Data : 5 Steps to Avoid Drowning.

"An ocean of data is useless unless it is converted into meaningful knowledge to aid decision-making"

Collecting quantitative data about everything in our life has become tremendously easy: calories, steps, emails, on time deliveries, visitors to our website and bouncing rates, the number of satisfied customers etc.

Analytic software and spreadsheets (computers more in general?) have done the most in facilitating the gathering of information.

But in order to become information, data has to be processed. Digested. Still a very human process. Judgement, Critical Thinking and the ability of "Connecting" the Dots are still not what spreadsheets and computers are best at.

Large companies use CIOs (Chief Information Officers) to swim through the piles of data they accumulate. But how can a small company /non profit/a project manager effectively make sense and best use of the data that is available ?

Identifying and collecting:

• Determine the Who, When , What (data), Why : Who should do what , when and at what scope? Collecting data can be energy/time consuming. A mistake at this early stage might create an overload of work for the wrong person in the organisation/project.

Processing and analysing :

• Who should process data and what should be the method used for analysis? Are you gonna compare set of data or are you gonna look at them in absolute terms? What should be your comparison term?

Disseminating and Using:

• How will you spread and use the insights that you have gathered through data analysis? Insights are of little use if left printed inside a desk drawer. Plan how to communicate the findings ! But be careful : insights which are not relevant might not be well perceived. Pick your audience carefully.

Establish a Process Map:

• Make sure you set a clear process map to tackle the same task in the future. The above process is boring : let's plan not to repeat it next week/month/year .

Measuring Change:

• What are the changes which your insights have caused in the organisation/project? Measuring well the effects of your insights might give you insights on the quality of the method used and the data you decided to collect in first place.