Checking In!

April 1, 2014

Greetings!

I come to you from the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, NV on this, day 2 of the Gart.ner Busine.ss Intel.ligence and Analy.tics Summit!

Interesting information during the sessions. I am admittedly a skeptic when it comes to most “Big Data” initiatives, not because I don’t recognize the value in the data, but more because it’s almost never used in a productive way. (And because the UI of these tools is often atrocious)

Also, to many of the evangelists here, autonomous decision making using this data is being touted as a positive benefit rather than side eye worthy.

For me as UX person, such things are NOT good…we use statistics as A source of information in decision making, not THE source, mostly because often times, there are outlying information sources that a computer won’t know about that could throw the whole idea.

Also I feel like exposure to huge data sources could be overwhelming…how do people know what to look for really? Having too many choices is often paralyzing.

There’s a way to do this right, but I feel like the technology is moving faster than the organizational infrastructure changes necessary to get real benefits out of the opportunities Big Data brings…

But still interesting to sit around poking holes in things.

Some interesting info :

That last one is especially important for people to pay attention to. Think about whether or not your job can be done by a computer because like it or not, automation is going to be king very soon and you might find yourself downsized…

I especially like the demos of the analytics visualization software…they keep saying things like “usability” or “improved use experience” while not really knowing with either means.

To me it’s not usable really if you need to have specialized knowledge to use it. The problem in all the software is that they don’t address that many if not most users don’t know how to create stories using their powerful software….

Like when do you use a pie chart or a line graph or a table?

What would tell the most powerful story?

What should be included on a dashboard for the different audiences?

There’s a whole underlying science behind the design of these artifacts…and that’s where there’s a HUGE disconnect.

I actually walked out of one demo, because it was so irritating…marketing guy throwing around buzz words they didn’t really know the meaning of…I’d stopped by their table in the showcase yesterday too and started asking technical questions…their faces went blank.

Dudes…you’re at a technical conference…why don’t you have technical people here representing your company?

Booooo!

So…yeah…

I’m holding out hope for one company. They touted “Ease of Use” and “Design & User Experience” in their literature…and their materials are written from a user-centered point of view.

Their demo is this afternoon.

Time will reveal…

In other news, Vegas as a city has been okay.

It strikes me as a bit tacky, but still seems fun if you’re with the right people! It’s like an Adult Disney Worl.d!

Mostly keeping to conference events for the most part so far. Went to a Micr.osoft/SAP party last night.

Might hang with company and client leadership tonight.

Then one more day of conferencing before heading home for the Gambino concert back in Atlanta on Thursday (though he’s sick according to an interview he did earlier…)

And then it’s off to Detroit for my sister’s Bridal Shower

I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday…I’m already exhausted!

Other stuff :

Swag from Clou.dera