Why Analysts of America?
Because we want the 2020’s to be as productive as possible for everybody working to solve problems with data, not just those with the infrastructure and resources of larger commercial enterprises.
There is progress in the world of mission-driven data, to be certain — falling technology costs, a burgeoning and energized data for good movement, improved open source resources, expanding workforce and education options, to name a few. However, there exist major hurdles that make work in the space a uniquely Sisyphean task. These must be strategically and systemically addressed as well — the cost and availability of qualified people, a lack of necessary data fluency, culture, and structure within many organizations, the widening gulf between large commercial enterprises and mission-driven work, and the often-damaging gap between lofty expectations and the reality of implementation in constrained circumstances.
We’ll work to tackle these issues by:
● Talking to real people who work to solve problems with data, and discussing their backgrounds, motivations, successes, frustrations, vision for the future, and how they stay sharp in an ever-evolving field.
● Sharing these conversations with you weekly in concise, focused profiles.
● Synthesizing the main findings and key themes of profiles in short thought pieces.
● Questioning what we observe and Acknowledging we do not have all the answers.
● Engaging in open, constructive, honest conversation on what’s going on out there.
We’ll focus on the key themes of:
● Labor and Education — How the United States is educating, nurturing, and growing the labor necessary to meet the demands of the data sector — in quantity and skills. How we are creating a broader context for this work to be successful.
● Data as a Craft — History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. How the relatively nascent practice of applying data-driven-work at scale across organizations can learn from other disciplines to accelerate progress and achievement.
● Right-Sizing the Movement — We know that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Right-sizing aims to improve outcomes by intimately understanding what’s fit and necessary — what role data should play in solving specific types of problems, and how people, process, and technology can be in sync with the demands of projects and organizations.
If you work with data (particularly mission-driven work), we hope this will inform you, entertain you, and remind you of the larger community to which you belong. If you make decisions that directly impact how your organization, grantee, city, country, state, etc., navigates this space, we hope this will give you useful perspective, and help make the best possible decisions.
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Thanks for tuning in.
