I read a post recently that got a lot of traction about what makes a good analytics specialist.

It was a longer post but it went like this;

1. Define the problem
2. Collect data
3. Clean Data
4. Setup Data for Reports
5. Create Dashboards

Yeah, that’s all useful stuff but I find the best analyst is the one who can do all that whilst realising his or her most important skill is communication.

You do all of that in order to communicate your findings simply in a language your business stakeholders understand.

You stop saying things like;

”235734 visits produced 1.3M page views this month which is a 10% increase”

And start saying things like;

”We spent €35,000 on ads to drive 10% more visitors to our landing pages resulting in €75,000 profit from goods sold. We also believe we can make €150K if you give us €45K for ads next month.”

The first statement might be true

But it leaves you with a “So what does that mean?” and “why is he telling me this I can see that from the dashboard?”

The second statement says “Woa! How the hell would you do that?” which leads to a conversation where you as the analyst are the rock star.

With the first statement you're like a programmer with no end product.

You've produced an application with no value.

You’re the person everyone thinks of as the dashboard nerd.

The second statement makes you a person of value.

The only difference? Communication.

You want your numbers to sing for you.

You want to be the rock star everyone thinks of when they want to improve the business you're in.

Once you figure that out you're Mick Jagger.