analysis

Google’s Magic Metric

Google has a "magic metric" that determines where effort should be spent, based on the fact that the number of hits on every site with one of its ads is directly correlated to revenue. Most companies do not have a magic metric, so they search for a way to measure process. How can you change the conversation?

Matthew Heusser's picture
Matthew Heusser
Performing Competitor Analysis in Product Development

Competitor analysis is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors of the product you’re developing. Analyzing competitors' offerings in regards to various areas, functions, and features can help you design a product that will fill a void and be a hit with customers.

Parimala Hariprasad's picture
Parimala Hariprasad
Ignore the Data at Your Own Risk

At work, the evidence of something worth paying attention to is often front and center, and yet we dismiss it. If you ignore the data—negative survey results, team member absences, an increase in bugs, stakeholders who repeatedly miss meetings, etc.—you could be overlooking signs of trouble.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten
Social, Mobile, Analytics, and the Cloud Together Are the Future of IT

The next wave in IT seems to be SMAC technologies—or social, mobile, analytics, and the cloud. Individually, each of the pieces of the “SMAC stack” are not new to us. However, what is changing now is the use of these four elements together as an integrated ecosystem, rather than as separate silos.

Mukesh Sharma's picture
Mukesh Sharma
Testing Nonfunctional Requirements in an Agile Lifecycle

As organizations embrace agile, requirements become a challenge because they must be considered and validated in each (short) sprint. Ideally, nonfunctional requirements should be a continuous focus throughout the project. Here are some ways to better address NFRs in an agile development lifecycle.

Michael Sowers's picture
Michael Sowers
The Advantages of Utilizing Formal Test Design Techniques

When it comes to test design, some people believe in the use of formal test design techniques, while others believe that those same techniques cause rigid thinking and limit creativity. Dale Perry says why formal techniques have value as a basis for formal analysis as well as for creative thinking.

Dale Perry's picture
Dale Perry
I’ve Incorporated Big Data—Now What?

It’s easy to say something like, “We’re agile from here on out” or “Let’s start saying 'DevOps' in meetings more often,” but without an actual game plan for how you’re going to use something like big data, simply incorporating it into your current culture doesn’t do much.

Josiah Renaudin's picture
Josiah Renaudin
Tactics That Boost Crowdfunding Donations, from Stanford Research

Whether it’s for your own startup or a cause near and dear to your heart, Stanford computer scientists analyzed how crowdfunding websites can use data science insight to increase donations. The researchers analyzed online donations collected from 470,000 people who donated between 2009 and 2014.

Pamela Rentz's picture
Pamela Rentz