To make a long story short (yes, I spent far too long figuring out what caused this information message on import), Toad for MySQL appears to want some value in this entry even when nothing is appropriate.  I ended up leaving the default double quote in place and the imports work fine.  Of course, the target table already has all columns typed.

The moral of this story is ‘don’t leave the string quote character null when importing with Toad for MySQL’

All the best,

Michael

This has not been a fully random experience but occurs when modifying data series and axes in graphs.  Some days I don’t experience a shutdown at all while other days I will have 5 or more.  Irrespective of how frequently these occur it’s extremely frustrating because my primary tool for work is Excel (on a typical day I will be working from 10 or more spreadsheets).  I’ve become so accustomed to shutdowns and recovery now that the filename append of ‘(recovered)’ is now a regular part of my filesystem.  Another outcome of these errors is that it’s greatly improved my skill at stringing together expletives.

On a more serious note, the silver lining in this is that I’ve finally imaged a Ubuntu machine; my laptop is now set-up with Intrepid (8.10).  I’ll have more to say on this later but so far am impressed with the capability of the OS and available software such as Open Office.  In addition to the simplicity of a clean OS is the cost … FREE.  I’ve got some learning to do but right now I’m wondering why  I’ve been paying $$$ to Microsoft.

But lest I forget, this post is titled ‘Sparklines’ so I’d better get to that.  I’ve long been a fan of sparklines as well as the larger visual display concepts forwarded by Edward Tufte.  If you don’t know what sparklines are here’s a description from Dr. Tufte’s site:

[S]mall, high-resolution graphics embedded in a context of words, numbers, images. Sparklines are data-intense, design-simple, word-sized graphics. … Sparklines are wordlike graphics, with an intensity of visual distinctions comparable to words and letters.

Here’s an example of a sparkline showing the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1928 to present:

Now, thanks to Rob Van Gelder over at dailydoseofexcel you can use a user-defined function (UDF) to generate your own Sparklines in Excel.  Check out Rob’s post, In Cell Charting, for the necessary VBA code.  I recommend you store the code in a special custom function workbook and make this available to all your workbooks as an add-in (instructions for creating an add-in of user-defined functions in the Microsoft knowledge base).

Well, that’s it.  Enjoy.

MD

So then, what’s been going on over the past few months?

In short, LOTS, and also, in honesty, not enough, and yet, in fairness perhaps, the right things.

Among other things, the last three months has included the fall semester at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University.  This semester I’ve had the opportunity to teach my first course, Research for Marketing Decisions.  There’s much to say here, much that I’ve learned.  Let me save this topic for a complete post following finals (two short weeks away).

In addition to teaching, I’ve been developing a course for the spring semester in the area of databases and data access for managers and research analysts.  Preparing for this course has been a good way to solidify what I’ve learned over the past decade regarding databases from a user perspective as well as incorporate some of the fantastic tools and work in the area of open source database and data analysis technology from such organizations as the R project, OpenOffice, Palo, and others.  This should also be another complete post, so let me put this aside for the moment.

All of this to finally get to the real reason for this post, the topic of rainmaking and relationship building.  In setting this up, let’s consider a simple model of the enterprise with only two components (Yes, Dan, I’m stealing one of your constructs).  The first component is production or whatever is needed to make the product.  The second component is marketing and sales or whatever is needed to position, price, and sell the product.  In thinking about launching a data analytic consultancy (that really is what we’re trying to launch here even if it’s not been made completely clear), the early focus was on the production component and thinking through the necessary processes, chops, tools to get the job done.  Now we get to reality where we’re saying “I know this has value but how do we communicate that value and to whom do we try to communicate that value?”

As I reflect on the consultants I’ve worked with in the past, I can identify two modes of operation with respect to client relationships.  The first model is where the words are used (partnership model, relationship, win/win, etc.) but the actions are not 100% in line with those words.  This is I call the sales model; we sell our services to you in the same way we might sell a car.  The second model is the true relationship model and is characterized by an earnest effort to seek win/win, understand client needs, and the strength to say ‘no’ when it’s not in the best interest of the client.  While I won’t name names with respect to the first model, I will say that John Bird of TNS and Scott Laing and Chris Robson of Parametric Marketing are excellent examples of consultants who follow the true relationship model.

Surely I’ve already tipped my hand and you know that the true relationship model, one in which win/win is the prize, is the goal of tenpoundsledge.  But relationship doesn’t happen overnight and so we’ve) been thinking about how best to build the relationships we have, we’ve been developing our ability to listen for needs, and we’ve been telling a few folks about what we have to offer and getting feedback on that.

That’s it.  Relationship.

It’s late so I’m going to leave it here for now and pick it up tomorrow or maybe later today which would be even later but then, oh well.

MD

MLR and correlation my friends

A season of knowledge

You can have it:

• Cheap

• Fast

• Accurate

Pick two

Pasted on Van Bain’s monitor back in the day when he was a ’software janitor’ and my job title was one of those strange combinations used when they don’t want to use the word secretary.

- David Hubel

A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of the dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Broni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the shepherd…

“If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?”

The shepherd looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looked at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answered,  “Sure.”

The yuppie parked his car, whipped out his IBM Thinkpad and connected it to a cell phone, then he surfed to a NASA page on the internet where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, and then opened up a database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas. He sent an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, received a response.  Finally, he prints out a 130-page report on his miniaturized printer then turns to the shepherd and says…….

“You have exactly 1586 sheep.”

“That is correct; take one of the sheep.” said the shepherd.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and bundle it into his car.

Then the shepherd says: “If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?”

“OK, why not.” answered the young man.

“Clearly, you are a consultant.” said the shepherd.

“That’s correct.” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required.” answers the shepherd. “You turned up here although nobody called you.  You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked, and you don’t know crap about my business…. Now give me back my dog.”

I don’t know where this came from but it’s funny.

Michael

We are quickly getting to the place were we are ready to work. What ways can we help you answer your business questions?

I think there is a culture that many organizations lack of being able to question, probe, and disagree. Many times there is a pre-determined agenda placed forward and if you challenge that pre-conceived notion it is frowned upon. Is there a way to create a “safe-space” to *gasp* disagree with management?

I believe that the fundamental is answering a business question, by getting to the right question, right answer, and right tool. This should always be the goal, but should also constantly be checked and rechecked. Are we asking the right question? Are we answering that question with the right tool? Is it actionable? Is it measurable? Throughout this decision-makers should be constantly calibrating to these questions above and re-evaluating if they are not. All organizations should strive to create a system that allows and encourages constant checking and re-checking of their status-quo.

Michael