🌌What Star Wars can teach us about the power of 'small data'
Hello!
Star Wars has been on my watchlist for some time. I recently caught up with the movie trilogies, along with my kids. We loved them.
My favorites were the first six movies (the prequel and the original trilogy). The last three were high on action, but not so much on the storyline or the Jedi wisdom. Not surprisingly, Yoda made it into this week’s newsletter spotlight to talk data!
This newsletter will take you about 4 minutes to read.
I. Spotlight: 🌌What Star Wars can teach us about the power of ‘small data’
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm..”
These are words from Yoda, the legendary Jedi Master from the Star Wars movies.
When Luke Skywalker, the Jedi apprentice, meets a tiny, green creature with baby-like features, he doesn’t take him seriously.
Luke then learns that the diminutive creature is Yoda, the 900-year old Jedi Grand Master. Yoda is small in size but wise and powerful. Finally, Luke realizes his folly and takes Yoda’s help to defeat the dark side.
Don’t we misjudge data the same way?
We consider big to be beautiful. We obsess over building data lakes. We train models with thousands of parameters. We value visuals that present lots of information.
In this rush towards ‘big data,’ leaders miss seeing the wisdom and power in ‘small data.’
(Photo by Jimmy Nguyen on Unsplash)
Today, enterprises use terabytes of data every day. It is easy to acquire and store large volumes of data. ‘Big data’ is a basic need for most enterprise applications.
So, what’s the value of small data?
It holds immense potential. Here are three things you need to make the most of it:
Your data can be small, but its quality must be top-notch
All you need is just a few hundred rows of data to discover hidden business insights. What’s non-negotiable though, is data quality and integrity. Some of our biggest success stories at Gramener were from projects with small data. These were cases where the organizations underestimated their data due to its size.
Your data influences the technique you must pick
Technology is a distraction when you aren’t clear on your outcomes. Your outcome determines the data you need, which in turn influences the technique. You can predict next week’s server failure with just the past 60 days of data. Here, only simple machine learning techniques will work, not AI. If your data is smaller, say, just the past one month, then basic statistics can get your job done.
A simple data story with one strong takeaway can work wonders
To move your users to action, you don’t need fancy charts, rich interactivity, or millions of data points. Charles Minard visualized the failed French invasion of Russia. He drew it up on hand with just a few hundred data points in 1869. Today, experts consider it to be one of the best data visualizations ever created. A simple data story can work wonders and turn into a timeless masterpiece.
(Photo: Napoleon’s march by Charles Joseph Minard, 1869)
In summary, don’t overlook the spreadsheets of data you possess. There’s more to small data than what meets the eye.
Small is powerful. Simple is beautiful.
Just like Yoda from the Star Wars. May the Force be with you in your data journey!
II. Industry Roundup:
1. Don't build an AI-first business, says Andrew Ng, the AI pioneer
9 minutes | MIT Technology Review | Karen Hao
“It’s a bad idea to be AI-first (or data-first) since the focus then shifts onto technology,” says Ng. To build a successful business, you must be customer-led or mission-led, almost never technology-led. The article shares insights on how to use data science to solve practical challenges.
2. Four ways to democratize data science in your organization
7 minutes | HBR | Tom Redman, Tom Davenport
Most organizations start their data science efforts in a CoE (Center of Excellence). But, this may not be the best way to scale your efforts across the organization. Check out the suggestions that span crafting a vision, picking suitable projects, and democratizing data science capabilities across the organization.
3. Book: Telling Your Data Story - Data Storytelling for Data Management
Technics Publications | Scott Taylor
How do you convince senior stakeholders of the value of data management? This book shows how you can apply the principles of data storytelling and secure executive commitment for your data management efforts.
III. From my Desk:
1. Whiteboard Video: Why is data maturity crucial for business value?
🎬 Launching Season 2 - Episode 1 of our whiteboard videos! What's the most critical indicator of business value in your data journey? With examples, I explain how data maturity influences the outcomes of your analytics projects.
2. Article: The top 26 data terminologies you must know about
There’s no scarcity of jargon in dataspeak. People might use the exact words but mean entirely different things. Here’s an ambitious attempt to demystify 26 commonly used terminologies in the data space. What’s your take on these?
Have you seen the monkey playing ping-pong with its brain? Fascinating progress with brain-machine interfaces!
Thank you for subscribing and reading the newsletter. I appreciate your attention,
Ganes.
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