The Analytic Obstacles Of Alice In Borderland

Constraints, Poor Expectations, Trade Offs, Order Of Operations, and Feedback Loops

Netflix describes their 2020 Anime adaptation as “An aimless gamer and his two friends find themselves in a parallel Tokyo, where they’re forced to compete in a series of sadistic games to survive.” I would call it “just another day in the world of data & analytics” … metaphorically speaking, of course.

The games of Alice In Borderland are one of the primary plot points. Many games are shown in Season One’s first eight episodes. They are associated with playing deck cards with each suit representing a theme and the number representing the difficulty. We are going to focus on five of the more prominent games because the solution to each represents a very dangerous obstacle in analytics.

Constraints

The first game we are introduced to is simple enough. Pick a door, any door. Actually, there are only two. One door leads to a new room, the other to instant death. Looking for a clue in each room to help? Don’t bother. The answer here is in the constraints.

Often the biggest obstacle or analytic challenge comes from outside the system in the form of constraints. Timeliness, cost, security, and legal restrictions are all examples of outside constraints that may force how an analytst need to approach a problem. Occassionally, like in Alice In Borderland, it is possible that constraints could save the day.

Poor Expectations

In a later game, our aimless gamer and his friends put themselves through a tremendous amount of extra work. Why? Assumptions, poor expectations. They are synonymous.

Analysts often suffer from poor expectations. The work they do does not align to the expected outcome. In our netflix series, the protagonists misjudge the game. They spend a huge amount of time trying to distance themselves from what turns out to actually be the goal. All of it caused by poor assumptions and a rush to judgement. Analysts can add weak communication skills and requirements gathering to this one.

Trade Offs

Trade Offs are difficult for everyone. In Alice In Borderland, that couldn’t possibly be more true. Our friends are forced to make some bitter decisions and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Trade Offs in analytics are thankfully more metaphorical. Death is rarely on the line, but time, money, and resources very well may be. Analysts might also find themselves in a situation where sacrifice is required. Finding a win-win might not be possible.

Order Of Operations

Another powerful obstacle to success and speed of execution is the order of operations. The way we sequence things can impact our ability to deliver. In AIB, it is, of course, a matter of life and death. To add a little flair, the story adds a more experienced game player actually standing back to see if our would-be gamer can sequence things well.

As I have written often, analytics is iterative and often recursive. Sequencing your work can often be subjective … until it isn’t. In some situations, the order you choose to attack a situation can be the difference between failure and success. Other times it is the difference between weeks and months of work to get to the answer. Experience helps, as do good mentors.

Feedback Loops

The last game and our last example is an obstacle few analysts properly understand. More and more, analysts are analyzing complex systems. These systems include a healthy dose of human behavior and with that comes feedback.

In the final game, the contestants find themselves in a situation of their own creation. Based on the rules of the game, no one truly had to die. But death runs rampant, specifically because the situation created a runaway feedback loop. Simple insinuations, perspectives, and some more poor expectation setting leads to chaos.

Analysts would be wise to recognize situations like this, even if they are very diificult to understand or control. More and more, feedback loops are important to the operation of complex systems. Whether we take that example from Alice in Borderland or look to examples like the Gamestop stock saga — the examples are plentiful … and often relate to gamers.

Enjoy Alice In Borderland for the thoughtful storyline it is. Play along. But also see that you recognize the examples it provides about some of the most obstinant challenges of analytics. Thanks for reading!