Things I learnt about #data this week

Its been a long week, this week; but an exciting one as I have focused mainly on data. (The new day job for good reasons means less time on data… and thus blog posts.)

However I thought i’d share some of the interesting things I picked up, remembered and shared this week.

1 – Measurecamp Newcastle

Measurecamp Newcastle

So glad to be at a measurecamp again, this one up north in Newcastle. For those of you who don’t know, measurecamp (any of them, there are several around the globe) is…

an unconference, with the schedule created on the day and speakers are your fellow attendees.  Everyone is encouraged to discuss and participate in sessions, even to lead sessions themselves. You focus on what YOU find most interesting and useful.

One session, with some top folk Drew Forster (Lynchpin), Peter O’Neill (Measurecamp creator), Paul Cook, discussed “Measurement strategy vs just tag everything!” especially as several providers now have solutions to automate tracking/ tagging. Upshot is; there is a happy medium that we “analysts” can implement; that being a set of GTM containers (tags, triggers and variables) to share that covers the basics; scroll, downloads etc etc. Implementing this quickly gets you 80% of data whilst the measurement strategy is defined by senior management (the final 20%). Await this space.

2 – Dashboards

LJMU test poster dashboard

With out saying; a good dashboard (or collection of them) is one that provides insights and generates action. Whilst it’s taken time, @LJMUDigital are now in the latter stages in their delivery. Whilst the data is the same we can quickly create poster and top line hard copies and publish online versions. The snippet above is an example of the poster version showing the goal, simple definition, trend movement all of which is easily digestible be that a dev, designer, researcher or management.

One tip, even if you cant get the data (or have a block in getting the data) put the goal down and explain why it is 0%. This will help remove the block.

3 – Manage resources with data

Resource allocation example

Something I learnt in my last role (NICE), but to combat the almost daily conflicts in resource management within teams, use your data to aid your superiors/ steering groups/ project boards etc in allocating resources. With access to backlog data (priorities vs time in the backlog) people can see what bottlenecks you have and where to spend the teams time. Throw into that Business as usual (BAU) support ticket data (again priorities vs time in the help desk system) and upcoming projects so the monthly or quarterly allocation can be planned. Senior management will then focus on a collective goal, rather than their own individual request.

4- Communication

LJMU Blueprint – always learning always sharing

Finally, we are launching our Digital Services blueprint soon; which in a multitude of mediums will share and reinforce what LJMU Digital Services stands for (Data driven being one of them). We are not alone; GDS, Co-op, BBC, Shop Direct to name but a few, but we are all catalysts for change which at times makes others un-easy. Communication is key to learning, for collaboration and driving change so as well as “doing it” we are “saying it”. (I’ll be sharing it too!)