To outsource or not to outsource -- that is the question: Whether 'tis more efficient to tap The skills and talents of those who bill by the hour, Or to bring resources inside as full-time staff, And, by doing so, manage them. To contract, to outsource -- No more -- and by outsource to say we get Our insights and our implementation work Managed by others -- 'tis a scenario Devoutly to be wished. To contract, to outsource -- To outsource, perchance to analyze. Aye, there's the rub. Besides ignori...
Jun 07, 2016•44 min
If you're like most analysts, you've probably changed jobs since the last episode of this podcast hit your earbuds two weeks ago. Or, if you haven't actually changed jobs, then you've at least been hounded by recruiters who wish you would. No matter how you look at it, digital analysts have lots of opportunities to bounce between companies at a frequent pace, and many analysts do just that. On this episode, we talk with Dylan Lewis, who has been doing digital analytics at Intuit since before the...
May 24, 2016•49 min
Back by popular demand: attribution! This time, we brought in an adult on the subject: Jim Novo of The Drilling Down Project. A lot of questions get tackled in this episode: Should "gut feel" ever trump "the data?" Which is a better analogy for attribution: PV=nRT or the distillation of bourbon? Will this podcast *ever* have flawless audio quality? These questions and more definitively answered. All in under 52 minutes.
May 10, 2016•52 min
Are you a data scientist? Have you pondered whether you're really a growth hacker? Well...get over yourself! Picking up on a debate that started onstage at eMetrics, Michael, Jim, and Tim discuss whether a fundamental shift in the role (and requisite skills) of the web analyst are changing. You know, getting more "science-y" (if "science" is "more technical and more maths"). all in 2,852 seconds (each second of which can be pulled into R and used to build a predictive model showing the expected ...
Apr 26, 2016•48 min
I know what you're thinking: they're world-class podcasters when they hide behind editing tools and autotune, but can they do it LIVE? This special recording from the final keynote spot at eMetrics has the three amigos of insight taking questions from Twitter and a live audience. There was bourbon, Jim Sterne, and a disagreement over the future of the industry - all in under 45 minutes. So, turn up the volume (seriously...because the sound levels were low and we did the best we could with a shor...
Apr 12, 2016•44 min
You know what it's time we do? It's time we make analytics great again. How can we do that? With three guys who know about winning. Maybe not winning with real estate. Or with steaks. But winning with analytics. Are these three guys winners? Well, for the sake of 40 minutes of audio, let's say they are. And then we'll let you, the people, decide. Gratuitous pop culture references in this episode include: DJ Khaled, Larry David (on SNL), and Louis CK.
Mar 29, 2016•40 min
What is life but a series of questions? Does that question even make any sense? We'll never know, as this wasn't a question that got asked on this episode. Instead, Tom Miller , co-host of the Measured Direction podcast , joined us to give us a taste of the format of his show: user-submitted analytics questions asked and answered on the fly. What do you do when you lose a room of executives 15 minutes into your presentation? What does the future hold for digital analytics? Will we ever be able t...
Mar 15, 2016•43 min
We've got the technology. We've got the behavioral data. We've got the content (or at least tell ourselves we do). We're all set to develop personalized experiences that knock consumers socks off and leave them begging us to take their money. Is it really that simple? If it is, why aren't more companies realizing the dream of 1-to-1 marketing? Matt Gershoff joins us to discuss how the pieces of the personalization puzzle often don't quite fall into place like we wish they would. Matt's also writ...
Mar 01, 2016•52 min
As an analyst, it's never a good idea to make predictions without data. With that said, for our first predictions episode, we've chosen to make some big and small predictions for the digital analytics space for the remainder of 2016 -- using only experience and intuition! Join us in Episode 30 as we rely solely on intuition to predict the next 9 months of a multi-billion dollar industry - all in under 45 minutes. Note: Due to the lag between recording and release, our prediction during the episo...
Feb 16, 2016•47 min
Philosopher, poet, and essayist George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." We thought we'd have him on to reflect about the history of digital analytics...but he died in 1952. Ambrose Bierce wrote The Devil's Dictionary, which we think is brilliant, so we thought we would have him on...but he died in 1842! Lucky for us, we landed the best of both worlds with very-much-alive philosopher, poet, essayist, DAA founder and chairman, and eMetrics founder J...
Feb 02, 2016•52 min
Attribution is like a box of chocolates. It can be really expensive, or it can be really cheap. It requires making a lot of decisions as to how you actually want to consume it. It may leave you feeling ill! Join the guys for a 45-minute walk across the attribution landscape. And back. And back again. Because mama always said you shouldn't stop at the last click.
Jan 19, 2016•44 min
What better time to ask Big Questions about analytics than the start of a new year? In this episode, Gary Angel from EY joins us to talk just a little bit about his new book , and to talk a lot about digital transformation: what it means, what's holding large enterprises back, where digital analysts fit in the effort... and a whole-whole lot of thoughts and ideas that aren't nearly as lofty and nebulous as the first part of this description sounds! This is our longest show to date. It's a power ...
Jan 05, 2016•59 min
One year of shows. It was our initial Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and we did it. We hoped you had as much fun this year listening as we did recording, and we'd like to take a chance to reflect. Did we hit our initial KPIs (because of course we had them)? Did we have a favorite show? Is there something we'd like to do next year? Tune in and end 2015 by listening to a podcast about a podcast. We think our navels look awesome. Come gaze with us!
Dec 22, 2015•45 min
We had a hypothesis that our listeners might be interested in hearing an expert on digital optimization. In this episode we test that hypothesis. Listen and learn as Kelly Wortham from EY runs circles around the lads, and brings them to an understanding of what digital testing means in 2015. In an hour so optimized it only takes 45 minutes, it's 2015's penultimate episode of the Digital Analytics Power hour. People, places, and things mentioned in this episode include: Taguchi vs. Full Factorial...
Dec 08, 2015•45 min
Have you noticed that neither Michael, Jim, nor Tim are women? They did! But that didn't stop them from taking on the subject of women in digital analytics (with diversions into the subjects of women and scotch, and women in professional poker). Joining them for this episode (because they may be a little misguided at times, but they're not absolute morons) was Krista Seiden from Google. Krista is a notable woman in analytics...but that is the LAST way she ever wants to be described. Luckily, she...
Nov 24, 2015•46 min
From a sophisticated analysis of the names and timestamps of many of our commenters, we discovered something that surprised us: digital analytics is a profession that is practiced outside of North America! This fact blew our minds, but ,curious analytics types that we are, we set to work finding someone with whom we could chat about digital analytics in Europe...and found Matthias Bettag. Join us for 47 minutes (that's 47 minutes in metric) discussing the subject. People, places, and things refe...
Nov 10, 2015•47 min
It's hard enough keeping up with the times when digital analytics is exclusively Desktop/Mobile/Tablet devices. Now, what if we had to work with data that came from everything? Join us this episode where we lean heavily on the wisdom and experience of Intel 's David McBride , and talk about the Internet of Things, Measurement, and perhaps Millennials - all for the low low price of 50 minutes of your time. People, places, and things reference in this episode include: Kickstarter wearables project...
Oct 27, 2015•50 min
In this episode, we've simulated a lobby bar at the end of Adobe Summit, with Ben Gaines dropping by and everyone temporarily tapped out on talk of eVars, s.Props, derived metrics, and classifications for a bit. The result? A conversation that quickly turns to an adjacent passion of many digital analysts: sports analytics. Baseball, basketball, football, e-sports, the CFL, and even a fairly obscure game played on ice with a stick. Surprisingly, the discussion loops back to the parallels of sport...
Oct 13, 2015•38 min
Sometimes...well...MOST times...a lobby bar conversation starts on one topic and ends up somewhere entirely different. In this episode, our intrepid trio initially tackles the relationship between data and corporate creativity, and then veers off into a discussion of corporate culture and what that means for the modern digital analyst (a discussion that doth not apply to the medieval digital analyst!). To illustrate their own creativity, they show how a Power Hour can clock in at 38 minutes and ...
Sep 29, 2015•38 min
In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day (and by popular demand), we donned our eyepatches, poured ourselves a few tankards of grog, and commandeered the wisdom of Eric Goldsmith from TED (maybe you've seen one or two of their videos?) to explore the whats, whys, and hows of R. If we'd recorded this episode with Excel, it would have taken an hour, but, with R, we pulled it off in 42 minutes.
Sep 15, 2015•42 min
Have you been listening to the three of us and thinking "Man, if those guys can be digital analysts, ANYONE can?" You're not alone! In this week's episode, we share some tips and tricks for how to get started in the digital analytics space. We also share a lot of other random stuff, because, well, tangents. Learn how to position yourself to join the hottest field in the hottest space in this digital power hour, which we're calling an hour, but, just like that paper in which you had to widen the ...
Sep 01, 2015•43 min
They say a picture is worth a thousand terabytes of data (probably). If you are a regular listener of the podcast, you will know proper communication isn't our strongest suit, so we brought in a hitter. Lea Pica joins us in this episode to talk about communication best practices, and how they are even more important for an analyst than other roles in the organization. Got sixty minutes to listen and learn? We'll take it, and give you fifteen minutes back.
Aug 18, 2015•46 min
It's a nasty rumor, but we heard that there are a couple of domains out there on the interwebs that are not pure play eCommerce or online lead gen sites. Why, there are government sites and nonprofit sites and CPG sites and academic institution sites and content sites and more! What is a poor digital analyst to do in the absence of a clear online conversion to measure and optimize towards? Give this less-than-two-thirds-of-an-hour episode a listen to hear our multinational and ruggedly good look...
Aug 04, 2015•38 min
Scads has been written about the distinction between skills and talents. But, how does that distinction apply to digital analysts? In this episode, Jim and Tim actually find something they agree on...at least briefly. And Michael maneuvers Tim into at least partially buying into ideas that he has previously referred to as touchy-feely crap. With quotations being dropped from Thoreau to Gygax and business writers in between, you may find yourself questioning your chosen vocation by the end of thi...
Jul 21, 2015•44 min
It's not only the year of mobile...AGAIN, but it's the year of mobile measurement! While our intrepid hosts have all tagged an app or two in their day, they thought it would be entertaining to be joined by someone meek, unopinionated, and inexperienced in the world of mobile analytics who would sit back and tell them how wise they were. But, instead, they recruited Lee Isensee from Search Discovery. Displaying his Bostonian politeness with lines like, "I'm sorry to cut you off again Michael, but...
Jul 07, 2015•40 min
Can the media analyst and the web analyst get along? Can the chasm between clicks and visits every be crossed? Is attribution management the silver bullet that will, once and for all, accurately assign a value to banner ads? What the hell is Vizu? Can Michael use the word "whackadoo" in a coherent sentence? These questions and more get discussed and debated on this shockingly cordial episode of the Digital Analytics Power Hour that clocks in at 35 minutes.
Jun 23, 2015•34 min
Most people find the concept of governance about as interesting as an afternoon of quality control work at the beige paint factory. If you agree with this sentiment and are listening to this week's podcast, we hope to change your mind! With special guest John Lovett, Senior Partner at Web Analytics Demystified, Tim, Michael and Jim talk about what governance is for a digital analytics practice, why it's so darned important, and how anyone can get started. All of this AND a little poetry (really!...
Jun 09, 2015•45 min
Sure I like your theory guys, but I want to hear some stories from the trenches! Episode 11 is all about the anecdotes, with the guys sharing stories about work they've done as analysts that had the most impact. Whether from hard work or a moment of inspiration, big wins with analysis are sometimes few and far between Hear some great examples from Michael, Tim and Jim's personal experiences. What has 6 legs, three microphones and will make you a better analyst in 42 minutes? It's the Digital Ana...
May 26, 2015•39 min
Want to hear Jim Cain wing it for 40 minutes as he discusses a survey he never read? Interested in hearing Tim Wilson boil with incandescent rage as Jim triggers the Indiana Jones style pressure pads under his overpriced hotel snacks? Then this is the episode for you! Michael, Jim and Tim talk through the responses they found most interesting (VERY heavy use of that word in this episode) from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business's bi-annual CMO survey (cmosurvey.org).
May 12, 2015•35 min
If a report falls in the forest, and no one is there to read it, will it still lead to business improvements? Prepare for many more broken metaphors, super hero references and a surprising defense of the HiPPO in this week's Power Hour. Make sure to take lots of notes (unless you're driving) because we're covering a lot of ground in under 50 minutes.
Apr 28, 2015•38 min
