Slides from a Brighttalk given 09-10-15. Problem-first thinking, what's actually exciting about Big Data, and how to get there. Video is here: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/9059/169665

1. Leveraging
Unusual Data
Sources
Brian Lange, Data Scientist at

3. (our) 6 qualities of a great data scientist
1. Statistical thinking
2. Technical acumen
3. Multi-modal communication skills
4. Curiosity
5. Creativity
6. Grit

4. (our) 6 qualities of a great data scientist
1. Statistical thinking
2. Technical acumen
3. Multi-modal communication skills
4. Curiosity
5. Creativity
6. Grit

5. Why think
outside the box?

6. What’s exciting about
“Big Data”?

7. thanks for the graph, Mike Stringer

8. taking a quantified approach
where one was not previously
possible is where the greatest
gains get made

9. an example

10. This is Kathie.

11. P&G has thousands of
researchers & engineers
across the globe

12. Kathie's job is to
help them work
together.

13. WE BUILT KATHIE A PEOPLE
SEARCH ENGINE
Solution 1: “expert finder”

14. Japan
UK
USA
Japan
U
K
U
SA
Solution 2: strategic dataviz

15. Japan
UK
USA
Japan
U
K
U
SA
vs. expected
collaboration rate
0%
15%
-15%

16. Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Author: Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up
documents. It has a long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in
digital millennium for typesetting electronic documents, page designs, etc.
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an
ancient Latin book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem
Ipsum’s words have been changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some
text rather than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they
contain proper English words and sentences almost every reader will
deliberately try to interpret it eventually, missing the design itself.
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and
punctuation or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s
what Lorem Ipsum helps to achieve.
I would like to thank Peppermint Patty for her support on studying Lorem
Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of Linus van Pelt and his willingness to
use his blanket in my experiments.
Both of these
are powered
by data
derived from
employee
reports.

17. determine authorship
+ publish date
Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Author: Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up
documents. It has a long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in
digital millennium for typesetting electronic documents, page designs, etc.
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an
ancient Latin book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem
Ipsum’s words have been changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some
text rather than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they
contain proper English words and sentences almost every reader will
deliberately try to interpret it eventually, missing the design itself.
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and
punctuation or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s
what Lorem Ipsum helps to achieve.
I would like to thank Peppermint Patty for her support on studying Lorem
Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of Linus van Pelt and his willingness to
use his blanket in my experiments.

18. determine authorship
+ publish date
Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Author: Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up
documents. It has a long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in
digital millennium for typesetting electronic documents, page designs, etc.
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an
ancient Latin book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem
Ipsum’s words have been changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some
text rather than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they
contain proper English words and sentences almost every reader will
deliberately try to interpret it eventually, missing the design itself.
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and
punctuation or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s
what Lorem Ipsum helps to achieve.
I would like to thank Peppermint Pattyfor her
support on studying Lorem Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of
Linus van Peltand his willingness to use his blanket in
my experiments.
find citations +
mentions of other
employees

19. determine authorship
+ publish date
find citations +
mentions of other
employees
Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Author: Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up
documents. It has a long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in
digital millennium for typesetting electronic documents, page designs, etc.
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an
ancient Latin book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem
Ipsum’s words have been changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some
text rather than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they
contain proper English words and sentences almost every reader will
deliberately try to interpret it eventually, missing the design itself.
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and
punctuation or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s
what Lorem Ipsum helps to achieve.
I would like to thank Peppermint Pattyfor her
support on studying Lorem Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of
Linus van Peltand his willingness to use his blanket in
my experiments.
determine subject
matter using
Wikipedia
plastics, sustainability, 3d printing

20. How do you come up
with this stuff?

21. 1. define a business problem to solve

22. If you had 1,000
interns, what
would you have
them do?

23. 1. define a business problem to solve
2. explore potential solutions

24. start lo-fi

25. refine as the needs clarify

27. 1. define a business problem to solve
2. explore potential solutions
3. go hunting for data to support the solution
you’ve narrowed on

28. 1. define a business problem to solve
2. explore potential solutions
3. go hunting for data to support the solution
you’ve narrowed on

29. 1. define a business problem to solve
2. explore potential solutions
3. go hunting for data to support the solution
you’ve narrowed on

30. inspirational
kernels of
wisdom
time

31. the place you work
has problems
that data has never touched

32. reportsoffice sensors public APIs
civic/census dataoffice network usage
social media project management tools
sensors in your products server logsCRMs
enthusiast forumsjob applications
email activity surveyscalendar data

33. superheroes

34. superheroes

35. managers:
set up your team to be capable
of taking advantage of unusual
data sources

36. choose tools that are
adaptable, and have
"good I/O"

37. choose people that are creative.
get them up close and personal
with the real business
problems

38. thanks!
@bjlange
datascope.co/team/brian-lange