Building Analytics Teams: Harnessing analytics and artificial intelligence for business improvement

I highly recommend this book to anyone working in analytics. It explains very well the challenges and opportunity analytics team face. I was able to relate to my own experiences working as a manager in analytics, It gave me a better understanding of the issues at hand and practical recommendations to avoid, mitigate or conquer them.

John has struck a blow for analytics teams as critically important "know-how" units within the organization, and has show us a pathway for building the team from day 1!

I have been doing analytics directly for 3 years. When I saw a post from a senior pro I follow saying I wish I had this book 10 years ago, I bought this book. Add to that John has 30+ years in the biz, why wouldn't I want to kick start my knowledge and cut years off my learning curve? I cracked this book and have been devouring it; I'm not generally an avid reader but I can't put this book down.The tips herein aren't how to make a million dollars doing analytics; they're lots of subtle tweaks to avoid potholes and make those small improvements that will get your projects completed successfully and in less time. The running joke in the analytics and data science community is the crazy % of projects that don't see the light of day. This book will help you be part of the small % that make transformational impacts in your business.As someone with 15+ years in my industry but 3 directly in analytics and being close to the inner workings of IT, I'm learning so much about how to be a successful in the analytics space. Guess what, it's not much different from the business side but there are a definitely key differences dealing with IT and technology developers vs. business people.I am writing all over this book, noting key takeaways. I attached pictures of 2 sections that I like:1. There is so much opportunity to make a positive impact with analytics - show your value to the business and you'll have a never-ending stream of opportunity.2. People who excel in analytics are a little different from your average business person. Embrace that. We look at the world a little differently, question everything and usually have a "weird" idea that may or may not work. That's the value we bring.I can't stress enough how great this book is. I'm stopping here with my effusive praise so I can read the next chapter. Thanks John!

John Thompson’s Building Analytics Teams is the must read book of 2020 for any leader aiming to leverage data and analytics for bigger business impact. John combines his decades of expertise in this space, research, anecdotes from real world customers, and humor to make this an approachable and actionable read.A few of my favorite nuggets of wisdom:Orignal sin - putting advance analytics and AI in the technology department (and why analytics is so very different from other information systems projects)“Organizational change is gated by the amount of change individuals can understand and assimilate.” ... the most successful AI and analytics programs combine people change management in the planning.Bias, ethics, teaching the next generation to love data and analytics and to think critically about data in context

In a field as specialized as analytics, including visual and data science, you'd assume there would be unique demands on a leader or manager of that group, but there hadn't been a text to help with this...until now. As a data scientist who has been flexing my management and leadership skills and am wanting to integrate into my future career goals, this book has helped me to solidify a plan to move forward with these goals. From what to expect in the hiring process to stakeholder involvement and creating internal demand, this book has exactly what I needed to help me gain the confidence to do everything from talk to my current manager about expanding my leadership responsibilities to updating my hopes and dreams for my future career.Having watched John in action while working at Dell, it is neat to see how someone did exactly what they've written. What I thought was a nebulous and impossible-to-recreate process can actually be mapped out to help others in their paths forward. I'm grateful John took the time to share his experience with us and help those of us who want to build analytics teams, and how to be more effective from start to finish.