Oz Analytics

Not Dead (Yet)

Surviving information management.

Over recent months this blog has taken a back seat and I have been off doing other things. The holiday is over and I'm back.

My first post-sabbatical contribution is a presentation to IAPA (the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia) that I delivered last week. It's all about what it is that I do as an information manager in a large corporation. It's also more of a personal 'survival guide' than deep insight but the feedback from the audience seemed to be good.

  Open the 2012 Analytics Survival Guide

Let me know what you think - especially anything about your personal information management strategy. Does anyone out there use OpenCalais?

I also recommend that you check-out IAPA (if you haven't already). They are doing good things for the profession and their meetings attract good, engaged crowds.

Day 5 Week 3 of the CORTEX MBAnalytics

You've almost made it to the end of week 3 - part of the 60 day information management refresher course from the CORTEX.

The CORTEX

Master of Business Analytics

Week 3, Day 5

Theme: Communication & Collaboration

Week 3, Friday

This week's themes are communication, and if you are listening and willing, a resulting collaboration. 

READ      Today's task:  Rethinking knowledge Work    300KB

30 minutes

McKinsey Quarterly 'Rethinking knowledge work: A strategic approach', Tom Davenport, president’s chair in information technology and management at Babson College, February 2011. Online here (registration required).

Key takeout: I have always found that striking the correct balance between freedom and control is one of the persistent tensions inherent when managing analysts in a corporate environment. Maybe this is also true in other analytic environments. In any event, this is the subject of Davenport's latest article - and once again he goes to the heart of the issue. He describes this tension and makes plain our choices. By necessity, this is only a high level discussion but for me it has delivered a strategic framework within which I have developed an actionable model of knowledge working that adapts to a wide range of analytic situations. I'm in danger of becoming a Davenport fanboy - and I'm nobody's groupie. So read it and let me know if I'm wrong.

Well, that's it for week 3. Have a good weekend and next week we checkout something a little different.

As always, comments, questions and ideas are all welcome. 

The MBAnalytics is just one part of the Business Intelligence CORTEX - a community of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Analytics and Project Management professionals in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Membership is free and the forums are very active with over 20,000 posts offering a uniquely Australasian viewpoint.

Day 3 Week 3 of the CORTEX MBAnalytics

Continuing week 3 - part of the 60 day information management refresher course from the CORTEX.

The CORTEX

Master of Business Analytics

Week 3, Day 3

Theme: Communication & Collaboration

Week 3, Wednesday

This week's themes are communication, and if you are listening and willing, a resulting collaboration. 

READ       Today's task:  Boosting the productivity of knowledge workers    3.3Mb

30 minutes

'Boosting the productivity of knowledge workers' by  Eric Matson, McKinsey

Consultant and Laurence Prusak, from the University of Southern California

Marshall School of Business, McKinsey Quarterly September 2010.

Key takeout: This considered piece concentrates on knowledge worker

interaction. To my surprise this is what knowledge workers do 50% of

their time and the central thesis of this article is that managers can best

concentrate their efforts "by identifying targeted productivity improvement

efforts to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of the interactions

between workers".

As always, comments, questions and ideas are all welcome. 

The MBAnalytics is just one part of the Business Intelligence CORTEX - a community of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Analytics and Project Management professionals in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Membership is free and the forums are very active with over 20,000 posts offering a uniquely Australasian viewpoint.

Day 1 Week 3 of the CORTEX MBAnalytics

Congratulations for reaching week 3 - part of the 60 day information management refresher course from the CORTEX.

The CORTEX

Master of Business Analytics

Week 3, Day 1

Theme: Communication & Collaboration

Week 3, Monday

This week's themes are communication, and if you are listening and willing, a resulting collaboration. 

WATCH    Today's task:   Google's Effects on Memory     80Mb

5 minutes. You can also stream it here.

PBS NewsHour 'Google's Effects on Memory' Psychologist Betsy Sparrow

interviewed by Hari Sreenivasan in 2011

Key takeout: The ability to retrieve information from the net has already

allowed us to move more of the 'burden' of memory from our brains and this

is reducing our ability to recall information without the net. It hadn't occurred

to me before reading this research but this is an important step towards the

singularity. 

READ       For extra credit:  Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips 

  300KB, 15 minutes

'Google Effects on Memory Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at

Our Fingertips', by Betsy Sparrow, Jenny Liu, and Daniel M. Wegner,

Science Express report, July 2011.

Key takeout: How does this impact the design of our collaboration, analytic and

business intelligence portals, etc.?

 

As always, comments, questions and ideas are all welcome. 

The MBAnalytics is just one part of the Business Intelligence CORTEX - a community of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Analytics and Project Management professionals in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Membership is free and the forums are very active with over 20,000 posts offering a uniquely Australasian viewpoint.

Day 5 Week 1 of the CORTEX MBAnalytics

Part of the 60 day information management refresher course from the CORTEX.

The CORTEX

Master of Business Analytics

Week 1, Day 5

Week 1, Friday

 LISTEN   Podcast:   Keeping_knowledge_workers_focused     6Mb

8 minutes

McKinsey Global Institute, 'Interview with Tom Davenport', by Frank Comis,

editor at McKinsey Publishing, January 2011.

Online (after free registration) here where you can stream the audio rather

than downloading it.

READ       For extra credit:   Rethinking Knowledge Work    150KB

30 minutes

McKinsey Quarterly, 'Rethinking Knowledge Work: A Strategic Approach,'

article by Tom Davenport, Babson College, January 2011.

Online here.

 
 Comments,questions and ideas are all welcome. 

The MBAnalytics is just one part of the Business Intelligence CORTEX - a community of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Analytics and Project Management professionals in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Membership is free and the forums are very active with over 20,000 posts offering a uniquely Australasian viewpoint.

See you on Monday for the start of week 2.