Automation or Customization? You Can’t Have It Both Ways

A data analysis article using pig lipstick and other animal beauty products

In business there is a classic “trilemma” if you will: Fast, Cheap, or Good — Pick Two. If your company’s name is Netflix, then you have the luxury of picking Fast and Good. For those with much shallower pockets, the choice is thus reduced to either Cheap and Fast or Cheap and Good. In the realm of data analytics, Cheap and Fast in practice translates to automation of reporting and workflows, while Cheap and Good manifests as manual, time-intensive processes requiring more hands-on human interaction at every step in order to ensure the utmost quality.

As the title of this article posits, You Cannot Have Both. Everyone needs to understand that Automation and Customization are mutually exclusive concepts. Automation necessarily involves setting things up so that the computer executes procedures that run in the background without anyone needing to lift a finger, except at the very most to click a button. Customization is the polar opposite. There are some things that only folks with boots on the ground would know, and their input and expert review is absolutely critical to validate and operationalize any data analysis output. As front-line workers are the end users of reports intended to improve…