Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they put on the Stats-hat, and talk about Scatter Diagrams, and spotting correlations. Jed and Bob are committed to making this easy, and you might even learn how to use stats to make better management decisions.
Monday’s Tip: Get over your fear, and give it a try. Your stats prof was probably an idiot who made number far more intimidating than need be. It is possible to dive into your business numbers a bit without having your brain explode.
Tuesday’s Tip: Find something you suspect is correlated (positively or negatively). You intuitively may know that when something happens, there is a result effect of something else. Now follow up with some numbers to confirm your intuition.
Wednesday’s Tip: Gather some data. Go find some numbers that relate to what you trying to prove or disprove. Usually 20 or 30 data points will suffice, but if you have more, then use them.
Thursday’s Tip: Seek out someone who is good at Excel. Every one knows someone who gets around a spreadsheet well. Ask for 10 minutes of that person’s time.
Friday’s Tip: Do something about what you learn. You analysis may confirm what you already thought, or refute it. Either way, figure out how your analysis can influence the business decisions you make.