‘Forty screws and an Allen wrench’. That is my new anecdote, or is it a euphemism, for a problem that is too f***ing impossible to solve.
‘Hmmm, that’s random,’ you say. Let me clarify. That is the first thing I encountered when I unboxed my new, L-shaped desk. I knew there would be some assembly required. I just didn’t realize the amount of assembly that there would be.
Often in analytics, this is the case, too. There is a problem that seems pretty straightforward. But then when you ‘unbox’ it, it seems unsermountable.
I’m not saying I can solve all the worlds analytics problems. What I can do is give you the process I used to overcome my forty screws and an Allen wrench problem.
1 – Unbox (unpack) it to see what the reality is
2 – Look for guidance on solving the problem (e.g. ‘read’ the user manual which had no words, only 5 pictures of the desk in various states of assembly)
3 – Realize you are going to have to figure it out on your own
4 – Take your best shot at it
5 – Realize you did it wrong and disassemble what is not working
6 – Figure out how to fix it and make it right
7 – Sit at your desk and proudly acknowledge you did it!
