This week’s reading (Provost & Foster CH 1, Data Analytic Thinking) introduces the concept of data-driven decision making. Let’s put this concept to work in a hypothetical scenario that you may find yourself in as a manager.
Imagine that you were managing a team at Apple tasked with identifying a target market for a new product – the iRing, a wearable fitness/sleep tracker that fits on a finger. How might you go about collecting data to guide your decisions? How might you balance that data with other influencing factors (e.g. historical precedent, “gut feelings”, etc.)?