster everyone agrees, the faster you can
perform the first analysis to test the usefulness of the project, measure the
feedback, learn from the data, and implement changes.

Communicate often. Your stakeholders will want regular updates on your

projects. Share notes about project milestones, setbacks, and changes. Then
use your notes to create a shareable report. Another great resource to use is a
change-log, which is a tool that will be explored further throughout the program.
For now, just know that a change-log is a file containing a chronologically
ordered list of modifications made to a project. Depending on the way you set it
up, stakeholders can even pop in and view updates whenever they want.
Effective Communication

Project follow-up email sample

After the next report is completed, you can also send out a project update
offering more information. The email could look like this:

Limitations with Data

Telling a Story

 Compare the same types of data: Data can get mixed up when you chart it
for visualization. Be sure to compare the same types of data and double
check that any segments in your chart definitely display different metrics.
 Visualize with care: A 0.01% drop in a score can look huge if you zoom in
close enough. To make sure your audience sees the full story clearly, it is a
good idea to set your Y-axis to 0.
 Leave out needless graphs: If a table can show your story at a glance, stick
with the table instead of a pie chart or a graph. Your busy audience will
appreciate the clarity.
 Test for statistical significance: Sometimes two data-sets will look
different, but you will need a way to test whether the difference is real and
 important. So remember to run statistical tests to see how much confidence
you can place in that difference.
 Pay attention to sample size: Gather lots of data. If a sample size is small,
a few unusual responses can skew the results. If you find that you have too
little data, be careful about using it to form judgments. Look for opportunities
to collect more data, then chart those trends over longer periods.

*Focusing on stakeholder expectations enables data analysts to understand project

goals, improve communication, and build trust.

Action-oriented question: A question whose answers lead to change