Data-Driven Healthcare: How Analytics and BI are Transforming the Industry

For the Skimmers

I'm on an airplane right now, and there's a gentleman in front of me who is paging through a book, marking the pages that he wants to (presumably) go back to. It occurred to me that someone might do that with this book. Truth be told, I'm a skimmer. I love books; right now I have five on my bedside table and four on the floor next to it (the “read” pile). But certain titles encourage skimming more than others, and who am I to judge? So, for those of you in mind, here are the chapters quips, and outtakes that I think are the most useful to tune into. In reality, the whole book is great, chockfull of humor and insight, so if you're up for it, read the pages in between, too.

• In Chapter 1, read the section “Data Is a Four-Letter Word” to see how SWOTs can help you decide whether you want to move forward.
• Chapter 2 discusses “What Is ‘Data Driven,' and Why Does It Matter?”
• Also in Chapter 2, because it's the foundation for much of the content in the book, read the section titled “RISE.”
• All of Chapter 3 is important, but if you need to focus, start at “Data Is Your Asset—Manage It That Way.”
• Chapter 4 outlines the ways to leapfrog BI maturity; start at “Hadoop, the Cloud, and Modern Data Platforms” and then go back and read the rest.
• Chapter 5 is required reading.
• Chapter 6 talks about “big data”—a topic that is admittedly not on the top of my list, but check out the section titled “Evolve or Die.”
• Chapter 7 addresses the need to make data consumable; read the section ...