Thinking about data in a scientific way is at the core of a successful analytics project that produces a competitive edge for the organization.  Yet, there are several reasons why analytics projects fail to create sound outcomes for an organization.

On Facebook people post something like:

Identify a word that starts and ends with the letter ‘r’

Almost always hundreds of users on this social media site immediately start answering this question.  Every now and then someone asks, “Why is this an important question?”  In this setting, if someone does ask this, he or she is considered a spoilsport.

Still, there is something extremely interesting happening here. Humans are wired, particularly by schooling, to answer questions without questioning the question. We see a problem and we need to solve it. This is a dangerous strategy for analytics projects.

Identification of the right business problem is at the core of successful analytics projects. Not every business problem is equality important, and many problems are not even worth putting any effort into. Always ask why the problem you are solving is important and don’t start your project until you have a satisfactory answer.