David Halpern leads the Behavioural Insights Team—what used to be known as the UK government’s “Nudge Unit”. It was the first government institution to use behavioural economics to encourage better decision-making. While the concept is controversial—many people see something sinister in the so-called “libertarian paternalism”—it’s had some … [Read more...]
2015—the year of domain expertise?
CrowdFlower have produced a thought-provoking infographic that considers what’s going to be hot in data science during 2015. It’s interesting that four of the eight topics point to the importance of domain expertise in data analysis: Integrated data scientists—people who are in the thick of the problems, as opposed to external analysis who just see numbers Rich … [Read more...]
Crowd control via lollipops
Closing time is generally the most annoying time for those living next to bars and clubs. Tipsy revellers pour out en masse, shouting and shrieking, into residential areas. The City of Portsmouth in the south of England has an interesting solution. After numerous complaints about noise they suggested that one club give a free lollipop to each departing guest. Turns out that people can't shout and … [Read more...]
Spreadsheet abuse in the twenty-first century
Economist and author Thomas Piketty is the latest person to have been burned by spreadsheet modeling. A Financial Times investigation into the data behind his wildly successful book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" concluded that In his spreadsheets, however, there are transcription errors from the original sources and incorrect formulas. As long as analysts continue to use … [Read more...]
Review of “You Are What You Decide”
Regular readers of this blog will know that application always excites me more than theory. I'm always interested in applications of tools or ideas. So, when I heard Sean Brady of Prism Decision Systems was working on a book I couldn't wait to read it. Sean is a practitioner. It's in his blood. I've lost count of the times I've contacted him only to hear that he was in a room with a bunch of … [Read more...]