Analysis of "Data is Worthless if You Don’t Communicate It" by Thomas H. Davenport

1. DATA IS WORTHLESS
IF YOU DON’T
COMMUNICATE IT
BY T H O M A S H . D AV E N P O R T

2. THERE IS A PRESSING NEED FOR
MORE BUSINESS PEOPLE WHO
CAN THINK QUANTITATIVELY
AND MAKE DECISIONS BASED
ON DATA AND ANALYSIS

3. MANAGERS DO NOT
NEED TO BECOME

4. INSTEAD THEY NEED TO
BECOME BETTER
CONSUMERS OF DATA,
WITH A BETTER
APPRECIATION OF

5. THE TALE OF GREGOR MENDEL
• Although he discovered
the concept of genetic
inheritance, his ideas
were not adopted during
his lifetime because he
only published his
findings in an obscure
Moravian scientific
journal.

6. LESSON:
IF YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND
THE BETTER PART OF A
DECADE ON A RESEARCH
PROJECT, ALSO PUT SOME

7. DR. JOHN GOTTMAN, MARRIAGE SCIENTIST
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
• Gottman, working with a statistical colleague, developed a
“marriage equation” predicting how likely a marriage is to
last over the long term.
• The equation is based on a couple’s ratio of positive to
negative interactions during a fifteen minute conversation
on “difficult” topic such as money or in-laws.

8. • Gottman and his wife, Julie, founded a non-profit
research institute and a for-profit organization to
apply the results through books, DVDs,
and therapist training.
• They’ve influenced exponentially more marriages
through these outlets than they could possibly ever
have done in their own clinic

9. GEORGE ROUMELIOTIS RECOMMENDS A SIMPLE
FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATING ABOUT EACH
ANALYSIS:
• My understanding of the business problem
• How I will measure the business impact
• What data is available
• The initial solution hypothesis
• The solution
• The business impact of the solution

10. HOW IS ALL THIS RELEVANT TO A
MANAGER IN INDIA?

11. Most audiences neither
understand nor appreciate
details like statistical methods
used, regression coefficients, etc

12. THEY CARE ABOUT
RESULTS AND

13. TELL WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE
REALLY NEEDS TO KNOW

14. IT IS THE MANAGER’S JOB TO
COMMUNICATE.
NEVER MAKE THE MISTAKE
OF ASSUMING THAT THE
RESULTS WILL “SPEAK FOR

15. TELL A GOOD STORY WITH
YOUR DATA — STARTING
WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
BY HARSHIT SAHNI