Perhaps a struggle that I don't see mentioned as often, but what are the steps/mindset people find most helpful when you first receive client data, especially when it's messy and/or incomplete?

I seem to always get a little bit overwhelmed especially when there's 20+ columns and millions of rows....

Any best practices? Appreciate any insight - thank you!

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I find it helpful to take a step back and ask what data do I need to make this decision? This is much different than saying how do I use this data given to me make a decision.

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I flick through it as if it’s not my project but something I’m just curious about. Ignore the numbers and only look at the type of data and what story they can tell, it doesn’t have to be a complete one, scroll through it once, then back again, then again and every time you’ll learn something new until it’s as familiar as your house.

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Claude > Flatfile > Pivot Table 🤝 Done

likesmart

Let me try to provide an answer in the form of a question.

You know the data is incomplete. How do you know this? Do you know it on an emotional basis or a logical basis?

Assuming your answer is logical, you know what your gaps are and you know what you have to re-request assuming that it exists and can be provided.

***

If the data is messy, and you don’t like it, you’re in the wrong line of work. It’s literally your job to bring order out of chaos or find the needle(s) in the haystack.

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20 columns? Only a few million rows? My goodness, you must be one of those "management consultants" I hear so much about.

Meanwhile over the in the analytics world, we're taking on projects with thousands of columns and (frankly the row counts don't matter much) billions of rows. And to understand it all, we're generously given one hour a day with the only dude who knows the source system schema (he's aloof and ready to retire), some comically outdated documentation, and a swift kick in the backside until it's done.

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One hour a day! I wish.

But seriously moving from data analytics pre MBA to MBB post, the whole data causing deer in the headlights, skipped right over that. I remember a manager asking, you don't by any chance know SQL and Tableau, do you..... man did I look like a rock star on that one 😂

uplifting

That is why consultants are hired. And that is why AI is taking over those jobs, if you find it overwhelming

EMs will be replaced by AI before consultants with technical skills

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