For those who celebrate or acknowledge it, Christmas is now in the rearview mirror. Father Time has a beard that reaches down to his toes, and he's ready to hand over the clock to an absolutely adorable little Baby Time when 2024 rolls in. That means it's time for our annual set of reflections on the analytics and data science industry. Somehow, the authoring of this description of the show was completely unaided by an LLM, although the show did include quite a bit of discussion around generative AI. It also included the announcement of a local LLM based on all of our podcast episodes to date (updated with each new episode going forward!), which you can try out here! The discussion was wide-ranging beyond AI: Google Analytics 4, Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM), the technical/engineering side of analytics versus the softer skills of creative analytical thought and engaging with stakeholders, and more, as well as a look ahead to 2024! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

To mentor, or not to mentor, that is the question: whether 'tis more productive to hole up in a cubicle and toil away without counsel, or to hold close one's experience to the benefit of no one else. Perchance, the author of this show summary should have checked with one of his mentors before attempting a Shakespearian angle. But, he didn't, and the show title is pretty self-explanatory, so we'll just roll with it. On this episode, Michael, Val, and Tim chatted about mentorship: its many flavors, its many uses, and what has and has not worked for them both when being mentored as well as when being mentors. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Have you ever noticed that recipes that include estimates of how long it will take to prepare the dish seem to dramatically underestimate reality? We have! And that's for something that is extremely knowable and formulaic — measure, mix, and cook a fixed set of ingredients! When it comes to analytics projects, when you don't know the state of the data, what the data will reveal, and how the scope may shift along the way, answering the question, "How long will this take?" can be downright terrifying. Happy Halloween! Whether you are an in-house analyst or working in an agency setting, though, it's a common and reasonable question to be asked. In this episode Michael, Moe, and Val dive into the topic, including sharing some stories of battle scars and lessons learned along the way. As a bonus, Sensei Michael explains how he uses Aikido on his clients to avoid scope creep! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Seemingly straightforward data sets are seldom as simple as they initially appear. And, many an analysis has been tripped up by erroneous assumptions about either the data itself or about the business context in which that data exists. On this episode, Michael, Val, and Tim sat down with Viyaleta Apgar, Senior Manager of Analytics Solutions at Indeed.com, to discuss some antidotes to this very problem! Her structured approach to data discovery asks the analyst to outline what they know and don't know, as well as how any biases or assumptions might impact their results before they dive into Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). To Viyaleta, this isn't just theory! She also shared stories of how she's put this into practice with her business partners (NOT her stakeholders!) at Indeed.com. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Most of the time, we think of analytics as taking historical data for a business, munging it in various ways, and then using the results of that munging to make decisions. But, what if the business has no (or very little) historical data… because it's a startup? That's the situation venture capitalists — especially those focused on early stage startups — face constantly. We were curious as to how and where data and analytics play a role in such a world, and Sam Wong, a partner at Blackbird Ventures, joined Michael, Val, and Tim to explore the subject. Hypotheses and KPIs came up a lot, so our hypothesis that there was a relevant tie-in to the traditional focus of this show was validated, and, as a result, the valuation of the podcast itself tripled and we are accepting term sheets. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We were curious about… curiosity. We know it's a critical trait for analysts, but is it an innate characteristic, a teachable skill, or some combination of both? We were curious. How can the breadth and depth of a candidate's curiosity be assessed as part of the interview process? We were curious. Who could we kick these questions (and others) around with? We were NOT curious about that! MaryBeth Maskovas, founder and Principal Consultant at Insight Lime Analytics, joined Michael, Julie, and Tim to explore the topic. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

There comes a time in every analyst's career where they consider starting up their own consultancy. Or, if not that, then at least joining an agency or a consultancy. The nature of most businesses is to grow, and with growth comes the potential for an "exit." This episode dives into that world in an attempt to demystify some of the ins and outs of the acquisition of analytics consultancies, from the owners' perspectives, employees' perspectives, and acquiring companies' perspectives. Since these are all perspectives that none of your dear co-hosts really have, Bob Morris, the co-founder and managing partner for Bravery Group, joined us for a discussion of EBITDA, TTM, CIMs, and even aspects of the space that are not captured by acronyms! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

When it comes to simulation, we're all really asking the same question: are we living in one? Alas! We did not tackle that on this episode. Instead, with Julie Hoyer as a guest co-host while Moe is on leave, we were joined by Frances Sneddon, the CTO of Simul8, to dig into some of the nuts and bolts of simulation as a tool for improving processes. It turns out that effectively putting simulations to use means focusing on some of the same foundational aspects of effectively using analytics, data science, or experimentation: clearly defining the problem, tapping into the domain experts to actually understand the process or scenario of focus, and applying some level of "art" to complement the science of the work! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

What's more sexy: analytics or innovation? What about combining them! That sounds great, and Thomas Davenport would be so proud if you pulled it off, but the reality is that the idea of innovation through analytics is one thing, while the reality of making it happen is another thing entirely. Dr. Tiffany Perkins-Munn, Head of Marketing Data & Analytics at JPMorgan Chase & Co., joined us for a discussion on the subject! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

It's that one-time-of-the-year when we do a little bit of navel-gazing, a little bit of prognostication, and, when the year is a year like 2022, a little more cursing than usual. Not only did the podcast hit a fairly meaningless vanity metric milestone this year, but we also maintained our explicit rating! Executive producer Josh Crowhurst joined us to look back on the podcast and the analytics industry in 2022, as well as to do a little bit of crystal ball gazing into 2023 and beyond! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

So, you finally took that recruiter's call, and then you made it through the initial phone screen. You weren't really expecting that to happen, but now you're facing an actual interview! It sounds intense and, yet, you're not sure what to expect or how to prepare for it. Flash cards with statistical concepts? A crash course in Python? LinkedIn stalking of current employees of the company? Maybe. We asked Jay Feng from Interview Query to join us to discuss strategies and tactics for data scientists and analyst interviews, and we definitely wanted to hire him by the time we were done! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Do analysts make things more complicated than they need to be, or is the data representing a complex world, so that is just the nature of the beast? Or is it both? Stakeholders yearn for simple answers to simple questions, but the road to delivering meaningful results seems paved with potholes of statistical complexity, data nuances, and messy tooling. What is a business to do? Frederik Werner from DHL joined Michael and Tim for a discussion that definitively determined that, well, the topic is…complicated! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Here at the Analytics Power Hour, we have a very clear delineation of who owns what when it comes to the show production. And ownership is the topic of this episode. It's possible that the owner of the episode description feels like this is an awfully touchy-feely topic, but said owner also knows that teamwork means going along with the majority when it comes to show topics. I guess that's joint ownership? Can that work? Sadly, that, specifically, was not discussed, but the show definitely earned its explicit rating with this episode! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We try not to navel gaze too much on this show, but our 200th episode felt like just enough of a milestone that we could do a mid-year "look back, look forward" show with a 7-year range. And we tracked down our original Commonwealth representative to join us for that discussion. Did we (first) party (cookie) like it was 1999? Maybe not, but that's the sort of reference you get with Jim Cain, the founder of Napkyn Analytics, and a co-founder of this very podcast! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We've always said that the genesis of this podcast was the lobby bar of analytics conferences across multiple continents, and this year's Marketing Analytics Summit in Las Vegas was a reminder of our roots on that front. All three co-hosts made the trip to Caesars Palace for the event. Moe presented on bringing a product mindset to analytics (by "presented on," we mean "workshopped content for a future podcast episode"), and the closing keynote was a recording of the show in front of a live (and thoughtful and engaged) audience. Give it a listen, and it will almost be like you were there! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

The Web3 world—blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and more—seems to be everywhere these days. And, as analysts, how could we not salivate at the idea of a data set that is just one flat, immutable, ever-growing table with a handful of columns (aka… a blockchain-powered public ledger)? We sat down with Anthony Mandelli from Coin Metrics to see whether Tim and Moe could be moved from "totally clueless" to "barely knowledgeable" on the topic in a single hour (Michael was already a knowledgeable enthusiast). The jury is out as to whether we were successful, but stay tuned for the upcoming announcement of the Analytics Power Hour DAO we're starting up (we're minting RockFlag coins to make it happen). For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

"The people" are often the most valuable asset for a company, so getting the ones who are a good fit, supporting them in their work and their careers, and figuring out what motivates (and demotivates) them is critical. And data—both quantitative and qualitative—can help with that. It's a topic we've wanted to tackle for a long time (well, Moe and Michael have; Tim was confused, as he thought it couldn't be that hard to analyze a data set consisting of a single "Do they do their f***ing job?" boolean flag), and we finally got to it, with Andrew Marritt from OrganizationView! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We are excited to announce APH+, a subscription that includes bonus content and other perks for our most dedicated listeners. 

Can a digital analyst make it to the C-suite? And, if she does, will she wonder, "Oh, dear. WHAT have I gotten myself into?!" The answer to the first question is "Yes!" And our guest for this episode is a proof point: Mai AlOwaish is the Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Gulf Bank, and she spent a good portion of her career in digital analytics before taking on that role! The answer to the second question is, "Not if you go in with a clear vision and strategy!" But, of course, there's a lot more to it than that! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

Remember how we used to have bonus episodes? With International Women's Day coming up in a week, it seemed like a good time to bring them back. Tim is joined by Rehgan Avon, the founder of the organization that runs the DataConnect Conference, which will be June 2-3, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio (and virtually). It's a conference open to everyone to attend, but all of the speakers are women or gender minorities. Tim and Rehgan also discuss the current state of gender diversity in the profession and how it has changed since Rehgan started the organization that became this conference back in 2016. And there's a discount code! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.