Changing Analytic Technology — A Lesson From Spider-Man
Episode V — Superhero Lessons In Analytics, Season 2
Most fans and critics were quite happy with the latest rendition of our “friendly neighborhood spiderman”. The Homecoming story line was in fact more local and neighborhood than most recent superhero offerings.
Of course, NYC is a little less neighborhood of a locale then many others and the Marvel Universe addition of a now eight year old alien invasion, changes things a bit, too.
Spider-Man Often Relies On Super Intuit — Not This Time
Through comics, cartoons, and prior movie series — we are all familiar with “Spidey sense”. It is an ability granted Peter Parker along with his other spider-like abilities. Emphasis put on like… do spider intuit?
Homecoming did not mention spider sense. While one might wonder if it was simply overlooked, the running theme of Peter learning he didn’t need the suit sure makes that unlikely.
Intuition is a way many people make decisions or become aware of certain events or factors. If you happen to have radioactive spider enhanced intuition, this might work pretty well. Otherwise, the analytic process tends to work much better — though rarely faster.
Instead — The Super Suit
We will dedicate an entire article in this series to Stark Industries Tech. For now, let’s focus on the suit that Tony provides to Peter.
While the suit is chock full of gadgets like parachutes, instant kill mode, and taser web — it is the intelligence gathering and processing components of the suit that are most helpful. The suit has a near limitless capability to spawn drones and trackers. That doesn’t even touch on the bandwidth and storage needed for endless data and video storage.
Classic Spidey employed a lot of thought bubbles… remember Electric Company? Homecoming Spidey has Karen, Peter’s own Siri-style AI. Except when he doesn’t, in which case he has cell phones. They even substitute for tracking devices when needed.
To be honest, Peter really delegates most of the analytics to others. When he is not utilizing Karen and his on board computing, he outsources to Ned, his resourceful sidekick and childhood friend. This might disappoint those who remember Peter as a super-scientist even before his encounter with the radioactive bug. But then, analytics often requires a team.
While Teams Are Important, So Is Technology
Of course, the heart of the Homecoming story line is technology… and lots of it! Technology is both inspirational and important for any analyst, but Homecoming adds a twist. Most of Adrian Toomes’ (Vulture/Keaton) tech is alien. This requires any number of characters in the film to engage in a tremendous amount of testing and experimentation. All analysts can appreciate that.
Long time and hardcore Spider-Man fans may take issue with some of these changes, but as an analyst you can at least appreciate them. In a world of Superheroes, Super Villains, and Super Tech — there is pretty strong justification to employ Super Tools for analytics. An unlike most budget strapped analytics organizations, Peter has Stark to foot the bill.
Thanks for reading!
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