With the holiday jams blasting, eggnog a-flowin’, and twinkly lights abound, it’s hard not to get into the spirit of the season. All the excitement has us a bit nostalgic, looking back on the year in data, but also forward at what’s to come - and setting our data resolutions, of course.
Making resolutions can be challenging, which is why we’ve come up some advice for how to best go about making them specifically when it comes to - of course - data. (Sorry, we can’t help you with the eat-healthy ones or the take-the-stairs-instead-of-the-elevator ones. You’re on your own there.)
Catch Up on the Data News
Before making your data resolutions, you’ll need to get up to speed on what all has been happening the past 12 months (hint: a lot) and what the experts are saying will trend in 2018 in the data ecosystem.
Think of it as a sort of benchmarking. To know where you can go next year, you have to know who has already done (and tried) what. Lucky for you, we’ve done some of that legwork already. Check out the Top 4 Data Science Trends to Watch in 2018 or the 2017 Data Year in Review, and 4 Data Realities You Can’t Ignore in 2018.
Honest Reflection
One of the reasons resolutions - of any kind - are hard is because they force us to take an honest look at where we’re at right now. Many companies, both large and small, call themselves data driven. But how many of those businesses are agile enough to make decisions based on real-time (or near real-time) data and pivot gracefully based on insights from that data? How many have made data easily and quickly accessible to everyone across the organization?
When thinking about 2018 goals when it comes to data, be honest about how you’re really using it now. That will allow your business to set realistic and attainable goals for putting organizational change in motion to become truly data driven.
Baby Steps
We’ve written before about what it takes to build a data team - it takes nurturing and gradual improvements, not sweeping top-down change. Similarly, making all of your data goals and dreams come true won’t happen all at once.
When setting your organization’s data resolutions for the new year, think small. What are some realistic improvements you can make in the next six to 12 months that will set you on the right course for attaining a more long-term goal?
Hopefully these small tips have given you some big (but not too big!) ideas about what kinds of data resolutions you can set for yourself, your team, or your company for 2018. Don’t forget to take a look at our special new year’s white paper for more ideas on what to keep an eye on within the data ecosystem in the new year.