How To Get People To Understand Analytics

Why are people afraid of math? Can the mere mention of statistics bring gloom over a conference room?

This is a very large barrier for those of us that use analytics by bringing math and data together to provide insight. Can we hope to convince people that the math is working and doing what they expect it to do?

The answer, as with many things in life, is that it depends. Who are you trying to convince? What is their comfort level with the math and data you are using? And of course, going back to the “Convince Them Equation”, what is their trust in you, what is your experience level, and how effectively are you communicating. All of these factors are important.

So let us assume for a moment that you are able to convince the target person. The only issue is that the person doesn’t understand a mathematical concept. Perhaps you are using a Machine Learning (ML) technique.

The periodicity of the reporting is a factor. If you provide a daily analytics report, then you will only need to give a small tidbit of the knowledge.

If it is a weekly report, then a little more knowledge each time can be revealed.

If the product is provided on a monthly basis, then a little more knowledge can be included in the brief.

If the product is quarterly or bi-annual, then you may want to consider providing a separate training session to bring everyone up to speed with the analytics that supports that report.

What you should include