Happy New Year from Web Analytics and Team Demystified

Happy belated new year to everyone reading this blog — on behalf of everyone at Analytics Demystified and Team Demystified I sincerely hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season and that you’re ready to wade back into the analytical and optimization fray! Since I last wrote a few cool things have happened:

• Michele Kiss has been promoted to Senior Partner in the firm. Michele, as you likely know, is amazing and has more than earned her promotion by virtue of her dedication, enthusiasm, and general tolerance of “the boys” … please help me congratulate Michele on, as she says, “teh Twittahs” @michelejkiss
• We continue to expand our Team Demystified program. Team Demystified has exceeded everyone’s expectations and has positively transformed how Analytics Demystified is able to provide service to our clients. I am more than happy to discuss how the program works, and we are actively looking for resources in Northern California if you’d like to talk about joining our Team.
• Web Analytics Wednesday is in the process of being “freed.” As you likely know Web Analytics Wednesday has been a phenomenally popular social networking event since 2005 when June Dershewitz came up with the idea and I provided some support for execution. That said, all good things must come to an end, and so as of January 1st we are no longer supporting or facilitating WAW events.

Regarding the “freeing” of Web Analytics Wednesday, basically with the DAA and other local efforts that are now reasonably well established we have decided it doesn’t make sense for us to be the gateway to WAW events anymore. We also aren’t going to be able to sponsor/help pay for events any longer … the analytics world is changing and we are changing with it!

We will gladly link to local event web sites/meetup pages/etc. so send them to wednesday@analyticsdemystified.com or comment them below.

On our Team Demystified program, one thing we all hope to do in the New Year is to provide our Team members an opportunity to have their voice heard. The following is a post from one of our rock-stars, Nancy Koons. Please feel free to respond to Nancy via this blog post or you can find her in Twitter @nancyskoons.

5 Tips for Onboarding a new Analyst to your Team

Nancy Koons, Team Demystified

The New Year may bring new resources to your organization. Hurray! Beyond the typical on-boarding tasks like securing a desk, computer, and systems access, here are Five Tips for ensuring a new analyst is set up for success.

1)   Introductions: Try to facilitate personal, face-to-face introductions to everyone they will be supporting. An analyst needs to build relationships with many people- ensuring they have met their stakeholders face to face is a great way to help get those relationships off to a solid start.

2)   Prioritize your Data: Train a new analyst on when, where & why data is collected with the goal of introducing the priority of your organization’s data.  Yes, you may be collecting 99 pieces of information from every web visit, but most likely there’s a much shorter list of core metrics that are critical. The sooner your analyst understands which metrics are most important, the better she will be able to field requests and advise stakeholders successfully.

3)   Embed to Learn: Discuss a plan to “embed” the analyst with the team(s) they will be supporting most closely – go beyond basic introductions with the goal being to get your analyst as knowledgeable about that team and their function as possible.  This could include attending goal-planning meetings, 1-on-1 time with key individuals learning about the team, or regular status meetings for a span of time. A strong analyst is able to provide better support when he is knowledgeable about what a team does, and it’s overall goals and objectives.

4)   Train on Process, not just Technology: Walking a new analyst through your solution design document and tagging framework is important- but equally important is making sure they know HOW to get things done. Who do they talk to when things break? How and when are requests for implementation queued up and prioritized? Who will be looking for reports first thing on Monday?

5)   Ongoing Support: Plan on providing support to your analyst for several months.  The larger and more complex the organization, the more your analyst needs to learn about overall business climate, seasonality, diverse sets of teams, and the people, processes and tools used within the organization. All of these can take several weeks or months to internalize and process.

Congratulations on adding a new resource, and best of luck to you as your team grows!

Thanks Nancy! As always we welcome your comments and feedback.