Are you addicted to data? Here's a self diagnosis to see if you're on the path to bad data habits, and some counter measures to put into action if you are.

1. ARE YOU DATA-DRIVEN OR
ADDICTED TO DATA?
A SELF DIAGNOSIS THAT STOPS DATA DOPING
@TonyClement

2. The sexy tools of Big Data.
Bedazzling dashboards.
Intelligent sounding analytics.
DATA DOPING
IS THE HABITUAL
ABUSE OF
ANALYTICS
Continually counting KPI’s.
Collecting more and more data sets.
CFO’s keeping you up at night.
We deserve a healthier relationship with
data, but the trend is against us.

3. WE ARE BEING DRIVEN
TO ADDICTION
WITH SO MUCH
ANALYTICAL ANXIETY
AROUND MARKETING, THE
TEMPTATION TO USE DATA
FOR SELFISH PURPOSES IS
SERIOUSLY STRONG
WITH ALL THE GOALS,
METRICS AND KPI’S TO
ANSWER TO, THE PRESSURE
TO MAKE DATA SPEAK THE
TRUTH IS RELENTLESS

4. PROTECT YOURSELF:
A SIMPLE SELF DIAGNOSIS
5
SIGNS THAT YOU’RE
HEADING FOR A
DATA ADDICTION

5. 1
You can’t name a soul in
the analytics department.
‘i, sad robot.’
The analytics department is a nameless, faceless
jumble of gears, tech and data. They live in the
corners of the culture and exist to deliver the
data.

6. 2
YOU SUFFER FROM
DATA WITHDRAWALS.
When deprived of data, facts and research you
become dazed and disorientated. Unable to
give or take direction due to ‘lack of analysis,
paralysis.’ A loss in business instinct is a
terrible thing.

7. 3
DATA IS PLUCKED WITH
NO REMORSE.
Charts of research and analysis is lifted out of
context to plug gaps in other places. This
addictive behavior can seem harmless, but
‘over-plucking’ can be ugly in the end.

8. 4
You’ve been hi-jacked by
the social listening
pirates.
You spend more time trying to figure out
what social data tools to use, rather than
actually using one. They all have such cool
names and shiny logos.

9. 5
meetings about metrics
lead to more meetings
about metrics.
You’ve had so many circular meetings about
goal setting, KPI’s and metric performance
all sense of what real success looks like is
lost.

10. LET’S HAVE A HEALTHIER
YEAR OF DATA
5
COUNTER MEASURES
TO MAKE DATA WORK
FOR GOOD.

11. 1
USE INSTINCTS TO GUIDE
YOUR ANALYSIS.
Trust your intuition. Instinct becomes the
experiment and the data will provide the
evidence. Be agile in unknown situations build, measure, learn, then build better.

12. 2
TURN MINI-METRICS INTO
SUPER-METRICS.
Less metrics means more focus. Find the mini
metrics that are leading, comparable and
accountable. Nurture them, grow them, help
them become heroes amongst your peers.

13. 3
WHEN ANALYZING LOOK
FOR HEADLINES, NOT
OBSERVATIONS.
Treat your reporting, like a reporter. And write
your findings as headlines that humans want to
read. Remember, your dashboard is competing
with gifs and cat videos.

14. 4
BUST THAT DATA BELLY.
BUST IT HARD.
Too much data in your diet? Time to take a
look at your dietary needs for analytics and
eliminate anything that doesn’t promote a
lean data environment.

15. 5
HELP YOUR ANALYSTS
SHINE.
Get out of the way of your analysts, and let
them tell the story behind their numbers.
Often the real insight is not in the charts, but
in their narrative.

16. SELF DIAGNOSIS SCORECARD
Do you...
See analysts as delivery bots?
Lead with data, instead of instinct?
Pluck data to support an agenda?
Have more social tools than insight?
Have circular meetings about metrics?

17. IF SO, TRY THESE COUNTER
MEASURES AND ENJOY A DATA
DETOX.
1. Use instinct to guide your analytics.
2. Nurture mini metrics into super metrics.
3. Look for headlines, not observations.
4. Bust the data belly by detoxing needless metrics.
5. Help your analyst tell the meta-story.

18. LET’S MAKE 2014 A
HEALTHIER YEAR OF DATA.
FOR THE LOVE OF DATA
@TonyClement