Chapter 1 Vision of Actionable Intelligence
Key Points and Questions
- For intelligence to have value it must deliver answers in time to make a difference to business outcomes.
- The availability of big data is not an immediate way to improve your business.
- Before jumping to statistical packages and hiring data scientists, make sure business leaders have visibility into the intelligence you already have in hand.
- Statistical models that are missing large sets of data and don't include influencing data never predict the future; they can be used only to neatly outline past mistakes.
According to Chinese folklore, around 170 A.D., China's Han Dynasty was very weak. As a result, lawlessness and corruption were rampant throughout the land. One man, Liu Bei, and his friends swore to bring peace to the land by unifying the country and reestablishing the emperor. This task proved to be difficult, so they turned to an adviser renowned for his wisdom, Zhuge Liang. Together, they set out on an expedition to create an alliance with a general named Zhou Yu, who controlled one-third of China. But Zhou Yu, knowing that Zhuge Liang was critical to the success of his enemies, sought to trick him into taking on an impossible task as a way to prove loyalty to the proposed alliance. The true purpose was to trick Zhuge Liang into unwillingly signing up for his own death.
The task was to create 100,000 arrows in 10 days or face execution by General Zhou Yu. One hundred thousand arrows in 10 days sounds ...
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