Becoming a Data Head

CHAPTER 15What's Next?

“One learns from books and example only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things.”

—Frank Herbert, American author

To ensure your success, this brief chapter aims to give you what you need as you start the next phase of your learning journey: being a Data Head.

A Data Head is someone who:

• Thinks statistically and understands the role variation plays in their life and decision making.
• Is data literate—speaks intelligently and asks the right questions about the statistics and results they encounter in the workplace.
• Understands what's really going on with machine learning, text analytics, deep learning, and artificial intelligence.
• Avoids common pitfalls when working with and interpreting data.

In other words, a Data Head is someone like you.

To be an effective Data Head, you'll need to become a person who uses data to drive change within your organization. Your authors hope this book has provided enough scenarios for you to consider. But remember, your authors haven't experienced everything, and some of the examples were deliberately trivial to fit into this book. The real world is much more complex. And using data to change the world sounds good in a book, but it's a lot harder to do in practice.

If you feel motivated by this book, we humbly thank you. But the real work has just begun. These important ideas will have nowhere to go if you don't help us spread the word.

Here are some things you can do:

• Create ...