“Let’s collect all data we can, and we will fish for insights later.” Have you heard this before?
That approach seldom works. On rare occasions when it does work a little, the RoI is very low w.r.t. the cost of collecting, processing, and storing volumes of data.
Analytics yields better returns when you start with a goal.
Besides, not all analytics are equal. Fun stats are amusing. But actionable insights that can guide you to the next steps are way more valuable.
The Drivetrain Approach offers a systematic way to produce actionable insights. It has four steps:
- Define Objective: Start by defining your goal.
- Specify Levers: Specify the inputs that you control, the levers you can pull to influence the outcome.
- Collect Data: Figure out what data you need to collect for measuring the effect of pulling those levers.
- Identify Actions: Analyze data and build statistical models to compute which lever to move and how much to achieve the desired outcome.
This article will apply the Drivetrain approach to a problem: starting with a goal to collecting and analyzing data and identifying actions to achieve that goal.
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