Superhero Lessons in Analytics… Episode I
Speed and Teamwork — Lessons from The Flash
The CW series, The Flash, was its top rated show last season. Now in season two, it is among a half-dozen shows on TV that feature Superhero themes. It is unique however in its reliance on a team of scientists and analysts.
It begins with the main character, Barry Allen, who is the alter ego of the Flash. Barry is a police scientist who originally debuted on the CW series, The Arrow. Even before he became a superhero, he was an expert in the analysis of what the show now terms meta-humans.
Lesson I — Teamwork
A major theme of the show is teamwork. Barry has assembled a team of scientists, detectives, and journalists. While the show is based on Barry and his super speed, it is the interactions of this team of analysts and their recurring efforts to thwart super villain meta-humans that is the core of the show.
The writers actually go out of their way to emphasize the teamwork required to analyze and overcome adversity. They often stretch logic to be certain that the ideas and cooperation of the team will outweigh Barry’s speed in terms of solving the crisis of the week. While the emphasis is often on the emotion of their decision making, at least more so than any actual science, the story portrays the team as a set of super scientists.
The diversity of the team is also central to the story. It is played to the fullest. The team is racially diverse, professionally diverse, has varied age and gender, and also has a broad diversity in how each character makes major decisions. Barry’s team includes optimists and pessimists, planners and impulsive thinkers, and a range of morality that could only come from a superhero tv series.
Any real-world analytic team would benefit from understanding and modeling Barry’s team. Teamwork, diversity, cooperation, and even the emphasis put on research and decision making are all critical components for success. If it can stop evil meta-humans, just think what it should mean to your business.
Lesson II — Speed
The idea that speed is important to a TV series about The Flash is beyond obvious. What is more subtle is where the emphasis on speed often lies. Barry is amazingly fast by any fathomable definition. He literally defies time itself, but we will leave the time traveling stuff to the show.
But while Barry’s speed is a focus, so is the speed of the team and their research. The drama of the show is just as often driven by the timelines of their discoveries and their ongoing race against evil. While Barry is capable of reading fast and acting fast, his speed does not allow him to bend the laws of discovery and innovation.
Some of that has begun to change with the addition of time travel and the emergence of the Cisco character as a meta-human nicknamed Vibe, but the show’s writers are likely to temper just how far. Superhero fantasy is rarely so fantastic when all the drama can be surmounted with a simple super power or two. Just look how far the writers of Superman need to go just to invent a crisis…
Analytic teams are unlikely to have super powers to draw on or a speedster to try to keep up with. But today’s information society provides feedback faster than ever before, and the need for speed and iteration is strong. The Flash team sets an example through their leverage of tools, iteration, and time.
Both teamwork and speed are strong components in the success of any team. Enjoy the Flash for what it is, a fun and most light-hearted take on a comic book classic. But if you work in analytics, also take a little time to draw some inspiration from a super team with super timelines.
Read Episode II: History and Trust — Lessons from The Arrow
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