GIDAR Manifesto

GIDAR Manifesto Cover Image

GIDAR Manifesto

With the avalanche of data in the second decade of the 2000s and the Big Data Analytics hype, many individuals and particularly companies jumped into every kind of Analytics project. The results were, in most cases, a FAIL.

I have personally witnessed uncountable and expensive fails while working for corporations and advising other businesses.

This Manifesto is for businesses, entrepreneurs, analysts, bosses, leaders, CEOs, and anyone who believes in the best and fair use of data to improve business outcomes.

GIDAR is a tool that reduces the failure rates of Analytics related projects by providing a toolkit that jumps the most frequent pitfalls.

Some of these traps are frequently expressed as (but not limited to):

  • We are not sure what question are we trying to answer.
  • We do not have enough data.
  • Business doesn’t speak the same language as IT
  • The data is garbage; we cannot use it.
  • We don’t have the skills to do this analysis and answer that question.
  • We don’t have the tools to do this analysis or research.
  • The analysis is more complicated than we expected.
  • Nothing has changed after we delivered the analysis.
  • We are not sure what happened after doing the changes were implemented.

You might say that The GIDAR Analytics Method and the language used in this post is nothing new, and it is probably not. It is merely a collection of steps that when followed, will ensure a high rate of success , and therefore increase business performance. Those elements collected in the GIDAR analytics Canvas have been tested for years, and they are bulletproof.

I created GIDAR because I am tired and fed up of hearing that analytics does not work. Because I have seen too many failed projects. Because I have been part of too many “Unicorn” projects that wanted to answer impossible questions with very little information or data.

I can assure you that Analytics works! But Analytics is not a magic wand. It requires knowledge, processes and more than anything, patience. It is like a tree that you grow until you can harvest the fruits.

I put together the GIDAR method by gathering the knowledge, successes and failures of hundreds of colleagues, stakeholders, managers, bosses and leaders.

I hope you can also benefit from the GIDAR even if it is only to put some order to your thoughts. GIDAR will avoid that your next project will fall like a house of cards or even worse will be another report that goes straight into the trash can.

Santiago Tacoronte, December 2020