Story telling...

A lot has been written and preached about the art of story telling. A simple reason why it is important: Humans get fascinated by stories. It is part of Homo Sapiens nomenclature. It intrigues us, captures our attention and registers a strong impact in our Gray matter.

With Analytics; 'Story telling' is being thrust into the foreground in the decision making process. It brings a 'human touch' in to the world of Big Data and Analytics where 'models' and 'stats' form the bulk of Machine Learning paradigm. 

Yes, you acquire data faster than ever before (Velocity). Yes, you store data than ever before (Volume). Yes, you get data from different channels in different timings (Variety). 

Story telling becomes a need rather than a wish. It serves not only to entertain but to elucidate.

But the main ingredient that will make people trust and appreciate your story is the consistency.

I had my hot water tank break down Monday morning while getting ready to work (I know eh!). A technician came in the morning only to conclude that he has to order some parts and only then can it be fixed.

From the next moment, it was just a waiting game. I was calling them intermittently to check on the status. Amusingly and frustratingly, I was getting different versions of the story every time I called (even if I called again after hanging up). 

"The parts will be couriered to your place" said Caller 1. "The parts will be delivered to the Technician" confirmed Caller 2. "The parts will be mailed to the Material Department and then they will call the Technician" refuted Caller 3.

On the screens, they all see my call history and the notes by the technicians. 

Every caller was quiet confident and made me assured their version of the story is correct. A coherency in the process workflow aka story was clearly lacking.The same data should provide the same story. Always.

At this moment, I am waiting for a technician to come Tuesday morning to rescue me from my misery. 

Never take No for an anwer

I have trouble adjusting to this attitude. I often succumb to the fate and say "it is what it is" to find a shred of optimism when the doors are shut.
It all depends on what you are trying to get. If something that is of high intrinsic value you go out of the way to get it no matter how many obstacles you come across.
This is a test to 'test' our resoluteness. An illusion of a brick wall standing in front of us, testing how hard can we can knock it off in order to get something behind the wall.
One case that has a huge impact in me is that of my cousin who a mildly mannered person  refused to be a cog in a wheel of a slow grinding bureaucratic process and pushed the envelope to get what was the token to travel to visit his ailing father.

The day he received his Canadian citizenship that same night he received a call from his brother from Madison,WI; breaking the news that their father has passed away. Thier Dad had succumbed to stomach cancer that he was battling for past few months. At that moment, my cousin had decided that has to fly to his parents place to attend his father's funeral. He knows he has just applied for a passport that takes 2-3 weeks to get it. He also knows that in Islamic tradition, the burial procedure is not recommended to delay for a day or two.
Next morning, he got to the passport office before its opening hours and waited to be opened. When the office opened, he requested and pleaded to expedite his passport application so that he can travel to his father's funeral today. They told him that it is highly unlikely and upon further insistence they directed him to the main passport office for such special requests. He called his friend who was also his reference in his passport application and drove to the main passport office. His turn came at 11:30 AM, upon hearing his side of the story; clerk asked him that he needs to provide two references, letter from the hospital where his Dad's body is and finally his air ticket receipt to validate that he is committed to fly today.

As one of the reference was already present with him. They just had to call the other reference and confirm the applicant's details.  He called his brother who in his grief state was able to get the letter from the hospital and emailed it to him. In the meantime, he called his travel agent and booked the next available flight.

He fulfilled the above requirements to the best of his ability and it was up to the Passport Office to process and deliver his passport. It was a moonshot as it takes approximately 2-3 weeks to process let alone same day !

The Office gathered his documents and approved his application and told him that he can pick his passport by 4 PM today! This was first in the history of the Office where they have done something like this. The Passport Office closes at 4 PM and the staff also showed a sense of urgency in making sure the son is able to fly today to attend his father's funeral.

He was able to catch the flight at 6 PM and give a supporting hug to his widow mother and attend his father's funeral. In the span from 6 am to 6 pm - he had taken 11 Tylenol !

"Take time to arrive on a decision, but once you have made a decision, stick to it."