Analytical and production cycles and systems – initial projects
In the cases where the analytics team is simply looking to improve a well-known process (that is, a non-discovery oriented improvement process), the analytics team should be able to give the functional team, sponsors, and interested executives a fairly reliable estimate of when the analytics process will start and produce the desired model, application, or result. In the first iteration of approaching a business challenge, we should have a reasonably accurate sense of how long the complete analytical project and cycle will take.
Figure 8.3: The analytics cycle
In contrast, as we discussed above, discovery-oriented processes are different and will take more time, and it is notoriously difficult to estimate and predict when the discovery will be unearthed.
Also, as we discussed in the finance scenario outlined above, we need to be clear with our collaborators from functional teams that their deadlines...
