While we don't often call it out explicitly, the driving force behind much of what and how much data we collect is driven by a "just in case" mentality: we don't know exactly HOW that next piece of data will be put to use, but we better collect it to minimize the potential for future regret about NOT collecting it. Data collection is an optionality play—we strive to capture "all the data" so that we have as many potential options as possible for how it gets crunched somewhere down the road. On this episode, we explored the many ways this deeply ingrained and longstanding mindset is problematic, and we were joined by the inimitable Matt Gershoff from Conductrics for the discussion! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Let's pretend your goal as an analyst is to eloquently and accurately explain reinforcement learning. Now, let's pretend that you get to try that explanation again and again, and we'll give you an electric shock every time you state something inaccurately and a cookie every time you say something right. Well, you're an analyst, so you're now wondering if this is some clever play on words about cookies. As it happened, we didn't give Matt Gershoff from Conductrics any cookies of any kind in his return to the show. Instead, we gave him a lifetime's supply of opportunities to say, "Well, no, it's not really like that," which is a special kind of nourishment for the exceptionally smart and patient! In other words, the gang walked through a range of analogies and examples about machine learning, reinforcement learning, and AI with Matt, and no electric sheep were harmed in the process.  For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We've got the technology. We've got the behavioral data. We've got the content (or at least tell ourselves we do). We're all set to develop personalized experiences that knock consumers socks off and leave them begging us to take their money. Is it really that simple? If it is, why aren't more companies realizing the dream of 1-to-1 marketing? Matt Gershoff joins us to discuss how the pieces of the personalization puzzle often don't quite fall into place like we wish they would. Matt's also written a post that overlaps with our discussion: http://conductrics.com/complexity.