The Great Analyst Series– The 9-pointers

What makes a great analyst? It’s a question that plagues every manager and every analyst who’s working in third party analytics organizations/teams. Less so in the case of captive teams, because the model works more on the lines of individual contributors rather than large managed teams, hence dramatically modifying the equations. Though some of these apply universally.

The adjectives I have heard fall in these categories –

1. Keep it error free. The first and the biggest. This one’s a killer. An analyst falls from being great to not so great in that one short span where a client or the manager’s detects an error. Especially, if its a client. Akin it to your confidence in betting your salary on your analysis. An interesting practice would be – Keep aside 100 bucks for every time an error is found on a file or an email that leaves your inbox/machine. Even if you did not create the file. Two errors is 200 bucks. Even if they are on the same email/file attachment. At the end of the week/month, see how much you’ve put in the kitty. Donate that money to a charity. Or, if you’re not keen on social stuff, then order sandwiches and samosas for the office. If you’re a good tracker, you might see yourself make more mistakes at 5:30 in the evening to start with (because you sent out an analysis too close to a client call or to the end of the day).
2. Plan and communicate. Managers struggle with the effort estimation done by their analysts. They’re never too sure if the buffer they’ve budgeted for is appropriate. So, it’s a trial and error process. You can make it easier for them and for yourself by planning, adding buffer, communicating the plan to the manager, and if you see a risk, communicating upfront about not just the delay, but also the reason for it and the planned remediation. It’s good to know that you’ve got it in control, even if there is a problem. My love for analysts with a solid personal project management method might be a bias, but I have always been wary of geniuses who do everything in their head. Maybe because I am not smart enough to reside in their head. But if I had to take a bet, I’d bet on most managers being as dumb as me.
3. Engage. An analyst that takes a task as given, and comes back with the output against that task is not a bad analyst. After all, the baseline expectations are met. But, when you’re discussing the top tier analysts, you’re focusing on the “exceeds expectations” kinds. And they engage more. With the engagement, with the team, with the problem and with the analysis. They come back with a checklist of having delivered on the task, and some more, and a few questions or ideas to develop it further. Sometimes, they come back with questions and ideas about why the earlier discussions/paths were not the best.
4. Question, but with a pause. Sometimes, you come across a glaring “situation”. And you want to question it. And you question it rightly. No problems. The point where it becomes a potential problem is when you question it too long. Sometimes, and rather most of the times, it’s a smarter move to demonstrate the problem you have with something tangible. So, if the analysis is flawed and the manager ain’t gettin’ it, then go ahead and do it the manager’s way first, show the reconciliation/ triangulation errors, propose an alternate, do it the alternate way, and show why your method is better. It’s a much easier conversation than telling the manager that they’ve got a few bolts missing. And you make your point, earn your brownie points (assuming you don’t offend the manager with your in-the-moment superiority complex). What definitely never works out (I have seen it true for at least some of the analysts I’ve worked with) is – I told you so!
5. Be visually delightful. Don’t dance, please! An analyst that transcends the analysis and can communicate it effectively always gets more brownie points. So, if you have two analysts where one is a better thinker, and the other is a better presenter (assuming baseline attributes are not at risk), the chances of the better presented succeeding more often in their professional career is higher. And when I say communication – it’s all forms – the written, the oral and the visual. And the visual has two components again – the visual aesthetics of the output, and your own visual aesthetics. A shabby looking person with some irritable personal habits can find it difficult to be role model, despite their technical brilliance. I feel flimsy saying this, but sadly, this is true.
6. Adapt. Be flexible. Managerial styles are different. There are micro-managers and there are delegators. And there are indifferents. I know it’s a lot to expect the youngest one in the team to be the most mature, but never hurts to know, right? So, monitor the manager carefully in the first couple of days of an engagement, and alter your style to have the most fruitful relationship. The best of the managers can teach you a lot. The worst of the managers can teach you how they became a manager in the first place (which might be a career goal of sorts)!
7. Provide leverage! A good analyst provides good leverage to his/her manager. In common language, I translate it to the ability to preempt and take up several mundane tasks that your manager is spending time on, without compromising on the quality of the work you’re expected to be doing. Doing the manager’s job so that the manager can focus on their next set of priorities. It’s an attitude that I cannot over-emphasize the importance of.
8. Don’t just earn your salary. Not everyday. When you look around, you will notice them. They are prone to saying – this much money means this much work, or “I can work harder if there is more money to be made”, or “whats the point, I am not going to make more because of that”, or “today was a productive day and I managed to get my work done”, or some version thereof. They think that “earning your salary” equivalents to being meaningfully busy for 8-9 hours a day. When you’re just trying to be meaningfully busy, you forget trying to be the best you can be. Make the system feel bad about paying you only your salary. Make the system think about how best it can value you. By better projects, better career, better opportunities, and in the process, hopefully, better salary.
9. Read. A. Lot. I have experientially seen it to be true. I am not sure other managers are aligned with me on this one. In my view, a well-read analyst always finds more dimensions to analyze in a project than a walk-in-walk-out analyst. The well read could nerdy (e.g. reading about the cutting edge work like Watson or In-memory databases) or business savvy (e.g. mobile payments and NFCs) or socially aware (literary works that provide insight into how people and societies think and act). But it’s a strong hypotheses in my experiential learning that a good reader usually becomes a good thinker.

 

Why a 9 pointer? Because a perfect ten should be all this customized to your own inimitable style, as and when you find it.