How can you analyze data more effectively?

As someone who frequently engages in data analysis, I have a set of strategies that help me work more efficiently and effectively. I believe it's crucial to clearly define your objectives before starting the analysis, consider what type of data you might need and whether it's appropriate for your objectives. It's easy to allow preconceived notions to sway our analysis, so it's essential to remain aware of this and consistently reassess our approach. I frequently step back to ensure I'm interpreting the data objectively and in line with my initial objectives.

After a couple of years doing data analytics for customers, I ended up with a form with questions, tactics and strategies to gather the most information from the stakeholders and users. Going from business objectives (short and long term), where it's gonna be uses, when, where, on which devices, what are you trying to measure and so on. At the end if this process, you have a clear understanding of the actual situation, the business needs and objectives but also where they are going in the future.

You can also collaborate with leadership to understand what business goals require data-driven perspectives and seek to leverage your data to answer relevant business questions.

As you are analyzing your data, remain vigilant for unexpected results. For example, when reviewing data from survey respondents, look for overall trends as well as unusual anomalies. The trends in your data may either confirm or disprove your overarching assumptions but anomalies in the data are aspects to dive into further. Use these unexpected results to conduct more analysis, get curious, ask more why questions, and continue until you have a possible explanation for those unanticipated results.

Ensure you present your results as appropriate for your intended audience. If you are presenting findings back to leadership based on a business goal, make sure you present your findings in a way they can understand and based on the data that matters to them. You may only present high level findings or stats but you can include more in depth or detailed visualizations in appendices or in supplementary documents to those who may want to have that level of detail.

When you are presenting results, don't forget to make sure that it's telling a story easy to understand. People will understand better but will also remember more insight from a good story. The story can be simple as The facts, the tendencies, the prediction, your recommandation and conclusion. Storytelling is not only the flow of information, it's also the visual, visuals need to say something by themselves without long explaination