Hi ,
I used to know a data scientist who was a self-described "ideas guy."
And to give him credit, some of the ideas he shared sounded pretty good to me. Senior management thought
so, too.
Whenever he had an idea, he would record it in an ever-growing Excel spreadsheet, intending to implement it "when he got time."
Except the "ideas guy" was always busy. And any slivers of time he managed to find were "never enough" to ever get
anything done.
So, his ideas remained just that. And people came to see him as just another "implementation guy."
Ideas are great, but unless you have a strategy for getting them done, they're of no value to anyone at all.
But here's the secret of high-performing data scientists the "ideas guy" missed.
Creating value from an idea doesn't need to take months and your outputs don't even need to be perfect.
Data science value can be created in just a few minutes per day by taking value creation one step at a time.
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries encourages start-ups to take a rapid iteration (or build-measure-learn) approach to product development, with each iteration designed to take the minimum amount of development time.
A data science version of this approach might look something like this:
- Reduce your idea to its essential core.
For example, what is the one insight that matters most? - Create the quickest proof of concept required to test its value, making compromises wherever you need.
For example, rather than fitting a model, ask yourself what business rules can get you 80% of the way there. - Gain feedback by presenting the proof of concept to stakeholders.
This can be as simple as an email or a conversation at their desk. - Repeat, building out the idea a little more each time based on everything you
learned.
With each iteration, your idea will expand and the value will ultimately flow.
This week, I challenge you to pick one idea from your own backlog and give the rapid iteration approach a go. Spend 30 minutes per day for the next five days and see what
you can achieve.
How much value can you create from just 30 minutes every day?
Talk again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes.
