A hands-off approach would seem reckless for questions about things like security. And yet that approach is not just the norm for analytical questions in most organizations; it's often the ideal. Many analytics teams aspire to enable as much “self-serve” as possible - in other words, to remove themselves from as many decision-making processes as they can.

One of the most common reasons an organization reaches out to Mode is that they're about to begin investing in analytics, and they want our advice. Sometimes these organizations are only a few months old, sometimes they've been around for decades. No matter how old they are, they all want to transition from being a company that has data to a company that truly uses their data.

Analysts often assume that the best way to advance their careers or provide more value is to improve their technical chops. While it's true that you need a baseline of technical skills to conduct analysis, most of us need further development of our soft skills rather than further honing of our hard skills.

Any time you look for patterns in previous experiences or make a tradeoff between one option and another, you're working with analytical skills. Improving these skills is one of the best investments you can make; you can tackle your own problems at work and get closer to answers for your own questions.

At Mode, we believe everyone is analytical. Any time you look for patterns in previous experiences, or make a tradeoff between one option and another, you're analyzing. Improving these skills can only be good for your career; the demand for analytical talent in the workforce is at an all-time high.