Blogs

WiA Quarterly Meeting Topic - Tackling Mental Health Using Data

By Barbara Kalicki posted 01-12-2023
Be the first person to like this.
Join the Women in Analytics quarterly meetings for 2023, held on the 3rd Thursday of every third month. T o accommodate time zones and busy work schedules, we are offering two meeting times – 12 pm or 4 pm EST! REGISTER HERE . The Women in Analytics committee first quarterly meeting will be presented by Kaitlin Bustos on Tackling Mental Health Using Data. Kaitlin created this post to provide a preview of her presentation and the topics she will discuss: 1 in every 8 people in the world lives with a mental disorder (1). The prevalence of mental health problems is high, and over time these numbers have remained relatively constant. Is it time ...
0 comments

Passing the Torch to the New DAA Women in Analytics Chair

By Barbara Kalicki posted 01-10-2023
Be the first person to like this.
For the past few years, Sharon Flynn has done an amazing job as the Chair of DAA Women in Analytics. She has guided the ship and provided great resources like our WiA Mural Board activity, the WiA Survey, and programming that aligns with the WiA mission of education in mentoring, advocacy and soft skills. The WiA Steering committee brought some great content to align with this mission in 2022 including, Navigating Toxic Workplaces, GA4 Implementation Workshop and identifying good places to work that promote women in tech and women's group speakers. As Sharon continues her DAA Board position, she has decided to pass the torch on to new leadership ...
0 comments

#BreakTheStigma - May is Mental Health Awareness Month

By Alvaro Rivera posted 05-02-2022
1 person likes this.
#BreakTheStigma - May is Mental Health Awareness Month Introduction: Mental health in Tech Fostering mental wellness for employees in tech companies benefits everyone including clients. However, it’s not an easy task to check off. Mental health is something that needs to be worked on constantly. Creating a safe space where employees feel comfortable, connected, and engaged takes work but the results can be very rewarding for clients and the entire organization. Riley's Awakening It was 3 am during one summer night when Riley couldn’t sleep and realized this situation had lasted for 48 hrs. This happened before #Covid and #GreatResignation ...
0 comments

History and Forming of the DAA Implementation Task Force

By Garrett Mark Scott posted 03-14-2022
2 people like this.
This article is written to serve as a documentation of the implementation journey our members have been on and serves as a testament of the DAA DNA. Any member in our organization can make a difference and rise as an organic leader. Our Implementation Task Force Recruitment Form . Authors: June 2019 - Present Garrett Mark Scott November 2021 This was a big month! We had our first official election following our group's bylaws ! From this point on, operations of this task force can live sustainably through our volunteers by following our Governing Rules of the Implementation Task ...
0 comments

What lies ahead? Musings of a digital (analytics) native

By Ashmita Saha posted 02-24-2022
2 people like this.
There is never a dull moment for digital natives. This ever-changing landscape of seismic market shifts, new technologies and a dramatically accelerated pace of movement holds us forever on our toes; grey (and ‘greying’) cells actively trying to consume and understand our surrounding dynamics. Standing at the second month of circa 2022, perhaps it is not too late for a flashback of the last 20 years in digital analytics to gauge just how far we have come…and where on earth are we headed? The 2000-s: Processing raw log files and elementary website tagging Back then, we were using the basement of a residential building in north India, as ...
0 comments

Guest Blog: Classic Marketing Methods That Your Business Should Be Using

By Erin Lambertz posted 01-18-2022
1 person likes this.
As technology has continued to advance, many classic marketing methods have started to go the way of the dodo. We’re here to tell you that they shouldn’t go extinct just yet. There are quite a few traditional marketing methods that your business should be using that still work. Don’t believe us? Keep reading. These classic marketing methods below can make a huge difference for your business. Why Should My Business Use These Techniques? Well, to put it simply, marketing your business is something that should always be changing. To keep your business at the top, you need to constantly rethink your marketing strategies. The market is always changing, and your ...
2 comments

2022 State of the Association

By Kimberly Mosley posted 01-07-2022
1 person likes this.
Happy New Year! It is 2022, and here we are - ringing in the new year and taking a few minutes to reflect on the old. At this time last year, with the release of vaccines and reopening of businesses, we thought 2021 would be a return to something close to normal. But the virus would not cooperate with our plans. Instead, we learned a few new Greek letters and about vaccination/booster/infection ratios. It has been a strange year to say the least. The only ‘normal’ of 2021 was digital. We are more connected through digital experiences than ever. We have developed an acceptance - an uneasy comfort - with digital connections for business and personal use. Even ...
1 comment

Build Remote Culture with Purpose - Tactical Leadership Advice

By Garrett Mark Scott posted 09-30-2021
1 person likes this.
The General Problem While working in remote conditions, many interactions with co-workers can feel very transactional. This is not terrible, but far from inspiring. The casual water cooler talks don't happen anymore, and many people are burnt out from the “Team Social Hour" meetings. We have all had at least one of those well-intentioned meetings that wound up feeling more like an awkward middle-school prom night where nobody really knows what to say. We address this by making positive collisions happen with a purpose. Even the water coolers have a purpose; to get some water! An entire, $350 million privately funded city - the Downtown Project ...
1 comment

Leading Through a New Kind of Burnout

By Kimberly Mosley posted 09-13-2021
2 people like this.
You’ve made it through the summer, maybe had a chance to use some vacation time, and now you’re ready to tackle a busy fall feeling calm and refreshed, right? Well maybe? There’s a good chance you aren’t as relaxed these days as you might like. Nor is your staff. A May 2020 report by the project management technology firm Asana found that 89 percent of U.S. workers experienced burnout at least once in the past year. And that was before COVID-19 hit full swing. Now, with a whole new array of stressors—remote-work arrangements that challenge work-life balance, Zoom fatigue, anxiety over the virus itself—the idea of what it means to look after your staff’s well-being ...
2 comments

Building the DAA Membership Database

By Rachel Wright posted 09-07-2021
Be the first person to like this.
Our Member Profile has been updated with a few questions on member demographics. These will not be part of your public profile, but will be analyzed in aggregate. If you haven’t yet, please update your profile by clicking the "Update Now" button and scrolling down to "Additional Information" for the new questions. For more information about how and why we decided to ask these questions, please read on! Why We Ask Digital Analytics Association is committed to eradicating racism by harnessing data and the passion of our community. As part of that effort, the DAA Anti-Racism Task Force is working to address inclusivity and diversity within the ...
0 comments

Learning to Lead: A Personal Experience That Put My Emerging Skills to the Test

By Garrett Mark Scott posted 09-06-2021
1 person likes this.
The Request for Some Simple Tracking In my current role I manage analytics implementations for the United States division of an enterprise company. We had a request to implement tracking on 2 popups that appeared on the homepage of two seperate websites. In my mind, this should of been a piece of cake for our team. I told the reporting teams requesting this that it was no problem and I'll be in touch with them in the near future. One week turned into two, then three, then I moved from patient to frustrated. The 3 Weeks of Back and Forth My team and I had a good amount of back and forth in our comment thread over the weeks regarding this implementation. ...
2 comments

Turning Common Website Analytics Issues into Measurement Opportunities

By Brian Keefe posted 09-03-2021
1 person likes this.
Turning Common Website Analytics Issues into Measurement Opportunities I am just going to come out and say it: collecting website analytics data can be intimidating. It requires a level of technical know-how to implement, training to configure correctly, and experience to analyze. Platforms like Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics collect massive amounts of data, and it is tricky to figure out not just what to focus on, but what all this data means for your bottom line. It is super common for projects to have some bumps in the road when setting up their analytics or begin analyzing their data, but not every mistake leads to catastrophe. On the contrary, ...
0 comments

Seven IT Hiring Trends For the Year Ahead

By Kimberly Mosley posted 08-12-2021
Be the first person to like this.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every industry, fundamentally altering the way most organizations conduct daily business — and that includes how we recruit, hire, and retain IT talent. Robert Half Technology surveyed more than 2,800 senior managers in the US to gauge the hiring and salary trends for 2021 as companies continue to contend with the pandemic, the resulting rise of remote work, and the need to fill key technical roles at a distance. From Robert Half’s report, it appears that many COVID quick fixes are likely to stick around long after the pandemic subsides, with 74% of more than 1,000 workers surveyed in the US saying they “want to work ...
0 comments

Digital Analytics Leaders: It's Time for Less Tracking Code and More Insights

By Tom Arundel posted 08-05-2021
3 people like this.
A product manager, an analyst and an engineer walk into a bar. The product manager says, “I need insights fast.” The analyst says, “First, I need tracking requirements from the product manager so I can review them with the engineering and data QA teams.” The engineer says, “First, I need a drink, cause this is gonna take a while.” Does this scene ring a bell (maybe not the bar part)? With new approaches like Continuous Product Design , new digital products and features are releasing faster than ever. But what happens when data capture doesn’t keep pace? Slow data capture leads to slow insights! Let me share a couple of quick examples: ...
0 comments

Guest Blog: Big Data, Young Talent and the Future of Work

By Erin Lambertz posted 07-15-2021
1 person likes this.
Tammy Kim-Newman contributes another great piece for this month's guest blog series, with insight on big data and young talent, and what that could mean for your business. Big data means big business. As technology continues to advance, the need for data will only increase and impact the future of work. Between 2019 and 2025, as organizations conduct more business online and increasingly use social networks and mobile devices, the amount of data collected will triple . This will result in the need to invest in talent with the skills to handle data. Talent with mathematical skills like machine learning, data mining, natural language processing and statistics ...
0 comments

DAA Women in Analytics Needs YOU! Yes, You. You, Reading This Right Now.

By Sharon Flynn posted 06-28-2021
1 person likes this.
I am very proud to serve the DAA’s Women in Analytics community and greatly admire the contributions the members of this community have made. Recently we conducted a survey of members inviting input on the future direction of WiA, with the goal of reinvigorating the community while focusing on a few key initiatives. Results of the survey were presented at the April Quarterly call, followed by a discussion of next steps. Key themes that arose (not necessarily in order): "No lifestyle stuff” - loud and clear! Navigating your career, including identifying supportive employers (and red flags) Create safe/private/supportive forums for knowledge exchange ...
1 comment

Guest Blog: Tips For Writing Job Descriptions That Attract Next Generation Talent

By Erin Lambertz posted 06-17-2021
Be the first person to like this.
This month's guest blogger, Tammy Kim-Newman, focuses on how a job description can make all the difference in attracting the right talent. Read on for more... Attracting talent begins with your job posting. It’s how your company makes a first impression and needs to be great if you want to attract the right talent. Millennials and Generation Z are projected to make up 58% of the workforce by 2028 and what speaks to them is different from the past workforce. At the University of Waterloo, home to North America’s largest co-op program, we analyzed over 37,000 job descriptions posted on our recruitment platform. Based on our findings, here’s what you need to know ...
0 comments

The E.A.R.T.H Principle: How to Run an Enterprise Analytics Team with Less … and Stay Sane

By Sharon Flynn posted 06-11-2021
Be the first person to like this.
Recently, I worked for a large financial institution on the client side, leading a global enterprise-wide team that served 12 million customers and more than 46,000 employees. My team focused on digital analytics; there were other teams actively using digital data, but we were the digital data product owners. My team consisted of just seven people serving more than 900 direct users of the data. 2,000 dashboards and nearly 900 KPIs later, our team had an internal NPS score of 50 without doing overtime. How did we accomplish this? While leading that team, I developed the E.A.R.T.H acronym to meet two objectives: Successfully run an enterprise ...
0 comments

An Open Letter to Executives About Digital Analytics

By Adam Greco posted 05-25-2021
Be the first person to like this.
The following is a reprint of a blog post I published on the Search Discovery blog that seemed to resonate with a lot of folks... Dear Executives, My name is Adam Greco, and I have been in the digital analytics field for quite a while. Perhaps we follow one another, or maybe someone on your team has sent this post to you. I hope that you will read this entire note so you can help your team to help you. I get a little Jerry Maguire here because this is a topic I feel so passionately about. I want to help everyone get some things straight about what it takes to be data-driven when it comes to digital analytics. Everyone in the digital analytics ...
0 comments

Guest Blog: Workforce Trends to Watch in 2021

By Erin Lambertz posted 05-14-2021
Be the first person to like this.
Tammy Kim-Newman joins us again in this month's Guest Blogger Series for DAA with research from the University of Waterloo on 2021 workforce trends. The world of work is an ever-changing space and the changes that come with tackling global pandemic recovery mean new challenges for the workforce. As we begin to imagine what recovery will look like, we’ll see some pre-pandemic workforce trends remain or even intensify. Research from Waterloo’s Work-Learn Institute (WxL) highlights four key trends: 1) By 2028, Millennials and Gen Z will be more than half (58%) of the workforce Born between 1981 – 1996, Millennials are emerging leaders and an important ...
0 comments